Christians call it the “recollected heart.” In Sanskrit it is called “smirti,” or “that which is remembered.” “Sati,” the word for mindfulness in Pali, the ancient Sanskrit dialect of the earliest Buddhist texts, means to remember. The great Zen sage Dogen spoke of taking a half step back inside ourselves, creating the space to allow events to arise and present themselves rather than reacting. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius—whom nobody could accuse of dropping out of society (he wrote in spare moments as he oversaw Rome’s campaigns on the Empire’s northern borders)—prized the ability to step back inside ourselves and remember who we really are.
Making the effort of stepping back and witnessing the workings of our mind is the only way to freedom, according to Aurelius. It is the only way to really connect with others and with society and with the Whole of Nature.
“People seek retreats for themselves in the country, by the sea, and near the mountains,” he writes (in a translation of the Mediations by John Piazza and Jacob Needleman ). “But this is a sign of ignorance, since you have the power to retire within yourself whenever you wish.”
Tracy Cochran 