–Volume 1 (Part 6)
Author: Fafu
Translator : Lotus
Dear Dharma friends,Hello everyone. Welcome to this episode of the podcast contributed by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, we continue to explore how the Buddha instructed Ananda, revealing the true nature of the mind, dispelling delusions and attachments, and guiding us toward the path of Samatha to transcend the cycle of birth and death.
1. Mistaking Delusion for the True Mind
The story begins with a simple action by the Buddha. He raises his golden arm, clenches his fingers into a fist, and asks Ananda, “Do you see it?” Ananda replies, “I see it.” The Buddha then asks, “What do you see?” Ananda responds, “I see the Tathagata raising his arm and clenching his fingers into a radiant fist, illuminating my mind and eyes.”
The Buddha continues, “What do you use to see?” Ananda answers, “I, along with the assembly, use our eyes to see.” This seems like an obvious response, as we are accustomed to thinking that the eyes are the tools for seeing. However, the Buddha probes deeper: “When my radiant fist illuminates your mind and eyes, what do you take as your mind?” Ananda replies, “I examine and pursue with my mind, and that which can reason and think is my mind.” This is akin to how we often say, “Think carefully with your mind.” Ananda believes that the mind capable of thinking, discriminating, and analyzing is his true mind.
This is Ananda’s initial understanding, and it reflects the habitual thinking of most of us. We tend to assume that this thinking, discriminating, and analyzing deluded mind is our true mind. However, this is precisely the crux of the problem!
2. This Is Not the True Mind
The Buddha sternly declares, “You are mistaken, Ananda! This is not your true mind!” Shocked, Ananda asks, “If this is not my mind, then what should it be called?” This question reflects our own confusion: if the faculty that thinks and discriminates is not the mind, then what is the true mind?
With compassion, the Buddha explains that what Ananda considers his “mind” is merely “delusive thoughts arising from external objects.” It is a false attachment and delusion rooted in the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental phenomena. This so-called “mind” is not the true mind but a delusive construct that arises dependent on external conditions. It is like a shadow, appearing and disappearing with the changes of external objects, lacking an independent essence. Since beginningless time, sentient beings have mistaken this delusive “discriminating mind” for their true mind, essentially “mistaking a thief for themselves”!
Due to this erroneous perception, we overlook the inherently pure and unchanging “original, constant true mind” and endlessly chase after illusory dreams, thus becoming trapped in the cycle of birth and death. Day and night, we use this “deluded mind” to think and judge, unaware that it is the very root of samsara.
3. Ananda’s Confusion
Upon hearing this, Ananda is gripped by fear and confusion. He says, “World-Honored One, I left home to follow you, made offerings to the Buddhas, and practiced difficult Dharma, all with this mind. If this is not my mind, am I not then a mindless person, like mere earth or wood?” This reflects our own reliance on the “thinking and discriminating mind.” If this is not the true mind, what do we have left?
4. The Essence of the Wondrously Clear True Mind
With boundless compassion, the Buddha further teaches: “The Tathagata has always said that all phenomena arise from the mind and are manifested by the mind.” All conditioned phenomena—cause and effect, worlds, and even the tiniest particles—are illusory manifestations arising from the “wondrously clear true mind.” This true mind is pure, constant, and does not arise or cease with external conditions. It gives rise to all phenomena, yet remains untainted by them.
If this “discriminating mind” were the true mind, it should exist independently, separate from the six sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental phenomena—retaining its own inherent nature. However, Ananda’s “discriminating mind” arises dependent on external conditions. For example, it arises only when hearing a sound; without sound, the discriminating mind ceases to exist. This shows that it is not the independent, eternal true mind but merely a “shadowy mental objects.”
The Buddha explains with an example: even if you extinguish all seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and abide in a state of inner stillness and emptiness, this is still a “mental object” (dharma-dust). The true mind exists independently of the six sense objects and is neither arising nor ceasing. If the “discriminating mind” vanishes along with the disappearance of the six sense objects, then your Dharma body—your true nature—would also cease to exist. If that were the case, how could you attain the “patience with the state of mind in which no mental objects arise”?
The Buddha concludes that even if practitioners in the world attain the “nine successive stages of meditative concentration,” if they still cling to this “deluded mind” and mistake it for the true mind, they cannot achieve the exhaustion of defilements nor attain the fruit of Arhatship. This is why Ananda, despite his vast learning, has not yet realized the holy fruit.
5. Conclusion
The Buddha teaches that the wondrously clear true mind is pure, constant, and capable of giving rise to all phenomena, yet it remains unbound by them. It is our inherent nature and the foundation for transcending the cycle of birth and death.
May we awaken to the true mind and attain ultimate liberation. Thank you all of you!
