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Heart of the Buddha 5
The Buddha’s first teaching on the Four Noble Truths brought the immaculate vision of the Dharma to Kaundinya, revealing that everything has the nature of being born and dying. This insight of interbeing shows that nothing can be by itself alone. Authentic Buddhist teaching must be linked to real suffering, as the path to transformation is born directly from the understanding of suffering. Everyone possesses Buddha eyes and a Buddha heart, which are the capacity to be awakened and mindful. By practicing mindfulness in simple acts like drinking water or breaking bread, the energy of concentration and insight manifests, allowing one to see the cosmos within a single piece of bread.
The practice involves reconciling relative truth and absolute truth. While the Four Noble Truths are presented as worldly truth, they are also empty of a separate existence. To see the nature of interbeing is to use the Buddha eyes to touch the absolute dimension where there is no birth and no death. Right view, the first element of the Eightfold Path, is defined as the deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the capacity to identify the four nutriments that sustain us.
The four kinds of nutriments are:
- Edible food, which should be consumed mindfully to preserve compassion and the health of our ancestors and children.
- Sense impressions, involving the toxins or nourishment ingested through the six sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
- Volition, the deep desires and intentions that drive actions and can either lead to suffering or liberation.
- Consciousness, specifically the store consciousness that receives the totality of consumption and manifests as our physical and mental life.
Guarding the six sense organs with mindfulness is essential for survival. Because the modern environment is filled with toxins, the practice of mindfulness must become a collective effort within the Sangha and the nation. We must look deeply into our desires, or our cows, to see if they are obstacles to our happiness, and practice releasing them to become free.
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