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Contemplating Conditions and Conditional Relations, Part 2
In 2012 at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, as light snow was falling, the Dharma talk began with the image of a pot without a lid—an image for the emptiness, fear, and longing for protection that arise from childhood when the little child does not yet know how to take care of herself. We often look for a “lid” outside ourselves—a lover, friends, parents—in the hope of finding peace, but when the “lid” is not a true source of protection, the inner turmoil becomes even more suppressed. Recognizing that the helpless child within us is still alive, carrying the original fear, is the first step so that we do not continue to carry a dependent psychology.
Practicing mindfulness with the first mantra, “I am here for you,” means we are present for ourselves; this is how we become the “lid” for our own being. When we breathe, walk, and sit in mindfulness, body and mind are one, and we touch and nourish the wondrous elements that are present, fully capable of embracing, looking deeply, and transforming anxiety and sorrow. By taking refuge in the sangha—a community practicing mindfulness, concentration, and insight—we do not close the door and hold our pain in loneliness, but open ourselves to joy, happiness, and the collective energy, so that each mental formation can be healed.
Looking deeply into all phenomena reveals that form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness all arise due to conditions; they have no fixed self-nature. Searching for “ultimate reality” in atoms, energy, or symmetry is only to seek conditions (objects of mind), not the object of true understanding; furthermore, the five sense organs cannot perceive the four basic elements. The most subtle elements, though they exist, are only conditions for the mind to construct—all are conditioned, impermanent, and illusory. Seeing the signless nature within the arising and passing, being and non-being, leads to liberation from suffering.