Pure mind

by Dhammacaro

Meditation is good for the mind, but only when it is practised in the right way, which means the mind and body must meditate together. If one practises in the wrong way, such meditation can produce wrong results. There is a Zen story which gives a good example of this. Here is the story:

There were two monks, one senior and the other junior, who were travelling together.  Along the way the senior monk performed various activities and the junior monk just sat meditating. The senior monk asked the junior monk about that. “I am training my mind”, said the junior one, The seniour monk asked the junior one, “Yes, tell me how you are training your mind.  If you are practising in the wrong way, I can advise you.” At the end of the conversation, the seniour monk advised, “What you practise is right, anyway I would like to advise you about the meditation objects. Have you ever heard that outside, or mental objects are not as valuable as the inside subjective ones, or the mind?” The junior monk said, “Yes, I have and what does it really mean?” The seniour monk advised the junior one, “It means that the mind is more important than the objects, because they come and go. So don’t hold on to them, just let them go without having any opinion and judgement.” The junior monk said, “Very well, I will remember that the mental objects are not as good as the mind. What should I do next?” The senior monk said, “You should observe your mind closely.  Everything you think, speak and do has to come from your mind.” “That is very good advice,” commented the junior monk,  “ I’ll put it into practice.”

Yes, it is true that everything we think, speak and do, must come from our mind. Because the outside objects mostly come from opinion and judgement, be sure not to give them importance. Just learn from them and let them go without further opinion, or judgement. And in order to think, speak and do things from the mind, we need meditation to train, or purify the mind.

Believe it or not, the pure mind produces pure thoughts, speech and actions.