how to set the mind free...

[Gem]

Originally Posted by heart

Like the Indian and cowboy who sat down in front of an open fire talking about life, after smoking for a while in silence the Indian drew a circle in the sand declaring that this is the sum total of what he knows, the cowboy draws an even bigger one around the Indians saying that he knows more than he, after a pause the Indian gets up and encircles the entire camp area,

what does this mean said thew cowboy

this represents what it is we both do not know, replied the Indian


Even though I said it takes time to remember who we are it is a never ending story unfolding before us all, its quite amazing really

I like your representation of the knowledge competition. To me it says that although the Indian knows far less, he is wiser. In this context that is relevant, because many people seem to think that knowing a lot about Buddhism is the mainstay of Buddhism - they argue over right and wrong too much - but Buddhism is much more about insight and wisdom that it is about knowledge. In the schools (at least the schools I have attended) the Buddhist philosophy is explained along with meditation practice so that people 'see' what is later talked about. Not to remember what is said, but to understand it though the insight of seeing for yourself. That insight or direct seeing is a different kind of learning. It's the understanding in realisation that transforms you toward wisdom through the real lived experience. So the Indian realises the insignificance of what he knows in reltion to what he understands, if that makes sense.

[Heart]

The mind is like water

A water boatman will pick up the slightest ripple from a distressed insect trapped on the surface, it can then choose to explore its origin or ignore it. Likewise, the mind is like a radio sending and receiving signals, all you and I have to do is tune into each others minds and use the first ever known form of long distance communication…. Telepathy
Of course most people are in a state of need, want, desire so all they get is the experience of… need want desire, not what they thought they would get in the first place but the mind put in place the objects of neediness be it an inward and outward stimulant

The mind is like water, it shapes itself to the object that is holding it in place. It wont let go untill that object is disolved, likewise a body is formed out of mind stuff, that created from previous experiences be it this life or past ones, just remember ones present moment is the sum total of all experience put together in one single moment of… now. When the body dies so does the mind the soul carries the experience to the next or so I understand. please correct I

The flow of the mind is like the flow of water either by being fast or slow rough or calm but of course stillness is motionless, by this the slightest ripples are seen and felt. Another entity may tread through my poddle of stillness but the water/mind itself is not I. I just wait for the ripples on the surface to stop and then I can see myself again, (detachment to results) I am just an image of the creation that resides within

Because a still mind no longer creates its own ripples its depth of understanding is deeper, one can gracefully submerge into knowing and not be overwhelmed

[Heart]

Originally Posted by Gem

I like your representation of the knowledge competition. To me it says that although the Indian knows far less, he is wiser. In this context that is relevant, because many people seem to think that knowing a lot about Buddhism is the mainstay of Buddhism - they argue over right and wrong too much - but Buddhism is much more about insight and wisdom that it is about knowledge. In the schools (at least the schools I have attended) the Buddhist philosophy is explained along with meditation practice so that people 'see' what is later talked about. Not to remember what is said, but to understand it though the insight of seeing for yourself. That insight or direct seeing is a different kind of learning. It's the understanding in realisation that transforms you toward wisdom through the real lived experience. So the Indian realises the insignificance of what he knows in reltion to what he understands, if that makes sense.

it is after much reflection and introspection (and a smoke of the pipe, lol) we find the words to describe something that is hard to see just by the mere fact it size is incomprehensible for example.. I am an insignificant speck of dust in the physical universe yet within I behold vastness of the emptiness as a reflection

When I was younger I loved to climb trees, from those lofty heights I could see the horizon, below my friends would ask I what it is I can see, I would try in words to describe the endless green ocean canopy and I am higher than all of them, of course in there ignorance they can only see the trees for the Forrest, there view limited by how far they can see

I would often stay up there swaying in the breeze looking out to the horizon asking what it is that is beyond, when these dull eyes of mine can no longer see beyond I have reached a limit, yet deep deep down I know there is more to explore and continue to climb the proverbial spiral of transcending wisdom within that is to have light shed upon its mysteries, for what is beyond the human eye is is child play to a mind that is open