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Basic Buddhist Teachings 11 - The Five Mental Formations - Perception
Spring is likened to the thunder that awakens all beings, and mindfulness is the method for renewing the inner self:
• The Puppy – the story of a child who spent several months in a warm room and was, for the first time, brought out to greet the vast spring sky – illustrates the bewildered mind of “first contact.”
• During the rains retreat in Vesali, after using concentration to heal illness and teaching about precepts–concentration–insight, the Buddha instructed the bhikkhus to “take refuge in themselves” – to rely on the island within so that the waves of delusion cannot overwhelm them.
Following this are folk and canonical illustrations of forgetfulness, awakening, and the ultimate dimension:
- The “mirror of karma” clearly reflects past good and evil; the “soup of forgetfulness” causes us to forget and repeat mistakes – mindfulness is the “soup of awakening” that keeps us from forgetfulness.
- The story of the almond tree blossoming before Saint Francis of Assisi; the teaching of entering the noumena through forms helps us transcend old dualities.
- The Lotus Sutra opens the door from the historical dimension (the Buddha’s life story) to the ultimate dimension (the dharma body, unborn and undying): the jeweled stupa of Many Treasures appears, countless transformation bodies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas gather, emphasizing interbeing and the power of the dharma body that transcends space and time.