Big Picture Zen

Meditation is said to be turning inwards or looking within.

Inside and outside are concepts. By saying “look within”, one creates confusion because where is inside? It is assumed that inside means the mind. Is the mind really inside? Inside what – the body or the brain?

‘Look within’ makes one look inside the brain and gives rise to the notion of a boundary between the inner and the outer… roughly at the skin. Therefore if you try to look within, you will get lost.

Instead, do away with the notions of inner and outer, inside and outside. Meditation then is the observation of the process of observation or the instrument of observation… which is neither in nor out.