1.7. Sense of Mind
"Where is my mind?" you may ask.
We live in a world of mental experience every waking moment 24/7/365. All the senses converge on the mind, are known by the mind, and are responded to by the mind. Without the mind, there is, quite literally, no experience whatsoever.
For some starting with meditation on saḷāyatana, the mind as a sense is the most difficult thing to grasp in the beginning, the most difficult to perceive distinctly from the other senses. It's like we humans spend our entire life immersed in a gaseous atmosphere, without which we'd die in a few minutes, and yet we can say, "What air? I don't see any air. " In the same way, someone may say, "What mind? I don't see any mind. I only see trees and people and cars." But later it becomes obvious that you've only ever seen trees and people and cars in your mind.
As one progresses with introspection, mind become the easiest sense to perceive, not only because it is ubiquitous, but because it is so fast and relentless in its activity. It is so busy gathering information from the other five sense, collating them, interpreting them, and forming responses to them, that it becomes very easy to see and follow. There is not a single moment when mental phenomena are not available to experience, except perhaps in the deepest states of sleep and coma.
The Buddha himself remarked that his basic awareness consists of mental objects, namely feeling tone, perceptions and thoughts, and this was to be considered a remarkable quality.
tasmātiha tvaṃ, ānanda, idampi tathāgatassa acchariyaṃ abbhutadhammaṃ dhārehi. idhānanda, tathāgatassa viditā vedanā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti, viditā saññā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti, viditā vitakkā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
Therefore Ananda, you should remember this too as a wonderful and marvellous quality of the Tathāgata. For him, the feeling tone of experiences are known as they arise, persist and disappear, perceptions are known as they arise persist and disappear, thoughts are known as they arise persist and disappear.
-- MN123 acchariyaabbhutasuttaṃ
The speed at which the mind changes rendered the Buddha, a veritable master of similes, at a total loss for something to compare it with.
nāhaṃ, bhikkhave, aññaṃ ekadhammampi samanupassāmi yaṃ evaṃ lahuparivattaṃ yathayidaṃ cittaṃ. yāvañcidaṃ, bhikkhave, upamāpi na sukarā yāva lahuparivattaṃ cittanti.
Monks I don't see a single other thing that's as fast-changing as the mind. So much so that it's not easy to make a simile about how fast changing the mind is.
Meditation on the sense of mind
Transcript
Let's spend a little time with the sixth sense, the sense of mind. Bring your attention to the mind, become aware of this field of mental experiences. ^^^ Straight away, notice how different the sense of mind is from all the other senses. The mind is a totally different type of experience to all the other senses. Some constructed mental activities might help you to distinctly perceive mental experience. Silently, say the word "mind" to yourself. The appearance of a word in the mind. Inner dialogue is mental experience. Silently, spell the word "mind". "m-i-n-d". That's a mental experience. Take the letters of the word "mind", and sort them alphabetically. That's a mental experience. What's the very thing that you think of when I say the word "mind". That's a mental experience. What's the first thing you remember from when you were young? What was the last meal that you ate? All memories are mental experiences. Think about what you're going to do this evening? What are you going to do tomorrow? Thinking about the future is a mental experience. Imagine being 100 meters up in the air, looking down on yourself. Imagination is a mental experience. What is the thing that you are most concerned about right now? Worry is a mental experience. Anxiety is a mental experience. What is seven times eight? Calculation is a mental experience. Logic is a mental experience. Reasoning is a mental experience. Think of one thing you can do to really improve the quality of your life. Ideas are a mental experience. What is your mood right now? That's a mental experience. What it is like to be really sad, and depressed. That's a mental experience. What it is like to be really happy, elated, full of joy? That's a mental experience. When you fall asleep, your mind often gets flooded with hypnagogic images. That's a mental experience. All dreams are mental experience. Struggling to remember them in the morning. That's a mental experience. Think of somebody that irritates you. Send them some good wishes. That's a mental experience. Think of somebody that you like. Send them some good vibes. That's another mental experience. Think of some random person you recently met. Also send them some good wishes. That's a mental experience. What is your inner dialogue saying, the voice in your head? That's a mental experience. What are your plans for the future? That's a mental experience. Think of a beautiful sunset. Imagining seeing is a mental experience. Think of the sound of birds chirping in the morning. Thinking about sounds is a mental experience. Think of the smell of fish. Recollecting smells is a mental experience. Think of tasting pineapple. That acidity is a mental experience. Think of having an icy cold shower. That's also a mental experience. When you see something and think, "How beautiful". That's a mental experience. When you see something and think, "Ugh, how ugly". That's a mental experience. When you see something and think, "Yawn, how boring". That's a mental experience. Would you like some tea, coffee, fruit juice or water to drink right now? Choice is a mental experience. What's your favourite colour? Preference is a mental experience. What do you think about the current political situation? What are your views on abortion? What do you think happens after death? All opinions, views and beliefs are mental experiences. Your attention moving from one sense to another. That's a mental experience. The pleasantness or unpleasantness that arises in response to every single sense experience. That's a mental experience. Being able to name any object that you perceive. That's a mental experience. Your response to every object within experience. That's a mental experience. The fact of knowing that you're having an experience right now, awareness itself. That's a mental experience. These are just some examples to give you an idea of the range of mental experiences. It's in no way exhaustive, in fact it's almost impossible to exhaust the range of mental experiences. But these should be enough for you to recognise mental experiences as they occur within the mental field. Pay attention to your mental experiences. Understand these are all just the mental field, within the field of the mind. --- Notice how the mind changes relentlessly, nothing stays still even for one second. Attention moves between all the senses, perceptions and thoughts arise, responses are formed, knowing is always present and shifting. --- Notice how you like certain thoughts, how you dislike certain thoughts, how you are indifferent to certain thoughts. --- Right now, the important thing is not to analyse every little phenomena that occurs in the mind, but simple to understand that this is mental activity, these are mental phenomena, these are mental processes, these are all occurring within the mental domain. --- The important skill to develop is simply to understand when an experience is within the field of mind, to be able to clearly distinguish five sense experiences from mental ones. --- Keep coming back to this sense of mind. Give it your full attention.The mind is another area that can continuously be paid attention to, it is suitable as a primary object of meditation. So much so that the mind and mental phenomena are respectively the third and fourth categories in the satipaṭṭhāna system.
Please continue studying the sense of mind until you are familiar with its basic details, then move on to open awareness.
Q&A
Q: Do you have any questions or doubts at this point?