With the eyes, the mind stirs. With the eyes, the mind is riveted. The idea is to let the eyes do the ‘seeing’ – without invoking the mind. If the mind gets involved, desire is born. From desire, comes clinging – and attachment.

To eliminate this desire from arising in the first place, the eyes have to be trained to see – but not cling.

This is different from sensory deprivation (such as blindfolding the eyes). It means that sensory input is present , however, the attachment arising from the input is tuned out. Intentionally tuned out. Of course, like all other meditative aspects, this takes practice.

A simple technique

The goal is to make your mind like that of a child’s. On waking up, open your eyes and stare blankly at the ceiling. See it – but don’t recognize it. Almost as if you were seeing it for the first time. If you did not know what a ceiling was called, what would you call it? If something did not have a name (e.g. ceiling), how would you identify it? You would be in the same state as a child – a child who hasn’t learnt that a ceiling is a ceiling.

Conclusion

The eyes are the most powerful source of sensory input. Somewhere, I remember reading about Tibetan monks who confined themselves to a dark cave (which is sealed from the outside- with just enough space to provide food). And meditate within for years. The idea is to block out all sensory input. I believe the eyes can be trained to not process the sensory input they receive. Cave confinement is totally optional.  

Anuj holds professional certifications in Google Cloud, AWS as well as certifications in Docker and App Performance Tools such as New Relic. He specializes in Cloud Security, Data Encryption and Container Technologies.

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Anuj Varma – who has written posts on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

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