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The River of the Mind
Thay begins with a guided meditation recognizing that we are a continuation of our ancestors and teachers. Thay then illustrates the idea of continuation using the example of a seed of corn that grows into a plant of corn. Meditation can help us see the Buddha’s teaching that nothing dies but continues always in other forms.
Thầy delves into the practice of looking deeply into the river of the mind, using exercises from the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. He gives a quick overview of the first eight exercises and continues, elaborating the next four exercises. He discusses the ninth, recognizing mental formations; the tenth, selective watering of seeds; the eleventh, concentrating the mind; and the twelfth, liberating the mind. Thầy emphasizes that impermanence is the nature of things and that believing otherwise causes us to suffer. He promises to discuss the last four exercises later.
Thầy offers teachings on the Three Doors of Liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness.
This is the third talk in a series of five given during the Together We Are One: Nurturing the Beloved Community retreat in the year 2011. Thầy offered this talk at Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, California, in the United States.