metonymy4u

Thoughts on Buddha mind.

The Buddhist concept of mind is that the mind is a sensory organ, subject to causes and conditions (i.e. one contingent event amongst many).

The failure to understand this is one of the habits that increases suffering. Because we learn to put more faith in our thoughts than other events (experiences, emotions, needs, urges, actions, dreams, etc).

This is why we spend so much time in zazen learning to notice the contingent nature of thought.

The western notion of freedom and disinterested morality may thus be a notion that increases suffering. By increasing clinging. Though wise intention IS a step on the 8-fold path, it is in many respects very different than western intentionality and freedom.

The dialectic may lead to deep ethical confusions. For example: why is it that we often take the most distressed members of our community (i.e. the “mentally ill,” “felons” or “deviants”) and incarcerate them? Why kick them out of the community in which they grew up, and in that way abrogate any opportunity for healing and recovery?