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side, that there s a real bell there  not a bell from our mind, but a bell from the side of the bell.
This is a totally, totally wrong idea  a complete hallucination projected onto the bell. Third, we
allow our mind to believe that this is one hundred percent true. We allow our mind to hold on to
this, to grasp this, as completely, one hundred percent true  that there s a real bell over there, that
that s the reality.
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This is ignorance. At that moment, we are making our mind ignorant, unknowing. We are making
our mind ignorant as to the actual nature of the bell, which in reality is totally empty from its own
side. What exists is merely labelled by the mind. The bell, which is totally empty from its own side,
exists merely in name. Being unaware of this is an example of how we make our mind ignorant.
Hallucination
Just as this applies to the example of the bell, so is it true for all other phenomena. Starting from
our I, the way we see ourselves, everything we perceive is as hallucinated as our view of the bell.
Our view is completely wrong and so too is the belief that we hold on to. Starting with the subject,
I, whatever we perceive in the course of a twenty-four hour day does not exist the way in which
we believe.
Think of everything we see during the course of one day; all the objects of form with which our
eye sense comes into contact  shapes and colors, billions and billions of things wherever we look.
No matter which of these billions of objects we observe, we see each one in just the same way as I
described our view of the bell. Just as we don t see the bell as merely labelled by the mind, similarly,
we don t see anything else we look at in its true nature, as merely labelled by the mind and totally
empty from its own side. Even though, were we to analyze the bell s mode of existence logically,
scientifically, we would understand the way in which it exists, that s not how we see it. The bell we see
is something else altogether. In the same way, we misperceive every other object of form that appears
to our eye consciousness. When we go into a supermarket or department store where even one
section contains thousands of objects, we don t see even one of them in the way it exists. We re in a
totally different world from the one that actually exists; our world is something else completely.
What we see does not exist in the supermarket or the department store. In reality, what we see
exists nowhere.
Everything we see is cloaked in hallucination. We go into a store and our mind labels things  this,
this, this, this, this, but a layer of inherent existence completely covers all these objects merely
labelled by mind. To us they appear as not merely labelled by mind, as existing from their own side 
an appearance that is totally non-existent, a complete hallucination. This hallucination encases the
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entire world of form, a world that exists merely in name.
It s the same with sound. Before I was talking about forms, visual objects of the sense of eye. But
we perceive much more than that. We have four other senses  hearing, smell, taste and touch.
Thus, sounds also exist merely in name and not from their own side. But again, we hallucinate with
every sound we hear, believing it to be inherently existent, when it s exactly the opposite. Every object
of every sense exists merely in name, as a valid base merely labelled by the mind. But as long as we
don t develop the wisdom realizing emptiness, we ll never see sense objects in their nature, the way
they exist.
Instead, we cloak these merely labelled sense objects in the hallucination of existence from their
own side and hang to that as true, allow our mind to believe in our own hallucination that there
really is something there. Because we do not practice mindfulness meditation on emptiness, or
dependent arising  mindfulness on the hallucination that it is a hallucination  we constantly
make our mind more and more ignorant.
For example, when we dreaming, we can practice mindfulness that this is but a dream. Similarly,
during the day, we can practice mindfulness that what we re seeing is but a hallucination. If we do
this, we re not meditating on something that exists as a hallucination  we re meditating that a
hallucination is a hallucination. As a result, what comes into our heart is an understanding of
emptiness, the ultimate nature of the circle of three  I, action and object. By doing this, we stop
making our mind increasingly ignorant. We stop constantly creating the basis for emotional thoughts,
delusions, attachment  those unnecessary minds that bring no benefit, only harm, and motivate
karma that becomes the cause of samsara and all its realms of suffering.
What is the mind?
What s true for the physical senses, as above, is also true for the mind, the perceiver, itself.
The mind is a phenomenon too. What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not body, not
substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects. Objects
appear to the mind and the mind can perceive these objects. As long as a mirror is not dirty, it will
reflect whatever object comes before it clearly. Similarly, since the mind is unobstructed by substance,
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form, objects can appear to it. The phenomenon that is mind perceives objects.
So, that is the base. In relation to that phenomenon, our thought creates, merely imputes, the label
 mind, and that s how the mind exists. The mind also exists merely in name; what we call mind has
been merely labelled by thought. It s like when a person is given a name. Mine is Zopa. Actually, it s
Thubten Zopa, and it was given to me by my abbot. According to tradition, when an abbot ordains
new monks, he gives them his first name. My abbot s first name was Thubten, and then he added the
Zopa. With his mind, he labelled me  Zopa. You received your name in a similar way. Whether you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]