Tibetan Monk, Lama Thubten Yeshe gives a poignant and thoughtful perspective on how our mind trips, the things that “trip” us up, the places lingering in the unrealized elements of our being. If we can be honest with ourselves and not over spiritualize our experience, we can find the underlying cause of our long and often unwelcomed trips. Who needs the baggage?
“WHEN I TALK ABOUT MIND, I am not just talking about my mind, my trip. I am talking about the mind of each and every universal living being. The way we live, the way we think-everything is dedicated to material pleasure. We consider sense objects to be of utmost importance and materialistically devote ourselves to whatever makes us happy, famous, or popular. Even though all this comes from our mind, we are so totally preoccupied by external objects that we never look within, we never question why we find them so interesting.”
“As long as we exist, our mind is an inseparable part of us. As a result, we are always up and down. It is not our body that goes up and down, it’s our mind-this mind whose way of functioning we do not understand-not just our body, but our mind. Therefore, sometimes we have to examine ourselves-not just our body, but our mind. After all, it is our mind that is always telling us what to do. We have to know our own psychology or, in religious terminology, perhaps, our inner nature. Anyway, no matter what we call it, we have to know our own mind.”
“Don’t think that examining and knowing the nature of your mind is just an Eastern trip. That’s a wrong conception. It’s your trip. How can you separate your body, or your self-image, from your mind? It’s impossible. You think you are an independent person, free to travel the world, enjoying everything. Despite what you think, you are not free. I’m not saying that you are under the control of someone else. It’s your own uncontrolled mind, your own attachment that oppresses you. If you discover how you oppress yourself, your uncontrolled mind will disappear. Knowing your own mind is the solution to all your problems.”
Bronwyn Morgan is the Feature Spirit Contributor for CONNECT and is the founder and resident meditation coach at Bliss In Me Meditation. Visit www.blissinme.com.
