Despite what you think, you are not free. I’m not saying that you are under the control of
someone else. It’s your own uncontrolled mind, your own attachment, that oppresses you. If you
discover how you oppress yourself, your uncontrolled mind will disappear. Knowing your own mind
is the solution to all your problems.
One day the world looks so beautiful; the next day it looks terrible. How can you say that?
Scientifically, it’s impossible that the world can change so radically. It’s your mind that causes these
appearances. This is not religious dogma; your up and down is not religious dogma. I’m not talking
about religion; I’m talking about the way you lead your daily life, which is what sends you up and
down. Other people and your environment don’t change radically; it’s your mind. I hope you
understand that.
When you were a child you loved and craved ice-cream, chocolate and cake, and thought, “When I
grow up, I’ll have all the ice-cream, chocolate and cake I want; then I’ll be happy.” Now you have as
much ice-cream, chocolate and cake as you want, but you’re bored. You decide that since this doesn’t
make you happy you’ll get a car, a house, television, a husband or wife — then you’ll be happy. Now
you have everything, but your car is a problem, your house is a problem, your husband or wife is a
problem, your children are a problem.
Lord Buddha says that all you have to know is what you are, how you exist. You don’t have to
believe in anything. Just understand your mind: how it works, how attachment and desire arise, how
ignorance arises, and where emotions come from. It is sufficient to know the nature of all that; that
alone can bring you happiness and peace. Thus, your life can change completely; everything turns
upside down. What you once interpreted as horrible can become beautiful.
If I told you that all you were living for was chocolate and ice-cream, you’d think I was crazy. “No!
no!” your arrogant mind would say. But look deeper into your life’s purpose. Why are you here? To be
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well liked? To become famous? To accumulate possessions? To be attractive to others? I’m not
exaggerating — check for yourself, then you’ll see. Through thorough examination you can realize
that dedicating your entire life to seeking happiness through chocolate and ice-cream completely
nullifies the significance of your having been born human.
Realize that the nature of your mind is different from that of the flesh and bone of your physical
body. Your mind is like a mirror, reflecting everything without discrimination. If you have
understanding-wisdom, you can control the kind of reflection that you allow into the mirror of your
mind. If you totally ignore what is happening in your mind, it will reflect whatever garbage it
encounters — things that make you psychologically sick. Your checking-wisdom should distinguish
between reflections that are beneficial and those that bring psychological problems. Eventually, when
you realize the true nature of subject and object, all your problems will vanish.
No matter which of the many world religions we consider, their interpretation of God or Buddha
and so forth is simply words and mind; these two alone. Therefore, words don’t matter so much.
What you have to realize is that everything — good and bad, every philosophy and doctrine — comes
from mind. The mind is very powerful. Therefore, it requires firm guidance. A powerful jet plane
needs a good pilot; the pilot of your mind should be the wisdom that understands its nature. In that
way, you can direct your powerful mental energy to benefit your life instead of letting it run about
uncontrollably like a mad elephant, destroying yourself and others.
If you understand that satisfaction does not depend only on external things, you can enjoy
both material possessions and peace of mind.
People should be totally aware of both what’s going on in their own minds and
how their minds are relating to the outside world, what effect the environment is having on their
minds. You can’t close your life off from the world; you have to face it; you have to be open to
everything.
If you’re having a
problem with your parents, maybe you can solve it in a month. But changing and overcoming the
fundamental dissatisfied mind can take many, many years. The waves are easy; the ocean is more
difficult
Nirvana is a Sanskrit word that means freedom, or liberation. Inner liberation. It means that
your heart is no longer bound by the uncontrolled, unsubdued, dissatisfied mind, not tied by
attachment. When you realize the absolute nature of your mind, you free yourself from bondage and
are able to find enjoyment without dependence upon sense objects. Our minds are bound because of
the conception of ego; to loosen these bonds we have to lose our ego. This might seem strange to you,
that you should lose your ego. It’s certainly not something we talk about in the West. On the contrary,
here we are taught to build our egos; if you don’t have a strong ego, you’re lost, you’re not human,
you’re weak. This seems to be society’s view. However, from the point of view of Buddhist psychology,
the conception of ego is our biggest problem, the king of problems; other emotions are like ministers,
ego is king. When you reach beyond ego, the cabinet of other delusions disappears, the agitated,
fettered mind vanishes, and you attain an everlasting blissful state of mind. That’s what we call
nirvana, inner freedom. Your mind is no longer conditioned, tied to something else, like it is at the
moment. Presently, because our mind is dependent upon other phenomena, when those other
phenomena move, they take our mind with them. We have no control; our mind is led like an animal
with a rope through its nose. We are not free; we have no independence. Of course, we think we’re
free, we think we’re independent, but we’re not; we’re not free inside. Every time the uncontrolled
mind arises, we suffer.Therefore, liberation means freedom from dependence upon other conditions
and the experience of stable, everlasting bliss, instead of the up and down of our normal lives. That’s
nirvana. Of course, this is just a brief explanation; we could talk about it for hours, but not now.
However, if you understand the nature of inner freedom, you realize that transient sense pleasures are
nowhere near enough, that they’re not the most important thing. You realize that as a human being
you have the ability and the methods to reach a permanent state of everlasting, unconditional joy.
That gives you a new perspective on life.
You have to learn to investigate the deeper nature
of anger, aggression, anxiety or whatever it is that troubles you. When you look into the deeper nature
of negative energy you’ll see that it’s really quite insubstantial, that it’s only mind. As your mental
expression changes, the negative energy disappears, digested by the wisdom that understands the
nature of hatred, anger, aggression and so forth.
When you look at the outside world you have a very strong impression of its substantiality. You
probably don’t realize that that strong impression is merely your own mind’s interpretation of what it
sees. You think that the strong, solid reality really exists outside, and perhaps, when you look within,
you feel empty. This is also a misconception: the strong impression that the world appears to truly
exist outside of you is actually projected by your own mind. Everything you experience — feelings,
sensations, shapes and colors — comes from your mind.
Most of the decisions that your mind has been making from the time you were born — “This is
right; this is wrong; this is not reality” — have been misconceptions. A mind possessed by
misconceptions is an uncertain mind, never sure of anything. A small change in the external
conditions and it freaks out; even small things make it crazy. If you could only see the whole picture,
you’d see how silly this was. But we don’t see totality; totality is too big for us.
If you have the misconception that your life will be perfect, its nature will be up
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and down. If you expect your life to be up and down, your mind will be much more peaceful. What in
the external world is perfect? Nothing. So since the energy of your mind and body are inextricably
bound up with the external world, how can you expect your life to go perfectly? You can’t.
L
ook into your mind. If you fervently believe that all your enjoyment comes from the
material objects and dedicate your entire life to their pursuit, you’re under the control of a
serious misconception
A mind that has such strong faith in the material world is narrow, limited; it has no space. Its
nature is sick, unhealthy, or, in Buddhist terminology, dualistic
Recognize the nature of your mind. As human beings, we always seek satisfaction. By knowing the
nature of the mind, we can satisfy ourselves internally; perhaps even eternally. But you must realize
the nature of your own mind. We see the sense world so clearly, but we’re completely blind to our
internal world, where the constant functioning of misconceptions keeps us under the control of
unhappiness and dissatisfaction. This is what we must discover.
To enter the spiritual path, you must begin to understand your own mental attitude and how your
mind perceives things. If you’re all caught up in attachment to tiny atoms, your limited, craving mind
will make it impossible for you to enjoy life’s pleasures. External energy is so incredibly limited that if
you allow yourself to be bound by it, your mind itself will become just as limited. When your mind is
narrow, small things easily agitate you. Make your mind an ocean.
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