Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Nama-Rupa (mind and body) (2)

The followings are important messages from Thay in this video.

(Watch from 1:15:24 to 1:26:10)

And then, if you go deeper, you see that the mind is a kind of body and body is a kind of mind. Your body, first of all, is an object of your mind. Not only your body but everything like a flower or a tree or a mountain, you may think they are objective things, existing outside of your mind. But there is only thing you can be sure of. The mountains, a tree and flowers are the objects of your mind. And you can not demonstrate that these things exist outside of your mind. And you still behave as if they exist outside of your mind. 

But in this teaching, your body, your environment, everything is object of your mind. And that is why in the teaching of the Buddha, there are four realms of meditation. You meditate on your body, you meditate on your feelings, you meditate on your perceptions (mind?) and you meditate on the object of your perception which is the object of your mind. Mind is object of meditation, object of mind is object of meditation. Instead of saying mind and reality outside of the mind. In Buddhism, we always say mind and object of mind. So, mind and object of mind, they inter-are. Without mind, there is no object of mind. Without object of mind, there is no mind. 

And if you go deeply, you see that notion of mind and matter should be removed. And our distinction between mind and matter is an obstacle. And nowadays scientists have discovered that an elementary particle is very intelligent. There is mind in it. And it is mind. Somehow it is mind. So, when we look at the planet earth, if we see that it is a block of matter, we are wrong. We have to begin to see the earth as a living organism. And to describe the earth as the mind only is wrong. To describe the mother earth as the matter only is wrong. We have to transcend both notions. And the same thing is true with us. In Buddhism, we say Nama-Rupa (body and mind). But Nama-Rupa lean on each other to manifest. 
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And our actions continue always. And our action is a kind of energy produced by us. And the energy can manifest itself into mind and body again. Again and again. And it is possible. If we live in mindfulness, we can assure more beautiful continuation in the future as a Nama-Rupa, mind and body. Mind and body are not two.  

(end)