This mind, unlike enlightened awareness, is always being\ncarried away by one delusion after another. Thoughts of hatred or attachment\nsuddenly arise without warning, triggered by such circumstances as an\nunexpected meeting with an enemy or a friend, and unless they are immediately\noverpowered with the proper antidote, they quickly take root and proliferate,\nreinforcing the habitual predominance of hatred or attachment in the mind and\nadding more and more karmic patterns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, however strong these thoughts may seem, they are\njust thoughts and will eventually dissolve back into emptiness<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you recognize the intrinsic nature of the mind<\/em>,\nthese thoughts that seem to appear and disappear all the time can no longer\nfool you. Just as clouds form, last for a while, and then dissolve back into\nthe empty sky, so deluded thoughts arise, remain for a while, and then vanish\nin the voidness of mind<\/em>; in reality nothing at all has happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of\nthe rainbow appear; yet they have no substance that you can grasp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety \u2013 devotion,\ncompassion, harmfulness, desire \u2013 are utterly without substance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no thought that is something other than voidness; if\nyou recognize the void nature of thoughts at the very moment they arise, they\nwill dissolve<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Attachment and hatred will never be able to disturb the\nmind. Deluded emotions will collapse by themselves. No negative actions will be\naccumulated, so no suffering will follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mind has, in general, two aspects, stillness<\/em> and movement<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the mind is quiet and free from thoughts, like a\ncalm pool; this is stillness<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, thoughts are bound to arise in it; this is movement<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n In truth, however, although in a sense there is a movement\nof thoughts within the stillness, there is actually no difference between these\ntwo states \u2013 just as the nature of stillness is voidness, the nature of\nmovement is also voidness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stillness and movement are merely two names for the one\nmind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the time we are unaware of our state of mind and pay\nno attention to whether the mind is still or moving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While you are meditating, a thought might arise in your mind\n\u2013 the idea of going shopping, for instance. If you are aware of the thought and\njust let it dissolve by itself, then that is the end of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you remain unaware<\/em> of what is happening and let that thought grow and develop, it will lead on to a second thought, the thought of having a break from your practice, and in no time at all you will find yourself actually getting up and going out to the market. Soon many more thoughts and ideas will arise \u2013 how you are going to buy this, sell that, and so forth. By this point you will be a very long way away from your meditation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is completely natural that thoughts keep on arising. The\npoint is not to try to stop them, which would be impossible anyway, but to liberate\nthem<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is done by remaining in a state of simplicity, which\nlets thoughts arise and vanish again without stringing onto them any further\nthoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you no longer perpetuate the movement of thoughts, they\ndissolve by themselves without leaving any trace. When you no longer spoil the\nstate of stillness with mental fabrications, you can maintain the natural\nserenity of mind without any effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, let your thoughts flow, and watch the unchanging\nnature behind them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, abruptly cutting the flow of thoughts, look at\nnaked awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Innumerable thoughts and memories, stirred up by the\ntendencies to which we have become habituated, arise in the mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One after the other, each thought seems to vanish into the\npast, only to be replaced as the next, in its turn, becomes fleetingly present\nto the mind before itself giving way to future thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Each thought tends to pick up the momentum of the one before\nit, so that the influence of a string of thoughts grows as time passes; this is\ncalled \u201cthe chain of delusion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as what we call a rosary is in fact a string of single\nbeads, so also what we usually call the mind is really a succession of\nmomentary thoughts; a trickle of thoughts makes the stream of consciousness,\nthe mind-stream, and the mind-stream leads on to the ocean of existence. Our belief\nthat the mind is a real entity is a conclusion based on insufficient\ninvestigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We believe a river we see today to be the same river we saw\nyesterday, but in reality a river never stays the same even for a second \u2013 the\nwater that made up yesterday\u2019s river will surely be part of the ocean by now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The same is true for the countless thoughts that run through\nour \u201cmind\u201d from morning to evening. Our mind-stream is just a succession of\ninstantaneous thoughts; there is no separate entity that you can point out as\nbeing a mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, if we analyze the thought process carefully, it becomes\nevident that past thoughts are already dead, like a corpse. Future thoughts\nhave not yet been born. As for present thoughts, they cannot be said to have\nany properties such as location, color, or shape. They leave no traces, and\nindeed they are nowhere to be found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, there could be no possible point of contact between\npast, present, and future thoughts. If there were any real continuity between,\nfor instance, a past thought and a present thought, that would necessarily mean\neither that the past thought is present or that the present thought is past. If\nthe past really could extend to the present in this way, it would also follow\nthat the future must already be present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But nevertheless, ignorant of the true nature of thoughts,\nwe maintain the habit of seeing them as being continuously linked, one after\nanother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the root of delusion<\/em>, and this is what allows us to be more and more dominated by our thoughts and emotions, until total confusion reigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is of vital importance to be aware of the arising of\nthoughts and to still the waves of thoughts that assail you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anger, for instance, is an extremely destructive tendency\nwhich spoils all the good qualities you may otherwise have. No one enjoys the\ncompany of an angry person. There is nothing inherently very frightening about\nthe appearance of snakes, but because they are generally very aggressive, the\nmere sight of them inspires fear and loathing. Whether in a human or a snake,\nsuch a preponderance of anger is nothing more than the outcome of an unchecked\naccumulation of negative thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If at the very moment an angry thought arises, you recognize\nit for what it is and understand how negative it is, your anger will calm down\nof its own accord, and you will always be able to stay on good terms with\neveryone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, if you let that first angry thought give rise to a second angry thought, in no time at all, your anger will be completely out of control, and you will be ready even to risk your life to destroy your adversary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: Taken and lightly adapted from Ricard, Matthieu. On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters<\/em> (p. 160-163). Shambhala. Kindle Edition. This quotation is from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. <\/p>\nStillness and Movement<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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