Understanding the Mind and Defilements : หน้า 60/164

Suzanne Jeffrey the body will die. (4) It likes to travel fast and far. The speed of light is 186,000 miles a second, so it takes 8 minutes to see from the earth to the sun. But our mind perceives the sun instantly. (5) The mind is very difficult to be seen simply because most people don’t take the time to meditate, in order to actually see it. (6) The mind can switch off and on a million times within one finger snap while the A/C switch can only switch off and on 50 times a second. (7) If we allow our thoughts to wander away from meditation, it is very hard to control our mind in order to bring it back - so it is better to prevent it from wandering in the first place. (8) The mind will think of the things that it is not supposed to think of – mostly about sensual pleasure, such as using the five senses. (9) The mind is very difficult to still – like monkey mind – and our thoughts work incessantly to keep us from meditating. (10) The mind is difficult to maintain in goodness – or in loving compassion – and it easily changes topics, and desires. (11) The mind is hard to control because it wants to think bad thoughts. (12) The mind is self-luminous but this disappears as a person grows older. (13) The mind can be trained indefinitely and endlessly. "Here are some cautions regarding the mind: The mind, under the influence of defilements or kilesa, will be forced to: (1) think what it should not be thinking about, (2) switch from one thought to another very quickly before it finishes the previous thought, and (3) become darker and more coarse. "Now what is defilement? Defilement is a kind of refined filthy element. It is manifested in the mind since our birth, just like sediment settles in the base of the water bowl. The more defilement we have, the darker the mind will become. It is an eternal enemy of the mind, just as rust is to steel, or disease is to the body. The threats from defilements are many and varied. First, we must remember that we are born with it. Defilement forces the mind to think, speak, and act badly, thereby forming bad habits. Defilement does not die with us, but remains within the mind and moves from body to body during our rebirth. So, defilement and bad habits follow us into our next life. "So, we wonder: How do we get rid of defilements? We must have the right understanding. If we blame others for our mistakes, we are fighting against the wrong enemy. We must control our mind by not looking outside of the body (even for meditation practices) but stay inside of the body. If we look outside, we get ‘hooked’ because our eyes are simply built that way. The moment we open our eyes, we are looking outside, instead of inside. So we tend to get ‘hooked’ by our environment: jewelry, perfume, beauty, and so on. Do not get hooked. Stay inside. Meditate. 56