Meditation on Mind

Imagine you are going to a Dharma lecture by a great teacher or Lama.  He is fully fluent in English and naturally comes across as very empathetic and humorous.  For those of us at this lecture he begins with the following.

“Ah, so many people today. And you are all interested in true Dharma.  I can tell this by your smiles.  Okay, the first thing I want you to do is close your eyes.  Yes, close them.  What you will see now is the back of your eyelids.  It is not exactly black, but not white either.  Okay, still keeping your eyelids shut, imagine a golden triangle or if you prefer a  seated Buddha—not very large—made of very pure gold.  Next, in the center of this  envision a tiny dot.  Now hold it steady, real steady.”

After everyone is focusing for a while, the Lama continues his lecture.

“Now, I want you to think about this.  What made the image of this golden triangle, and the point, and did the focusing?  Can you describe it?  Does it have a color or size, itself? What senses can see it?  Frankly, you don't know!  The senses can’t see it either.  We will get back to what this is later.  

Now, using your imagination I want you to imagine a fish tank made of pure glass so pure you can hardly see it.  Now, fill this tank up with pure water.  Visualize this water as being so pure that you can’t easily distinguish between the glass and the water.  Next, I want you to take a handful of imaginary dirt and put it into this tank.  Stir it up good.  Now look into this tank.  Can you still see this pure water?  If not, is the water all gone or is it still there but obscured by the presence of the dirt?  Think about this—really think about it.

Now listen carefully.  When pure Mind is discussed in Buddhism it is both active and the substance of everything.  I illustrated the active side of Mind by having you visualize a small golden triangle—or a Buddha—with a tiny dot in its center.  Turning to the substance of Mind, the fish tank filled with pure water symbolized it.  Putting the dirt in the tank was meant to illustrate how difficult it is the see the pure Mind through its obstructing phenomenalizations.

For a good Yogi [Bodhisattva] this meditation is no sweat.  He can clearly distinguish pure Mind from its fluctuations which work to obscure Mind’s immaculate nature.  When he looks into his own body he can distinguish the muddy body from the pure unbodied Mind.  He can also direct his pure Mind to any place.  In one sense, this is the very act of compassion (karuna).

Okay, enough of this.  Let’s now meditate.  Here is your task.  I want you to try and connect the pure activity of Mind with its pure substance.  Remember the illustrations I just gave.  They can help you.  If you succeed, you will be engulfed by a mysterious energy.  This is your temporal body’s reaction to being in the presence of the Buddha.

Now let’s begin.”

There are a number of ways to present Mind or Mind’s nature to those who are in the dark; who cling to what has come into phenomenal being and will surely, in time, cease to be.  What is important is that we make our acquaintance with pure Mind so that we can learn to distinguish it from its phenomena.  This, by the way, is called wisdom which in Sanskrit is prajñâ.

Right now, we are stuck gazing upon the dirt in the fish tank unable to see the pure water; and unable to wield the power of Mind’s pristine active nature even though, paradoxically, we wield it all the time, but as desire.  We are drowning in ignorance, in other words.  We are also too lazy to do anything about it.

Comments

[Joe]

Isn't mind (mano) a relevant sense-organ here, that is, in addition to the conventional sight/sound/taste/touch/smell? Isn't that what is sensing our "imagined" golden-triangle?

[Bodhiratna]

Wow, good stuff!

I got a head rush doing this exercise, lol.....I think if one understands its meaning, the 'totality' will reveal itself :)

Thanks!

Bodhiratna