The Mind
When we look into our mind we find an intricate internal world, almost like a formless world that is the world of experiences. One moment you have this thought, the next moment you have that thought. In one moment you’re experiencing this mood, in the next something else. It feels not only unstable, but it yo-yos up and down. When it goes down, there is no bliss in it.
Sojong Reminder 15/1
Dear Dharma friends,
Mind is a very powerful apparatus that enables us to feel that we exist and enables us to engage with the world. It allows us to be aware of ourselves and our relationship to everything in the world. Thoughts, feelings, sensations, words; none of these would occur if there was no mind. In general, there is often a tendency to not contemplate a subject like mind. Most of the time this works reasonably well for people. This is often how people live and there can be many pleasures and activities that keep us moving through life with the sense that one is fundamentally OK. But without knowing, the price one pays is pretty high if there is no inner reflection. In fact, what one is then missing is actually huge. This human mind has such potential, including its ability to experience transcendence. If these potentials are not used, it will end up being like the famous old analogy - coming back from the Island of Treasures empty-handed. This means that having this human incarnation and not being able to actualize its full potential is a form of tragedy.
When we look into our mind we find an intricate internal world, almost like a formless world that is the world of experiences. One moment you have this thought, the next moment you have that thought. In one moment you’re experiencing this mood, in the next something else. It feels not only unstable, but it yo-yos up and down. When it goes down, there is no bliss in it. We can get completely caught up in our negative emotions. It can make us miserable. So the question is, what can we do about it? There’s a powerful inquiry, which is to ask “What is the nature of mind?” The answer may not come to us like a lightning strike and it may not be a theory we can articulate. This inquiry helps us to pull away from our identification with our experiences. It shows us that the thoughts and sensations we are experiencing right now are mind, but are not the nature of mind. This insight allows us to gain the freedom to settle into a more spacious and unfettered state of mind while swimming in the sea of our experiences.
The nature of mind is always available because it’s not a particular experience that has to be produced. Eventually through practice it becomes easier and easier to tap into. I assume many of you have a direct experience of what it is. Often in a sitting meditation it reveals itself. But for those who don’t have any kind of understanding of this, it would be helpful to start inquiring into what is the nature of mind. Even for veteran meditators, it is helpful to periodically inquire what is the nature of mind, because otherwise we may forget to connect to that state of mind when our habitual patterns and habits grow in our mind like a thicket.
During this Sojong, I invite everybody to review the way we have been living and to see the places where we lost awareness, as well as where we have embodied awareness. Then we can hold the intention to become familiar with the nature of mind and to rest in that more and more. In Tibetan, the word for meditation is Gom, which means “to train or become familiar with”.
With palms joined, Anam Thubten