Fri, 18 Sep 2009
Mind and Space
My aplogies for not posting for a while. I've either been too tired, too busy, or too tired and busy. I'll be going to a weekend meditation retreat shortly. If I don't get enlightened, I'm asking ofr my money back. The next verse of the Ganges Mahamudra say:
For example, if you examine the center of space, the one who fixates on the boundary and center ceases to be. Likewise, when you investigate the mind with the mind, the multitude of thoughts ceases and you see the nature of mind.
Space is often used as an analogy for the mind. Like space, the mind is free of any determined characteristics. We can apply labels to space, such as "here" or "far away", but such labels are arbitrary conventions, only used for convenience. A big part of the practice of mahamudra is the exmination of mind. When we start this practice, there is the examiner and the examined, as if the mind could be examined as some external object. The distinction between examiner and examined is an arbitrary one, just as the distinction between here and there applied to space. What keeps us from noticing this is the flood of thoughts that fill our minds. When thoughts quiet down, the arbitrary nature of our thoughts about our mind exposes itself and we are able to see mind for what it is.
