Discourses from the Typhoon’s Eye №22 — The Goalless Goal

In practice, there comes a point where the teachings begin to sound… impossible.

We hear phrases like “nothing to attain,” “endless delusions,” or “a path without a goal,” and something in us resists. Not out of stubbornness, but out of honesty. The mind wants clarity, direction — something it can actually do.

So what happens when the path seems to remove the very structure we rely on?

Let’s listen in.

Student:

We speak of things like goalless goals, mastering a way that’s unattainable, and cutting through all delusions even though delusions are endless… but… how?

How are we supposed to do any of these impossible things? And honestly… what’s the point of even trying?

Teacher:

Ah… yes. This question always comes sooner or later.

You hear phrases like “goalless goal,” “attaining the unattainable,” “ending endless delusions,” and naturally, the mind rebels.

It says, “This makes no sense. How am I supposed to do any of this?”

And then, quite reasonably, it asks: “What is the point of trying at all?”

Good.

This confusion is not a mistake. This is exactly where the teaching begins to work on you.

You see, your question assumes something very deep and very familiar:

That practice is a project. That there is a goal. That you are the one who will reach it. And that there must be some method to get from here to there.

This is how we approach everything else in life, so of course the mind applies it here. But these teachings do not operate within that structure.

They are exposing it.

When you hear “goalless goal,” the mind immediately tries to turn it into a new kind of goal: “I must achieve having no goal.”

But that is just the same movement wearing different clothes.

The phrase is not giving you something to accomplish. It is pointing out that the constant movement toward a future state, the feeling that something is missing, is itself the tension.

So instead of asking how to achieve the goalless goal, look directly: Right now, before adding any idea of progress or attainment…

What is actually lacking?

Not as a concept. As a lived experience.

Look carefully, and you may begin to see: The sense of lack is something being added, not something inherent.

Now, about endless delusions.

The mind hears this and thinks: “Then I must work endlessly to eliminate them.”

And so begins exhaustion, because you’re treating thoughts and reactions as problems to be solved once and for all.

But that is not the point.

Thoughts arise. Judgments arise. Confusion arises.

This is the nature of mind.

The problem is not that they appear. The problem is how quickly you become entangled in them; how you believe them, follow them, become them.

Delusions may be endless, but your entanglement with them does not have to be.

And “attaining the unattainable”…

If you think awakening is something you can possess, like an object or an achievement, you are already off track.

What is pointed to cannot be held that way. It is not something added to you. It is more like something revealed when grasping relaxes.

Then comes the final protest: “If there is nothing to attain… why practice at all?”

Look closely.

Even this question is still bargaining. It assumes effort must produce a result to be worthwhile.

But notice something simpler:

You are already seeking. Already questioning. Already trying to resolve something.

This movement does not stop just because you declare it pointless.

So practice is not about eliminating effort. It is about understanding it.

When you sit, you will notice the mind trying to get somewhere. It tries to improve the moment, fix something, reach a calm state, reach clarity...

Instead of following that movement, or fighting it, you simply see it.

You sit…

And as the impulse to “get somewhere” arises, you recognize it: Just another movement of mind.

In that moment, nothing has been attained.

Nothing has been solved.

And yet, something subtle shifts.

You are no longer completely inside the movement.

There is space.

This is why the teachings sound impossible. They are not instructions for achieving something extraordinary. They are pointing you away from the mechanism that turns everything into something to achieve.

So what is the point of trying?

Not to complete the path. Not to perfect yourself. Not to arrive somewhere final.

It is much simpler.

To see, directly and repeatedly, how the mind creates the sense that something is missing, and to stop being completely driven by it.

You still sit. You still return.

Not because you are getting closer to something… but because, in those moments, the habit of chasing begins to loosen.

And when the chasing loosens, even slightly, you may notice something very ordinary, and very easy to overlook:

Nothing was actually missing to begin with.

So what about you, fellow practitioners of the Way of Just Sitting? 😉

When the mind demands progress, attainment, or results… can you simply notice that movement, without following it?

Gasshō 😊🙏🪷