Knowing the Mind......
When you know that mind, when you see it for yourself, one of the
results will be an insight that the mind is independent of this
body. Independence means that when this body breaks up and dies,
when it's cremated or when it's buried, or however it's destroyed
after death, it will not affect the mind. You know this because you
see the nature of the mind. That mind which you see will transcend
bodily death. The first thing which you will see for yourself, the
insight which is as clear as the nose on your face, is that there
is something more to life than this physical body that we take to
be me. Secondly you can recognise that that mind, essentially, is
no different than that process of consciousness which is in all
beings. Whether it's human beings or animals or even insects, of
any gender, age or race, you see that that which is in common to
all life is this mind, this consciousness, the source of
doing.
Once you see that, you have much more respect for your fellow
beings. Not just respect for your own race, your own tribe or your
own religion, not just for human beings, but for all beings. It's a
wonderfully high-minded idea. "May all beings be happy and well and
may we respect all nations, all peoples, even all beings." However
this is how you achieve that! You truly get compassion only when we
see that others are fundamentally just as ourselves. If you think
that a cow is completely different from you, that cows don't think
like human beings, then it's easy to eat one. But can you eat your
grandmother? She's too much like you. Can you eat an ant? Maybe
you'd kill an ant because you think that ants aren't like you. But
if you look carefully at ants, they are no different. In a forest
monastery living out in the bush, close to nature, one of the
things you become so convinced of is that animals have emotions and
, especially, feel pain. You begin to recognise the personality of
the animals, of the kookaburras, of the mice, the ants, and the
spiders. Each one of those spiders has a mind just like you have.
Once you see that you can understand the Buddha's compassion for
all beings. You can also understand how rebirth can occur between
all species - not just human beings to human beings, but animals to
humans, humans to animals. You can understand also how the mind is
the source of all this.
The mind can exist even without a body in the realms of ghosts and
angels (what we call in Buddhism Devas). It becomes very clear to
you how they exist, why they exist, what they are. These are
insights and understandings which come from deep meditation. But
more than that, when you know the nature of the mind then you know
the nature of consciousness. You know the nature of stillness. You
know the nature of life. You understand what makes this mind go
round and round and round, what makes this mind seek
rebirth. You understand the law of
Kamma.
