Mind Window

The human mind is like a glass window which should be open to see or learn about everything. Window-glass must be clean so that a clear picture can be seen through it. If it is clouded by dust, mud, soot and so on, one cannot see a perfect picture. The view one sees will be blurred. It is the same for the human mind. If it is clouded by greed, hatred and ignorance, it cannot perceive or understand things clearly. When there is no clear perception, the mind is deluded or is obstructed in learning from reality.

To clarify or purify the mind is the advice of the Buddha. For this reason, Buddhists learn to clarify or purify the mind so that it is clear or pure like a clean pane of glass. When we look through it, we can see the picture outside clearly or perfectly. There is a story which reflects this well. Here is the story:

There was once a young couple who had moved to a new house. The first morning in the new house, while they were eating breakfast, the wife looked out through the window and said to her husband, “Sweetheart look! Do you see the clothes which are drying out there? They are so dirty. How do people do washing like that? Don’t they know how to wash, or do they use bad quality washing powder? ” The husband said nothing but just followed with his eyes at where his wife was pointing through the window. Since then if she saw the clothes drying outside the window, she said about those dirty clothes.

A month or so later, one morning she was surprised by the cleanness of the clothes she saw outside the window. She spoke to her husband immediately, “Darling look! Our neighbour has learned how to wash clothes. I had my doubts that anyone could teach them how to clean clothes!”. He said to her, “Darling this morning I woke up early so I cleaned the window. It is because of this that you can see the real colour of our neighbour’s washing!”.

In reality, some of us are like the window-pane which is stained with dust, mud, soot and so on. Therefore, we are blocked in our ability to understand what we see. All we see passes through the window of our mind. If our mind window is unclear, we see everything and everyone as dirty or negative. So it is important to clarify or purify our mind and meditation is good method to do just this. We just learn meditation and put into practice. We will see things clearer and be wiser.

Before you look at things, look at your mind window and check to see if it is clear or not. If it is not, clean it. It is never too late to begin cleaning it!