What is mind?

What is mind?

Part of an ongoing series of teachings based on Approaching the Buddhist Path, the first book in “The Library of Wisdom and Compassion” series by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron.

  • How Buddhism describes the mind
  • Conditioning the mind to increase certain factors and decrease others
  • Primary consciousness and mental factors
  • The ultimate nature of the mind
  • How the afflictions relate to the mind

04 Approaching the Buddhist Path: What Is Mind? (download)

Contemplation points

  1. Part of Venerable Chodron’s motivation was her encouragement to earnestly contemplate who do I use or look at with the thought of what can I get from them? What can I get out of them? It takes courage and time to look at it, but it’s an important step for the development of bodhichitta.
  2. What is the purpose of Dharma education?
  3. If we really want to understand the Dharma what do we have to know?
  4. Our mind is changing from moment to moment. What does this quality of changeability indicate?
  5. What is an analogy for the changeability of mind?
  6. In order to prove that the afflictions can be eliminated from the mind, what do we have to prove?
Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.