Without Mind, There Is Nothing to Defile or Purify

We think we see the world as it is, but often we see it through the color of our own mind. The same person and the same event can look rougher and heavier when the mind is dark, and a little softer when the mind is clear.

Judgments of dirty or clean, and feelings of bondage or liberation, also arise within the mind's discrimination. This does not mean looking at the affairs of the world carelessly. First, when we notice what kind of glasses our own mind is wearing, we can also see outer situations more accurately.

No-mind is not a cold state with no thoughts at all. It is a clear place where discrimination and attachment have thinned, so things can be seen as they are. Practice begins before we force the world to change: it begins by setting down the glasses of our own mind and reflecting this moment like the sky reflected in clear water.

What matters in this teaching is not forcing the mind to look better or trying to change it all at once. First, notice where the mind is caught right now, and from that very place choose one step in a more upright direction. Practice is not a special event far away; it appears in the expressions, words, judgments, and care of the day.