The direct encounter of the neutral mind is to make you sublimely calm, tranquil and serene. That tranquillity transforms the personality completely. Once that calmness settles in, you have achieved the miracle. The miracle of being the master of your mind. No one can intimidate you with attractions of the material world. The lustfulness of the world.
What attracts you is the welfare of the other. When your neighbours make a request from you, you are happy. The sounds and noises from the neighbours make you joyous as you empathise with them in their various chores. You help a family and like a bolt from the blues you learn that its breadwinner is not very honest. The pleasure of helping is somewhat shaken, but you continue to help on behalf of the children in the family who foster good values. One can enjoy a game of cricket and cheer your side but at the same time empathise with compassion the sad emotions of the loosing side. Your tranquil mind is poised in harmony at all times. If you are concerned about the country and its people you try to keep alert to learn from the external sources, whatever it be, market place, reports or the daily news to gather as much information on the progress, specially of the poor in the country. This way your heart is open with concern and looking for an opportunity to give your assistance, how-over small it is. This way you are living in the reality of your heart with its spontaneous flow of love, caring and concern for the other. The reality of living in ignorance is to cyclically, habitually, whirl on with wants for yourself and your family only. The inner flexibility and universal energy that is longing to be released In each one of us is suppressed through our blind ignorance. In emptiness there is no motion, no movement.
Therefore, no friction. There is absolute stillness and silence. What joy! What bliss in such a situation! As there is no fire of desire in it to extinguish, it is absolute nibbanic experience. 'Bliss' from the empty source should not be dismissed hurriedly as the dhamma. The effort to get there is enormous and how can you be morbid and depressed and try to annihilate that too which you have achieved as a clinging? The Vedic philosophy always reminds us that "Bliss is your birth-right." The dhamma is to discover our 'nature as it is' which is hidden within us. The unfolding, un-conditioning constantly practising the neutral mind and empty mind hits upon this bliss. Suppressing this bliss is like throwing the baby out with the bath water! With giant effort the Buddha discovered it and in bliss he remained the rest of his life, in perfect relaxation! In his abode of peace, shanti vihara.
The space is sacred as everything arises and returns to it. When our minds are innocent and empty vessels, intuitive wisdom flows to us on the truths, the laws of nature. To the Buddha wisdom flowed spontaneously in this way. Space is so vast that if we keep against it all solids, liquids, plasma, gases in the universe there is nothing at all! The high temperatures of the burning hydrogen in the sun gives out a gas called 'helium'. Helium spreads thinly in space between the sun and an object of matter like the earth-planet. Even atoms are hardly found in space, a few scattered in-between. In nature, sub-atomic particles are separated by huge spaces and every atom is more than 99.999 percent empty space.
Lverythmg in nature that we recognise as solids including our bodies, is made up mostly of apace.
Deepak Chopra (see references) explains this further in his book "Quantum Healing", a national best seller. In this book he states that thoughts have the power to convert non-matter to matter. Peace in the mind can create chemicals of well-being in the body. Although the same thing happens outside the body in nature the process is not called thinking.
When the mind is blissful and empty all harshnesshas gone and the open, flexible heart ticks every moment with love caring and concern only. It is a beautiful way of living the dhamma. They are wonderful experiences!You realise that the heart is linked with emptiness and the heart is the
centre of intuitive energy. The pure, compassionate vibrations draw on the divine wisdom. You live inspired by wisdom every moment. There is no boredom. The empty heart does not weigh things to find what is beneficial or not for you like when living with the intellect. Your life now is light, buoyant and positive. Anger, hatred, envy, greed and grasping are the negatives that weighed our lives down with heavy burdens. Now all heaviness is gone. The heart is open wide like a sunflower turning to the direction of the sun and radiating its infinite compassion on everything and everyone. Equalised compassion expands its warmth to the gutter or the palace, in the same instant. The heart vibrations are then not personal, impersonally reaching the infinite cosmic universal vibrations. The self that was turbulent has become selfless and immersed in the universal space of peace. There is nothing remaining as "I" to give you pain. You walk with sweet soothing slumber of deep peace. Your mind has exited its own 'mind culture' that kept you bound to painful samsara. Whether it be material objects and things or, and love, caring and concern for others that you open your heart generously to give now flows, naturally, spontaneously, without an iota of restraint. With the open heart generosity is your nature. When we are living with the heart duality of samsara is gone. You have captured the "oneness" of the astral dimension. You know it Ii 'oneness' because you move with equilibrium, balanced poise, peace of mind and harmony.
The mind that is neutral and empty is flexible, pliable and mouldable like fine clay one can mould a bird at one time and almost immediately a flower! This is because the mind is free, not in a box or a slot. The un-conditioning removes all fences allowing the subtle refined energy to expand and expand to the limitless infinite cosmos. No one can fence you anymore! A good example of rigidity are the ' birds and the bees'. Cyclically they go round and round with samsara. In the morning they wake up and go pecking for food. Then they have sex and little ones and look for defence and security. This habitual cycle makes them cling to their species. Because of this clinging they are born again to the same species. It may go on forever. Time and the place must be mature to nip this cycle and release them to a higher evolution. When, Oh when will that ever be! Like this, human beings may go on in ignorance with their habitual chores till that wisdom dawns at the right time and place to make the giant effort to nip the cycle.
Some are dedicated to service to others and may experience expansion of subtle energy. When their energy is expanding they know because they want to work for others without 'self. Without self means they work without a return whatsoever. Not even appreciation. Somehow sooner or later you will realise that this is not adequate if one is looking for release from samsara. As long as desire lasts samsara will last. If service is your desire you will get it in this birth and the next. There are "near death reports" that speaks of continuing service to others in the spirit realms. Mind is again fixed here without its innate liberty. With understanding and wisdom one can combine this noble service with the practise of the neutral mind and mind empty of thoughts. Liberty of the mind comes in no other way. One has to exit even the "mind culture" for absolute liberty and the ultimate reality of eternal peace. Long journey in samsara with birth, death and birth again must end to gain that ultimate reality of nibbuna. Even desire for religion can tie you down lo a box or a 'mind culture' and its rituals, without an exit into the peace of emptiness and infinite liberty.
Once we discover the space in our mind the universe is within us. Unmanifested space outside in the universe is the source where everything arises and returns to. The subtle energy expands. The energy heat from the sun is weightless and therefore, matterless. This light reaches the earth or another body of matter in rays. We call it rays because dot by dot it is a tiny squiggle, not like the gross waves of the sea going up and down, back and forth. This straight line like a ray is effective in transforming energy from one to another. It is a machine made x-ray ray that penetrates even matter. It is the venue of the scientist to find out whether disciplining, controlling, training, and developing the mind through meditation practises makes the expansion energy spiral, circular form or move in waves or in straight line motion. My experience and knowledge says that it is a dot by dot motion in a straight-line expansion.
When being empty of thought the body and mind is in deep relaxation. In perfect relaxation your energy is renewed and recharged. With constant practice of emptying the mind renewal is followed by expansion. They both go together. Sleep comes naturally. It is deep sleep that you experience without dreams and you touch your source, that is, before you were born. Your original home and your mind's energy renewed and refreshed. It is when at the awakening stage when the conscious mind intervenes that you are disturbed by weird, mixed dreams of this world and you feel very tired. It is not the astral world but this world that is packed with conflicts. The dreams assimilate the turbulences. Emptying the mind is emptying every thing including disturbing weird dreams. Then peace is within your nature every moment.
Neutral Mind and its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 3
