“World-Honoured One, when good men and good women have made up their minds to attain supreme enlightenment, how should they live, and how should they surrender their minds?”
Commentary:
This question asked by Subhuti is very common amongst Buddhists: How should I subdue, or control my mind to attain enlightenment? This is a typical example that shows how we sentient beings are deluded by illusions. Considering this question, we can see not only how illogical we are but also how unaware we are of what we say. For example, if someone says, “How can I look after my car?”, we don’t doubt that he knows what his car is like; its colour, age, size, condition and so forth, because this question is possible on condition that he knows his car. However, asking, “How should I subdue, or control my mind to attain enlightenment?” signifies that we are not aware of even the fact that we don’t know what our minds are, because knowing one’s mind is no other than enlightenment. In other words, one who knows one’s mind never seeks enlightenment because he is already enlightened.
When we say that the purpose of Buddhism is to attain enlightenment, it also means to realise what mind is.
There is a well-known dialogue between Bodhidharma and his disciple named Haega which shows this situation.
One day Haega said to Bodhidharma, “My mind is still not at ease. Please, make my mind at ease.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring your mind, and I will make it at ease.” Haega responded, “I can’t find my mind even though I have sought it.” Bodhidharma said, “I’ve made your mind at ease now.” At this moment Haega attained enlightenment, which means that he finally realised what his mind was for the first time.
Q: “How should I subdue my mind to attain enlightenment?”
A: “Find what your mind is prior to trying to subdue it.”
Q: “What is my mind?”
A: “Where is your question from?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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