Today I bring you a word from Thuten Dondrub, an Australian Buddhist monk. He has more than 26 years of experience in the practice of buddhism Tibetan.
He is well known for giving his teachings in a very accessible way, for his extensive knowledge, for his sincere heart and for his evident humility. I leave you with his words:
«The source of our suffering is in our mind. There are many external conditions for suffering to arise, but the root cause of suffering resides in the mind. Even our encountering external conditions has to do with our mind.
The sooner we understand that our own mind is the source of our suffering and that, fortunately, it is also the source of our happiness, the sooner we begin to understand that the only way to free ourselves from suffering is the radical transformation of the mind. mind.
If we transform it a little, we will overcome the suffering a little. But if we totally transform it, if we generate a real revolution in our mind, if we remove disturbing thoughts from it and develop all its positive qualities, we can see ourselves completely free from suffering and develop real happiness.
The happiness we seek is not something temporary or superficial. We may have never thought about what happiness we are looking for, but if we analyze it, we we want happiness that is perfect and lasting.
The function of the mind is to know, in every sense of the word "know"; Analyzing the word "know" we will see that there are many meanings of the word "know." Currently, we know quite indirect and superficial forms, especially through concepts, through reading or because of what others have told us.
Therefore, we now know in a very limited way because the disturbing thoughts that we all have prevent our mind from knowing perfectly and completely.
We can imagine what would it be like not to have these disturbing thoughts, none of them at all. There would be nothing to disturb our mind's innate ability to know, experience, and feel. I think it would be an incredible experience. Without these distractions, without all this confusion, the mind could just know.
But is it possible to get rid of these disturbing thoughts?
This is a great question, this is what all the Buddhist Dharma is about. Perhaps we can get the impression that this is possible because when we meditate, or try to meditate, if we focus the mind on an object such as the breath, even if we are not able to keep the mind on the breath for long, to experience perfectly and total, 100% the breath, to become one with the breath, even so, if we make an effort, what happens?
We all experience that if we try for some time, the disturbing thoughts, the mental agitation, are reduced.
I hope that we have all had that experience, at least once, at least for a few moments, the disturbing thoughts, even if they do not go away completely, at least they are reduced.
This is an indication that these disturbing thoughts have no power to control the mind. We can notice that when we do a simple meditation on the breath, however short it may be, the mind begins to calm down and clear up, to become still, because that is its natural state.
Think about it.
So far the words of Thuten Dondrub which I hope have given you some peace of mind and have convinced you of the need to practice meditation.
It is a great help, thank you very much.