Một dòng thở nhẹ – Nhật ký Thiền

This morning the sky was clear, sunlight falling onto the porch like golden threads.
I sat down, opened my meditation journal, and noticed a small hesitation inside me.

Not a big issue, just a work-related choice.

But my mind was being pulled in two directions:

“Should I do it or should I not do it?”

I asked myself:

“Why does the mind always want to choose one side?”

That question brought me to the spirit of the Middle Way – not standing on “is,” and not standing on “is not.”

Sunlight on the empty porch
The mind leaning to two sides
A quiet sigh

I closed my eyes and observed that hesitation.

It felt like a stretched rope:
one end wanting to move forward, the other wanting to pull back.
Between the two ends was a slight tension in the chest.

I didn’t try to decide.
Didn’t try to choose a side.
I just looked.

And when I looked, I saw:
the hesitation didn’t come from the situation.
It came from the mind wanting to cling to one side.

Two opposing shores
The mind stands in between
A small wave rising

While observing, I remembered the spirit of Nāgārjuna:

“Do not fall into ‘is,’ do not fall into ‘is not.’”

And I remembered the words of Jiddu Krishnamurti:
“Truth is a pathless land.”

In the past, I thought those two sentences were about philosophy.
But today, I see they are about my own mind.

The mind always wants to choose a side:

· right or wrong
· good or bad
· should or shouldn’t
· gain or loss
· success or failure

But when the mind chooses a side, it becomes limited.
And within that limitation, there is conflict.

Choosing one is losing
Choosing two is confusion
Not choosing – lightness

I tried letting go of the desire to choose.
I let the mind stand still between the two sides.
Not leaning toward “is.”

Not leaning toward “is not.”

And strangely, when I didn’t choose, the tension dissolved.

Not because I found the answer, but because I was no longer pulled by the two sides.

I simply stood still – and looked.

Standing still in the wind
Not leaning to any side
The mind becomes clear

I remembered a time in the past when I argued with a friend about something small.

Back then, I tried to prove I was right.
My friend tried to prove they were right.
Both of us were tired.

But when I looked back, I saw:
no one was right, no one was wrong.
There were just two different perspectives.

Jiddu Krishnamurti said:

“When you take a position, you stop seeing clearly.”

Today, I understand that sentence a little more.

It is not the issue that makes me suffer.

It is the desire to stand on one side that makes me suffer.

Right and wrong, two sides
Like two illusory shores
The mind stands in the stream

I opened my eyes, watching the sunlight spreading across the ground.

I felt a lightness inside – not because I had decided, but because I no longer felt forced to decide immediately.

I simply saw:

when not clinging to “is” or “is not,” the mind becomes spacious.

No more conflict.
No more tension.
No more being pulled by two sides.

Only clarity.

No “is” – no “is not”
The mind like open sky
Wind passing gently

Ending today’s meditation journal, I wrote a small question to carry with me:

“Which side am I standing on today that is taking away my freedom?”

Perhaps just by keeping that question in my heart, I will see that freedom does not lie in choosing the right side – but in not being bound by any side.