Bats in the belfry

via

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.)

Share this on Facebook: Share

A Buddhist Parable about the Mind

Handling The Troublesome Mind
A Buddhist story about freeing oneself from the tyranny of thoughts, paving way for a silent mind. A short story about leading one from the mind to the no mind, a state of eternal peace.
Gautama Buddha one day asked one of his disciples to beg alms from a certain household and report to him at dusk. The monk returned to the master as per his command only to let him know that he would not beg for alms in that particular house again. When pressed for the reason, the monk answered, " I savoured the delicious food served and I suddenly felt an urge to eat something sweet. The lady of the house offered me a sweet dish. I then felt like sleeping and the lady immediately asked me to rest for a while. I was surprised by her ability to read my thoughts that I asked how she knew of my desires?"
"The lady replied, 'Witnessing my thoughts, my mind has become silent now that I can now see other thoughts as well"
The monk continued to Buddha, " Looking at her I had sexual thoughts also and now I am embarrassed to see her again for alms as she would have read my sensual desire as well. So I do not want to visit her house for alms"
The Buddha said that the monk ought to go to the particular house for alms again. He advised, "This time you will go as a changed person. Just be aware of your thoughts, every bite of your food and every step that you take. You will just have to watch every thought that arises, but do not co-operate with it . Disassociate with it and do not analyze it. No thought is yours, they come from outside!"
The monk did as advised by Gautama Buddha. He remained a mere witness to his thoughts and there was no co-operation from his end. There was a change within him, an inner peace, though the world continued to remain the same.
The one and only trouble is one's own mind. When one knows one's true self, the mind ceases to be.by Anon

"Friend and enemy, virtue and vice are in the mind only. Every man creates a world of good and evil, pleasure and pain, out of his own imagination only. Good and evil, pleasure and pain do not proceed from objects. These belong to the attitude of your mind. There is nothing good nor pleasant in this world. Your imagination makes it so."

- Holy Master Swami Sivananda,
Practical Lessons in Yoga (1)

So plastic is mind, so receptive, that the slightest thought makes an impression upon it. People who think many kinds of thought must expect to receive a confused manifestation in their lives. If a gardener plants a thousand kinds of seeds, he will get a thousand kinds of plants: it is the same in mind.

- Dr. Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.

– Ramana Maharshi, Be as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (Arkana)

“When the heart is happy it embraces the whole world. When the mind is happy it accepts the world as its very own. When the vital is happy it offers its very existence to the world. And when the body is happy it serves the world the way the world wants to be served…”

The Garland of Nation-Souls: Complete Talks at the United Nations
by Sri Chinmoy.

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance!
And transform your entire being into the image
of the Godhead Itself through contemplation. — Saint Clare of Assisi

buy this book: St. Clare of Assisi

Remember: if you want to make progress on the path and ascend to the places you have longed for, the important thing is not to think much but to love much, and so to do whatever best awakens you to love. — Saint Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle

buy this book: Interior Castle