Mind without SorrowA sorrowful mind refers to the condition of the mindwhere sorrow cracks the mind like dry leaves or soil.“All kinds of animals, even the great lion, when trapped by a hunter’s snare, will be tortured and lose its power.Likewise, although one may have lots of power, when trapped by the snares of passion will certainly would lose power and be filled with sorrow and torture.”Likewise, although one may have lots of power, when trapped by the snares of passion will certainly would lose power and be filled with sorrow and torture.”What is a Sorrowful Mind?A sorrowful mind refers to the condition of the mind where sorrow cracks the mind like dry leaves or soil. In some cases, it can be a result from disappointment in love. The mind will become dry, gloomy, longing for something, finally become dull and not want to know anything or do anything.“Sorrow from Love”Whether it is love for people, animals, or object it can be a cause of sorrow, especially if it is a relationship between a man and a woman.Normally our minds are as naughty as monkeys. Constantly changing. We sometimes think about one thing, then change to think about another. Sometimes we are in a good mood, sometimes we are not. One minute we want to listen to beautiful music, the next we want to have snacks instead. When we are full, we think it’s better to sleep. But later we might think it’s better to go out. When looking at out minds, we can see that it’s always changing and cannot stay in one mood for a long time.Strangely enough, once our minds become attached to the “mood of love” they suddenly stop changing. They are stuck as monkeys by birdlime or gluten.What is birdlime? It is a kind of resin which becomes sticky like glue. It is usually applied to trees or other places for the purpose of catching birds or other animals. When animals touch this they will be stuck there. When monkeys find birdlime. Usually they poke it with their leg out of curiosity. When the leg gets stuck, they will use another leg to push on the tree. Then, both of their legs become stuck to the tree. They will then try to use their hands and both of their hands will become stuck to the tree. Finally even their mouths become stuck to the tree and they eventually become completely stuck to the tree.Humans are also like this. Once we are in love, whether a boy loves a girl or a girl loves a boy, first we may think that it is just flirting for fun. However, when time passes by, we submerge ourselves deeper and deeper into the relationship, and finally, we are stuck in love. It can even get to the point that if we do not see our lovers, we are not able to eat anything.The word ‘sanii’ (charms) in Thai means cuteness or being nice. However, in Pali this word is pronounced ‘sineiha’ which means sticky rubber or birdlime. If we say “hey this girl is really charming”, please be aware that this woman has a really sticky birdlime to use to catch us with. Do not get too close to her, otherwise you might get stuck just as a monkey does to birdlime and therefore cannot escape or do anything else.Sorrow, longing for something and suffering in theworld is resulted from the love we give to people, animals, and objects.When we love each other, this is fine enough. Fine enough. If we love someone but that person does not love us back or he/she cheats on us or passes away, our minds will become very sad and dry. Before we used to love having many moods yet now we get easily annoyed when we hear someone singing or when our friends ask us out. We will be annoyed by everything around us. We do not want to eat, do not want to play, sing or dance. Our mind are dry, dull and cannot put with our own emotions. This condition of the mind is called “sorrowful mind”.Some may think that a sorrowful mind is certain because conditional love means the same as being doomed. What if we have a happy conditional love, in this case we will never be sorrowful. Unfortunately, in reality, this is nit possible. Everything in the world is under the law of the Three Characteristics. Things are always changing and will one day be destroyed. Therefore, no matter who or what we love. Whether it be a person, animal, or object we must be prepared for sorrow since one day it is sure to change or perish. If we love them dearly, we will be sad dearly. If we love them a little, we will be sad a little. If we love lots of things, we will be sorrowful many times. It is the way things are. Therefore, it has been said:“Whoever loves 100 things will be sorrowful 100 timesWhoever loves 90 things will be sorrowful 90 timesWhoever loves 80 things will be sorrowful 80 timesWhoever loves 40 things will be sorrowful 40 timesWhoever loves 20 things will be sorrowful 20 timesWhoever loves 10 things will be sorrowful 10 timesWhoever loves 5 things will be sorrowful 5 timesWhoever loves 4 things will be sorrowful 4 timesWhoever loves 3 things will be sorrowful 3 timesWhoever loves 2 things will be sorrowful 2 timesWhoever loves 1 thing will be sorrowful 1 time”In is concluded that ‘the more you love, the ore tears you will shed. If you don’t love, there will be no tears. The more you love, the more sorrowful you become. If you don’t love, the suffering will be gone.’Things We Should DoThose who attain Nirvana have minds that are focused on Nirvana and conditional love cannot have access to or disturb them. Therefore, they can get away from the pain of conditional love and their minds will never be dry or sorrowful.We, as ordinary people, cannot totally get away from the pain of conditional love nor can we cut the love out of our loves. However, if we practice meditation and think of death often, conditional love cannot have any influence upon us. Our minds will become more stable and we will be less sorrowful than other people. When we think of death our mind will be detached from love which is a cause of sorrow. When we think that death is unpredictable and we will have to die some day, we will be more reasonable and have more time to reflect on the important matters of life. We will become more careful about life and will try to do more good deeds. With this, our minds will gradually detach from love. When we practice meditation, we will be able to attain Nirvana. Finally, we can cut the conditional love, which is the cause of sorrow, out of our minds and our mid ns will become free from sorrow.Observation:“Sorrow, longing for something and suffering in the world is resulted from the love we give to people, animals, and objects. When there are no animals or other beings fro us to love, the sorrow, longing for something and suffering will never happen again. Those who have no animals or beings in the world that they are attached to, will be happy and will never experience sorrow. Therefore, who ever wants to be free from sorrow and purified from passion should never submit conditional love to any animal or being in the world.”" /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " /> " />
Mind without Sorrow
[ 7 ธ.ค. 2554 ] - [ 18262 ]
Desktop Version
