Can you imagine a depressed or anxious Jesus? Would Buddha be stressed out by the unending demands of life? Very unlikely, you might say. You may think that Jesus and Buddha are deities, therefore they would not succumb to pressure the same way as we “mere mortals” do.
Even though we clearly are mortals, both Jesus and Buddha made very intriguing comments: Jesus said, thou can do greater things than I did; Buddha said, everyone can become Buddha. Both Jesus and Buddha suggested that we have the potential to be extraordinary. But how can we find our extraordinary qualities?
Perhaps the secret to finding the hidden treasure within us is buried under the famous phrase Buddha left: The Mind Creates Everything (Diamond Sutra). According to Buddha, whatever “everything” contains, be it physical matter such as our bodies, the sun, even a black hole, or any metaphysical elements such as heaven or hell, all are created by the Mind.
What did Buddha mean by the Mind? Some believe he was referring to the Big Mind, different from our individual minds. When we examine our own minds filled with worries and confusion, it seems like the Big Mind and our minds are entirely different.
What is the mind, anyway? Most of us believe that we understand what our minds are. With our minds, we perceive, feel, and imagine. With our minds, we define who we are, the world, the life, the universe, etc. Some consider the mind as ego; some say the mind is consciousness or awareness.
In Western culture, the mind is viewed as an extension of the brain, responsible for processing thoughts and feelings. So, is our mind merely a tool for the brain? If the brain processes information, is the mind just another processing unit? If the mind is linked to consciousness, do information processing activities occur at all three levels of consciousness: conscious, subconscious, and unconscious (as Freud suggested)? What do we understand about our subconscious and unconscious?
In Chinese culture, the character for “mind” is the same as the one for “heart.” Doesn’t this Chinese character (pronounced as Xin) resemble a heart shape? Clearly, in Eastern culture, the mind is seen as more than just the brain; it is more closely linked to the heart—emotions, psychology, and spirituality.
When we get into this type of inquiry, there always are more questions than answers.
So, what does this mean? In simple terms, we don’t really know what our minds are truly like. Many aspects of our minds are still a mystery. We only understand some parts of our conscious mind, although we aren’t very good at managing it.
The goal of this blog is NOT to give you another talk about how to use your mind to attract money or success. Instead, it aims to highlight how little we actually know about our minds and how to work with them.
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