{"id":41,"date":"2002-04-01T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2002-04-01T18:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/is-zen.solesearching.org\/en\/?page_id=41"},"modified":"2010-06-06T14:20:09","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T20:20:09","slug":"conquering-the-mind","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/on-practice\/conquering-the-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Conquering the Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mind is ill; it works feverishly without stop;
\nMind is split; it contradicts and changes;
\nMind is noisy; countless thoughts rise and fall;
\nMind misses the present; it lingers on either the past or the future;
\nMind is your tool originally; but it ends up as the master of your life. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Many people are not aware that their minds are ill and unhealthy. Because we are not aware that our minds are ill and unhealthy, therefore, we let our minds control us. Because we trust our minds completely, and we are willing to obey our minds. Consequently, the kind of mind state we have dictates the kind of life we have. If our minds are ill and we obey our minds, surely we know the kind of life we are going to have. Most people would agree with this statement without demanding proof.<\/p>\n

If your mind is ill, your life is ill. If your mind is crazy, your life is crazy. Since your mind cannot stop, your life is always on the run.<\/p>\n

Still, we just cannot accept that our minds are ill or unhealthy. Now, let’s observe. First, let us try to let the mind rest a bit. If you observe closely, you will discover that the mind cannot rest. The most it can do is to reduce the level of its craziness. It can change its operations from one mode to another. It can transfer its worries from one subject to another. It can change what was outwardly obvious to something subtly hidden. Yet, the mind cannot stop even in a split second. Even in our dreams, our minds are still active.<\/p>\n

Most of our organs will rest regularly, as long as they are healthy. The heart and the lung must work continuously without stop. If they stop, life is lost. If the mind stops, we will not lose our lives; but it just won’t stop. And even the heart and the lung in between each movement, there is a pulse. Mind, on the other hand, won’t pause at all.<\/p>\n

When you need to walk, you move your feet. They stop whenever you want them to. If your feet do not move when you need them to, and if they do not stop when you want them to, you will definitely go see a doctor. Yet, your mind cannot stop, but you will not go see a doctor. In fact, if your feet have the mind of their own, they do not listen to you and walk at their own freewill, you will go to the hospital right away. But on the other hand, your mind never listens to you ever since you were born. It controls you and you not only will not go see a doctor, you would think that this is perfectly normal.<\/p>\n

Why do we obey the mind? Because we think this is normal since everybody is like that. The whole world is like that. A mistake, if committed by everyone, will no longer be considered a mistake. You have been obeying your mind, not just for this moment, this lifetime, but for all your previous lives. When a mistake lasts so long, it would be taken as normal.<\/p>\n

If a country is prosperous and secured without enemies outside, and on the inside the emperor has no fear of someone is trying to take his throne, the emperor would have very little to occupy his mind. If the country is experiencing upheavals inside and outside, the emperor will have many concerns in his mind. Those concerns of the emperor are the serious sicknesses of the country.<\/p>\n

We can feel our mind constantly. The mind is restless, so the mind is sick.<\/p>\n

For the parents, the family member that they worry the most is usually the weakest one. The child that occupies the mind of the parents most frequently is usually sick or handicapped.<\/p>\n

When you are healthy, you barely notice your body. When Chigong and Yoga practitioners enter into their best meditative state, they will not feel their bodies. It proves that whatever part of the body that you can feel is usually the sick part. When your shoes fit, your feet do not seem to exist. However, if you have a blister or a wound on a foot, you will always be reminded of that foot, even if you want to forget about it. When your hands are healthy, you rarely touch them or pay attention to them. However, if you have lost a section of the finger, you will always try to touch that finger.<\/p>\n

If your teeth are healthy, you usually do not notice them. You will if you have a toothache. It is the same with your feet. Therefore, the body parts that you notice are usually the sick parts.<\/p>\n

Chinese has a saying, “Toothaches make tooth feels long; leg aches make leg feels short.” This is a clear description of pain.<\/p>\n

When your kitten keeps scratching her eyes, you will think that something is wrong with her eyes. When your dog keeps licking part of his body, you too will think that maybe something is wrong with that area.<\/p>\n

You constantly feel your mind. If it can be felt constantly, there must be a wound, it must be sick. Your mind cannot be forgotten. Cannot be forgotten is a state of unhealthiness, a state of sickness.<\/p>\n

The sickness of the mind is different from the sickness of the body. The mind’s sickness is well hidden, while the body’s sickness is very obvious. The mind is very abstract; the body is very solid. You cannot see the thinking of the mind; but you can see the body’s conditions.<\/p>\n

Your mind cannot stop. It cannot stop, and then it has contradicted the rhythm of the world. In this world, there are ups and downs, motion and stillness, moving and stopping, ying and yang, expansion and contraction, gentleness and violence. All these are normal. If something can only move and cannot stop, it is not normal. Watching it more closely, you will see that the mind is not only abnormal, it is insane.<\/p>\n

You obey your mind; as long as the mind does not stop, you will not stop. Those who cannot stop have a hard and wary life. It is pitiful. Your mind is sick, and if you follow it, all your hopes, dreams, and goals are also in a sick state.<\/p>\n

Your mind is insane. It controls you, and then you are also insane. Maybe you appear very quiet on the outside; but on the inside, you are one who was controlled by the insanity of mind, your thoughts are impossible to be sane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mind is ill; it works feverishly without stop; Mind is split; it contradicts and changes; Mind is noisy; countless thoughts rise and fall; Mind misses the present; it lingers on either the past or the future; Mind is your tool originally; but it ends up as the master of your life. Many people are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73,"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41\/revisions\/73"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/is-zen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}