Definition

When people speak and argue for hours it is often because they do not have a clear and common understanding of what they are talking about.

This at times happens in Buddhism. (Believe me, I was there...)

Clear definitions allow everybody to  be on the same page when discussing or reading about an issue.

Tibetan Buddhism defines mind as what distinguishes sentient beings from rocks or trees or bodies of water. Mind is that which grasps - or rejects - something external. It is characterized by a discriminating awareness or a sense of duality.

 "What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not body, not substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects."

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Churning water.

I would like to share with you Matthieu Ricard's thought of the Week, directly from his Newsletter - suscribe to it !
 

Getting butter from milk is only possible because milk already contains cream. No one ever made butter by churning water. The prospector looks for gold in rocks and not in wood chips. Likewise, the quest for perfect enlightenment only makes sense because the buddha-nature is already present in every being. Without that nature, all efforts would be futile. 

JAMGÖN KONGTRUL LODRÖ THAYE (1813-1899)

 

 

Matthieu Ricard is a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, author and Photographer born in France in 1946. After completing his doctoral thesis in Molecular Genetics in 1972, he decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. He has been the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama since 1989.