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Cat and Mouse

betaboybetaboy Veteran
edited July 2011 in Buddhism Basics
Namaste,

In Buddhism, there's the story of some guy asking Bodhidharma to put his mind at peace. B asks him to find his mind first so that he could put it at peace. The guy realizes that he cannot find his mind.

What's the meaning of this story? When we observe our thoughts, they vanish. It's like a cat and mouse game. So is this the message - that as long as we're watching, there is no mind? Or is there something else?

BB

Comments

  • andyZandyZ
    How can you put at peace something that doesn't exist? That's the point of the story. If you realize it, just as the monk did after that encounter, you become at peace with your mind.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I don't think so. I think it means that when we are under the spell of our thoughts. We might think 'today sucks'. And it seems like that. But that is just a thought.


    I think it is like the monkey trying to get the banana out of the jar. The jar is narrow enough so that the monkey cannot get the banana out with his fist closed. Nor can he get his arm out of the jar. Only by letting go can he get out of the jar.

    When you are trying to make your mind not-angry the instruction to show the mind leads you to find that the anger is just a thoughtworld. Letting go of the thoughts the anger is only a tinge in the body. It is tiring because the anger blocks the flow of prana or life energy.

    Trying to get rid of the anger is also holding onto the anger.
  • NachoLibreNachoLibre
    I think that one of the meanings that we can find for this story can be that the mind is, as a conditioned phenomena, an empty phenomena.

    There is no unitary flow of conscience/thought that we can call "mind", there is just a continuous arising/ceasing (birth and death) of thoughts and states of mind (sankharas).

    Our mental aggregates born and die with every thought process, this is what the Buddha called "the process of becoming".

    I hope my opinion will be helpful to you.

    Blessings to you all,
    Nacho Libre
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