GENTLY WHISPERED ~
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nature of the mind is important. Let me take a moment to illustrate how the speech and the body are like servants of the mind. If the mind has a wish to go, the body will move; if the mind has a wish to remain, the body will be still. If the mind has the wish to communicate pleasantly, the speech will convey pleasant sounds; if the mind has the wish to communicate unpleasantly, the speech will reflect this. In order to benefit all sentient beings, the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni taught the great vastness of the Dharma which is extremely profound. It is said that his reason for doing this was solely to enable sentient beings to realize the nature of mind. Hence the entire corpus of Dharma teachings, numbering eightyfour thousand collections, was given essentially to benefit the mind. I would now like to clarify what is meant by nature of the mind with an illustration based upon your own experience in a meditative setting. To begin with, completely abandon any preoccupation with things past and any preoccupation with things yet to come. Rest the mind without any distraction, for just a few moments, allowing clarity to become the mind's most apparent quality. Now in this clarity, call to mind cities that are not too far away and not too close (such as New York or Los Angeles), and actually see them with your mind. Were the mind something substantial, something real and existent with the quality of noninterdependence, then, before the mind could visualize a distant city, it would have to cross many mountains, rivers, plains, and so forth. However, because the mind is emptiness - insubstantial and interdependent - it is able to call to mind a distant city (like New York) without any arduous effort. Now, taking our example of these cities further, try calling to mind the vision of New York and Los Angeles simultaneously. If the mind was substantial, something tangible, and self-existent, then in order to see both places the mind would need to cover the distance between New York and Los Angeles, which is many hours by airplane, many months by walking. Fortunately, the mind's insubstantial nature (which is emptiness) allows us to be able to see New York City and Los Angeles in the same instant. Continuing further in this illustration, consider that the entire