(Half bell)
(Bell)
I want to know what is this consciousness? this mind?
Is it just a part of my physical body?
Or is it something else?
What is that and where does it come from?
In neuro-science, they speak of background consciousness,
which is very much equivalent to our core consciousness.
In Buddhism, we speak of core consciousness,
as a part of consciousness that always operates day and night.
Core consciousness is capable of receiving information,
storing information,
processing information,
and learning.
When you drive a car, it is core consciousness that is driving,
not your mental mind consciousness.
In the beginning, when you learn driving, you have to use your mind consciousness.
You have to focus your attention.
It is difficult.
But in the process of doing so, core consciousness learns.
And finally, you don't have to think about it
and you can drive like that, but your mind is thinking about other things.
So, it is the core consciousness that is practically doing most of the things,
including driving a car.
During the night, when you are sleeping,
and if your body feels cold, your hand reaches out for a blanket.
That is core consciousness, not mind consciousness.
Your mind consciousness might be in a dream.
You might see something such as you are swimming in an icy lake.
You can sit like that and you reach out for a blanket,
that is core consciousness.
Mind consciousness is much slower.
While you are driving, if you encounter something
and you can avoid an accident very quickly
that is core consciousness
It has learned and reacted very quickly.
If you had to wait for your mind to make a decision, it might be too late.
That is why, we can conclude that mind is slower and more expensive also.
Because our brain spends a lot of energy
while our core spends much less energy.
Mind consciousness is a kind of consciousness
that can, from time to time, stop operating all together
while core consciousness continues always .
When you are in a coma, mind consciousness may stop completely.
Or when you enter a kind of concentration, called no mind concentration,
you also stop completely, your mind .
There is no thinking at all.
And mind consciousness can operate jointly with eye consciousness,
ear consciousness, nose, tongue, body.
And mind can operate alone.
When you shut down all the windows of five senses, mind can work by its own.
When you practice deep concentration,
you can ignore everything happening around you,
you close all the five sense doors,
and you are deep in object of meditation with mind consciousness.
And mind consciousness can be in the state of concentration,
mind consciousness can be in the state of confusion.
The opposite of concentration is mind in dispersion.
And mind consciousness can be in the state of psychosis.
In the teaching of the Buddha,
whether it is mind consciousness or core consciousness,
it has to lean on the body.
It cannot manifest without the body.
And the body also cannot be on its own without consciousness.
So body and mind inter-are, It's like the left and the right.
If you think that the body can be without the mind, that is wrong.
That is not a living body, that is a dead body.
That is why, mind must lean on the body to be mind
and body has to lean on mind in order to be a body.
Mind and body inter-are and they manifest at the same time.
You cannot say that the body is first and the mind is later.
There is a process of mutual manifestation.
And then if you go deeper, you see that mind is a kind of body,
and body is a kind of mind
Your body is, first of all, an object of your mind.
Not only your body, but everything else like a flower or a tree or a mountain
you may think that they are objects or things existing outside of your mind.
But.. there is only thing that you can be sure of,
the mountain, the flower, the tree are objects of your mind.
And you cannot 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 an object of your mind.
That is why, in the teaching of Buddha, there are four realms of meditation.
You meditate on your body, you meditate on your feelings,
you meditate on your perceptions, you meditate on the objects of your perception,
which is the object of your mind.
Mind is an object of meditation and object of mind is an object of meditation
instead of saying mind and reality are outside of the mind.
And in Buddhism, we always say mind and objects of mind.
Mind and objects of mind inter-are.
Without mind, there is no objects of mind.
Without objects of mind, there is no mind.
And if you look deeply,you see that notion of mind and matter should be removed.
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 Mother Earth as the matter only is wrong.
We have to transcend both notions.
And the same thing applies to us.
In Buddhism, we say Nama-rupa, body and mind.
But Nama-rupa lean on each other to manifest.
And yesterday, we learned about action.
Our action continues always and our action is a kind of energy, produced by us.
And energy can manifest itself into mind-body again and again.
And it is possible if we live in mindfulness,
we can assure a more beautiful continuation in the future
as Nama-rupa, mind-body.
Mind-body are not two.
(Half bell)
(Bell)