The Dharma

Are You the Master of your Mind?

"Be Master of Mind, not Mastered by the Mind" — The Buddha.

Have you ever thought of killing yourself or someone you hated very much? To physically kill yourself or anyone will only generate more suffering, not only to yourself but to your loved ones. In the worst case scenario, because of the great amount of hatred and anger you might anchor yourself to before you close your eyes one last time in this life, you can be caused to reborn in the tormenting hells. Furthermore, the act of killing will cause immeasurable suffering to your loved ones. If they were unable to forgive or let go of what you had done upon their deathbeds, they will unwittedly subject themselves to related suffering caused by your foolishness.

Killing not only harms one's physical body, despite not being the cause of suffering, but makes a scapegoat out of it. Our bodies are nothing more than fragile materials subject to deterioration in due time. But our mind had accumulated so much greed, hatred and ignorance throughout the aeons that it will not cease to exist even if our bodies had become a lifeless heap. Our obstinate clinging to life, love or hatred is so powerful that it makes us circle tirelessly in circles in the six realms. What we need to "kill" is the deluded mind behind the chaos – the real culprit that lured us away from the absolute truth of life.

Our deluded mind, not only directs, but also script-writes so exquisitely our existence and produces countless "beautiful" movies centering around "I, me, mine and myself". An endless big budget taxing film project that occupies every single moment of our lives in vain.

So, if you still want to kill yourself or someone, why not pick up the sharp sword of Wisdom, and begin slaying off the concept of self? But yet while having no thought of holding the sword or of killing. If you can achieve that, you are liberated from your imprisoned self suffering that results from it.

Su.s.thitamati asks if he can join Manjushri so that they might together cultivate pure conduct.
Manjushri: Son of heaven, now, if you can take the lives of all sentient beings without using a knife, a cudgel, a large stick, or a stone, I will cultivate pure conduct with you.
Su.s.thitamati: Great sage, why do you say this?
Manjushri: Son of heaven, regarding sentient beings, what do you think of them?'
Su.s.thitamati: I think that sentient beings and all other dharmas are nothing but names and are all concocted by thoughts.
Manjushri: Son of heaven, I therefore say that now you should kill the thoughts of a self, of a personal identity, of a sentient being, and of a life, eliminating the thoughts of even these names. You should kill in this way.
Su.s.thitamati: Great sage, what instrument should one use to kill [in this way]?
Manjushri: Son of heaven, I always kill with the sharp knife of Wisdom. In the act of killing, one should hold the sharp knife of wisdom and kill in such a manner as to have no thought of holding the knife or of killing. Son of heaven, in this way, you should know well that to kill the thoughts of a self and a sentient being is to kill all sentient beings truly. [If you can do that,] I will give you permission to cultivate pure conduct.
— The Su.s.thitamati-devaputra-parip.rcchaa, "The Questions of the god Su.s.thitamati."

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