The Bright True Mind Is Always With You

The only thing that does not change is your true mind. It is the “observer” in the world of your inner mind that knows when you are cold, knows you are getting old, knows when afflictions arise. It is something that exists that is pure and lucid like a bright mirror, and unshakeable as a diamond. It will not change, nor will it be damaged. It is like a clear bright sky and a still quiet ocean. It alone can really be there with you always.

We know that change is the true characteristic of this world. Everything is this world is constantly changing, including the seemingly eternal sun, moon, and stars. Some people are aware of this, and feel that when humans are alive they endure suffering, because nothing they have can last forever: their feelings of love, everything they have worked at so hard, their reputations, their cars, their apartments, their parents and spouses and children, even their own lives. They very much want to know whether or not there is anything that will not change.

There is, but there also is not. We say there is, because Buddhism recognizes that there is one state that is eternal – this state is called “the diamond mind.” We say there is not, because the diamond mind is not a concrete material object, and even if you look in every corner of the whole world, you will not find a thing called “the diamond mind.” The diamond mind is the indestructible true mind; it has no beginning and no end, and is neither born nor extinguished.

Buddhist wisdom recognizes that although everything in this world is illusory transformation and unreal and impermanent, nevertheless, the wisdom that can perceive the law of impermanence is not “inert emptiness” – it is the inherent true mind of living beings, the fundamental original mind. Change is the immutable truth. Everything in the world is undergoing changes, and is all changing every moment – but this truth of “change” does not change, and the awareness that lets you experience this truth does not change either. What is this awareness is our recognition of the truth. This truth itself is a kind of law inherent in nature – it is impermanence.

The true mind that can recognize the truth of impermanence always accompanies all living spirits. No matter how many times our living bodies experience the cycle of birth and death, and how many times we go through the process from being born to being destroyed, or how we are transformed from this embodiment into another embodiment, this true mind never leaves us. Even if we do not understand it clearly, it is always there. You cannot see it, but it really exists. It has no beginning, and it has no so-called end. It cannot be defiled by the ashes and dust of false thoughts, and it has no so-called clean or unclean. It cannot be increased, and it cannot be reduced. It is the spiritual nature hidden in the depths of your inner mind. It is the basis for you to transcend life, and even transcend birth and death, and realize liberation. When you have recognized it, then you spontaneously accept the impermanence of the world. You discover that although change is painful, it is also the causal basis for you to be able to live independently. This is because everything that seems real, including what your eyes see, what your ears hear, what your nose smells, what your body touches, and all the thoughts in your brain – all of these things are the many apparent forms that appear after the myriad material causes and conditions come together. We cannot say that they never existed, but they return to empty inherent nature, empty and illusory and impermanent. When the previous causal conditions disperse, they immediately change.

Let’s take a simple example. Did the wild animal you saw in a dream exist? In actual fact, it does not exist, but in the dream, it did really exist, and you were mangled and mauled by it, and could not get away. In your memory, it also really existed, and after you woke up, you still knew that you had dreamed of something frightening. But when the dreams and the memories dissolve away, it too dissolves away. In other world, when the previous causal conditions disperse, the wild animal in the dream will immediately dissolve away.

In fact, the so-called real world is also this way. It is not substantially different from a dream. These are all things formed by the coming together of causal conditions, and when the causal conditions disperse, they dissolve away, and when new causal conditions come together, they are transformed into another shape. For example, when you turn left at a crossroads, you see a female student carrying a book bag on her back. You brush by her, and then she exists in your world. But she immediately becomes a memory, and you may soon forget her. Once you have forgotten her, in your world she has disappeared forever. If you understand its real substance, her existence was only something like a dream or illusion. Take another example. You speak of a deep love that you will remember all your life, but one day your partner no longer loves you, and after a few years you end up not caring anymore, and then you discover that that past sweet tenderness was like a dream. Even the girl you loved seems like someone in a dream. The way she thinks has changed, and her attitude toward you has changed, and she is no longer that girl you loved, and of course, you yourself have changed. Another example. You see a very pretty girl and you have a good feeling toward her, and so you focus your attention on her. You wait for an opportunity to get to know her, and you even fantasize many beautiful things that will take place between you. As Tolstoy said in Anna Karenina, “The whole universe is waiting for the signal to be sent.” But she suddenly spits out a mouthful of phlegm on the ground. You are abruptly turned off, and all your fantasies are destroyed, and the good feelings you had for her immediately evaporate like dewdrops in the hot sun, and nothing remains. Obviously, everything in the world is constantly changing, so it’s like one dream after another, like a stream of water whooshing by. It goes on changing, and has never stopped.

The only thing that does not change is your true mind. It is the “observer” in the world of your inner mind that knows when you are cold, knows you are getting old, knows when afflictions arise. It is something that exists that is pure and lucid like a bright mirror, and unshakeable as a diamond. It will not change, nor will it be damaged. It is like a clear bright sky and a still quiet ocean. It alone can really be there with you always.

Nevertheless, it is not that everyone can discover its existence. It is like us being unable to see a white hair appearing on the top of our heads. If at this time someone tells you, “You have a white hair on the top of your head,” you will lower your head and look in the mirror, and try to find it in the mirror, and only then might you be able to see it. The person who told you that you have grown a white hair (the teacher), the mirror (the teaching), and the appropriate physical position (real practice) – these are the causal conditions that allow you to recognize true mind. When all the causal conditions come together and start to function together, then you will open to enlightenment, and discover your own inherent true mind. Thus it is said that recognizing true mind is also a phenomena brought about by the coming together of causal conditions. People who do not clearly understand the true mind can only go through the teachings, and do all they can to build up favorable conditions for illuminating mind and seeing its true nature. But if opportune conditions do not come, trying to force it can only add to a person’s afflictions.

For example, before you read this book or knew me, maybe you did not understand Buddhist wisdom, and you did not recognize the possibility that you would have ultimate liberation. But one day, your friend recommended that you read this book. In this book I have described a kind of absolute freedom and happiness, and you believe me, and a great yearning arises in your mind. In this state of great yearning, you faithfully put into practice what I am explaining here, and then maybe one day you will personally experience the kind of feeling I am talking about.

Thus we say, although the true mind is neither born nor destroyed, and is with us lifetime after lifetime, still, whether or not we can discover it, and when we discover it, and how we discover it, must depend on causal conditions. “Practicing according to causal conditions” is one of the Buddhist methods of cultivating practice. What it emphasizes is not forcibly seeking, but rather adapting spontaneously, going along with causal conditions, not giving rise to arbitrary notions of good and evil, not altering your mental state following the birth and demise of apparent phenomena. It is a wondrous teaching of using things and events to cultivate and refine the mind and spirit, and it is also wisdom exercising its function in the midst of life.