Loosening the Knot

Since it is the mind that determines our experience, it is essential to have some understanding of the workings of it, the way it is. Although not a material object, our mind can tie itself up in knots when engaged in certain negative ways of thinking, just like a silkworm spins out silk threads and ties itself up in a cocoon. Our mind tying itself up like this is the source of all our troubles and suffering.

As an example; we all know what it feels like to plonk ourselves down in a chair after a hard day’s work – there is a sense of resting and we feel at ease, don’t we? How does that happen? It is because we just let go and put the work aside–our frame of mind becomes one of ‘non-doing’. So instead of working, which is actively doing, we are resting, which is letting go. So, by taking a rest we feel better, more at ease. And it’s ‘non-doing’ that brings about that sense of rest and wellbeing, isn’t it?

Well, it’s the same for the mind. When our mind is very active and wound up, things become difficult, both internally and externally. In Buddhism there are various names for this, such as ‘ego-clinging’ or ‘self-grasping’; but in brief, it is when the mind is not left as it naturally is. Instead, the mind is tied up in thoughts based in grasping: ’I need to be happy, I need to have that, I need to be somebody.’ We’re constantly on edge, trying to get something, looking for something, and tying ourselves up in knots. And when that mindset becomes very strong, we suffer greatly. While if we don’t have such strong grasping and clinging, we have far fewer problems. Our minds remain natural, or uncontrived, as it is sometimes called.

We can say that Buddhism is a collection of methods which deal with this clinging and grasping. To start we being to loosen the knots by having a broader perspective. The dharma shows us that there’s something much bigger and more important to think about – our many future lives – instead of the small space in front of us here and now. We realise that up till now we’ve been only thinking about our immediate situation, which is in fact so trivial and insignificant. When this way of thinking becomes natural to us, our clinging eases and we just naturally experience greater peace. This is the way of thinking at the first stage of Buddhist practice – the Shravakas, the Hearers.

This level is a preliminary step, there are still issues with it, because we’ve still not let go of ‘me’. We’re still concerned with the well-being of ‘my’ future lives. A further opening up is needed. So we start to train ourselves in the thought, “Even if I will be fine in future lives, what about my loved ones and everybody else?” With this we start to let go of being concerned only for ourselves and broaden our concern to encompass everyone. Everything becomes about others, and with that our minds become expansive and joyful–everything we do takes on greater purpose. And the more natural this becomes for us, the more self-clinging diminishes; and the more that diminishes, the more our suffering diminishes. It is tried and tested, and is called the vast attitude of awakening mind, or bodhichitta.