The eye cannot see the eye, but I see what the eye sees.

Hey there /r/zen,

I remember reading something along these lines somewhere in the past, although I can't seem to find the actual source at the moment:

The eye cannot see the eye.

The tongue cannot taste itself.

The mind cannot mind itself.

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If the eye cannot see the eye, but I see what the eye sees.

If the tongue cannot taste itself, but I taste what it tastes.

If like, dislike and other mental constructs do not exist of their own volition neither do they refer to themselves, yet I actively engage in liking, disliking and their creation.

If both the internal and the external are not I, since I perceive them in an object-subject manner.

Is that which perceives all of this I?

Now, can the perceiver perceive itself? If so, how?

Although I've read quite a bit about Zen and Buddhism it is only as of late that some ideas have started to make sense to me on a more, let's say, intimate level.

I suppose the perception of the perceiver is what cultivation aims at, be it meditation or deliberately putting the mind in a conundrum through a koan.

What's your take on this matter?

Submitted December 09, 2017 at 06:31PM by WanderingHost http://ift.tt/2kgoSDU