Like a flag on the end of a pole

Knowing the mind

One of my favourite Dharma books is entitled Being Dharma.  It is by the wonderful Thai master Ajahn Chah, a master of many westerners who teach Dharma today. He speaks to our experience, to both our mind and our heart, and is so clear and incisive. I don’t read the book from the beginning to the end, rather I pick it up and open a page here and there until I alight on a passage that resonates. And then I stay with that, and I read it over and over until something settles. I find it so reassuring to find the same truths in all Buddhist traditions – his being the Theravada tradition and mine being Tibetan Buddhism. These are the core truths that the Buddha taught.

I would like to share one passage with you on the mind. I find the images he uses very evocative. They express qualities and a feel that cannot be put into words. This understanding of mind comes about as a result of mindfulness practice and personal reflection. In Theravada, mindfulness is very special. Mindfulness of body, feeling, mind and phenomena (the Four Foundations) and mindfulness of the Four Noble Truths strengthen our clarity and wisdom, and can take us all the way to nirvana.

istock photo

Now, examining the nature of the mind, you can observe that in its natural state it has no preoccupations. It’s like a flag on the end of a pole or like a leaf on a tree. By itself, it remains still; if it flutters, that is because of the wind, an external force. In its natural state, the mind is the same, without attraction or aversion, without ascribing characteristics to things or finding fault with people. It is independent, existing in a state of purity that is clear, radiant, and stainless. In its natural state the mind is peaceful, without happiness or suffering. This is the true state of the mind.

So the purpose of practice is to seek inwardly, investigating until you reach the original mind. Original mind is also known as pure mind. It is the mind without attachment. It isn’t affected by mental objects and doesn’t chase after pleasant and unpleasant phenomena. Rather, it is in a state of continuous wakefulness, thoroughly aware of all it experiences.

When the mind is like this, it does not become anything, and nothing can shake it. Why? Because there is awareness. The mind knows itself as pure. It has reached its original state of independence. This has come about through the faculty of mindfulness together with wise reflection, seeing that all things are merely conditions arising out of the confluence of the elements, without any individual controlling them.

Being Dharma - The Essence of the Buddha’s Teachings by Ajahn Chah, Shambhala Publications, 2001, page 69.

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