..续本文上一页reathing and there”s feeling, and there”s consciousness. In the practice of awareness, we”re bringing consciousness to the ordinariness because we”re not Usually conscious of that: Usually the ignorant person is conscious only in the extreme moments.

　　Q: How would you describe the nature of the pure mind

　　A: This is where the Buddha was very careful, because when you”re trying to describe the indescribable, or define the indefinable, or limit the unlimited, you can get yourself into a lot of delusion. The only thing I can say is that as you let go of things more and more, and realize that all that arises ceases - you realize the cessation of things - then you realize the Unconditioned.

　　There”s the conditioned, the Unconditioned; the created, the uncreated. You can”t conceive uncreatedness. You have a word but there”s no perception for it. There”s no kind of symbol that one could grasp. You could have a doctrine about it, so religion tends to make these metaphysical doctrines that people believe in. But, since the Buddhist teaching is a non-doctrinal teaching in which you”re to find things out for yourself, it leaves you without any real metaphysical doctrine in order for the realization to happen.

　　The conditioned realm only arises and ceases. It has no eternality or infinity to it. It”s only a movement in the universal. So that whatever word you get or concept you have can be very misleading. We”ve had dialogue with Christians, and I notice Christian meditators now are moving more towards the Buddhist position and saying quite outrageous things like: "God is nothing or no-thing." But yet, for Buddhists, we would understand that and that .. "no-thing" is probably a fairly accurate description: whereas trinitarian Christianity is always giving God attributes as a Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

　　So you”re always having these conditioned attributes that you”re looking for, you”re perceiving as God. And yet, you know in mystical Christianity you transcend this trinitarian view very much; and that is where you talk about mystery, or not knowing. Christian mystics don”t have the psychological vocabulary that we do in Buddhism, so they tend to put it in a different way, But if you get beyond the terminologies they use, it”s very much the experience of the mind that is free from a self-view - and from a binding to the conditioned world. So one sees the potential in all religions to point beyond themselves.

　　The danger is always in attachment to the conventions. Even with Buddhism, as beautiful and clear a teaching as it really is, not many Buddhists use it to be enlightened. They tend to attach to a certain part or a certain thing in it. But I think now there”s more potential for awakening to this truth - which isn”t Buddhist in fact - it is beyond conventions. But Buddhism is clearly stated as a convention. It”s not an absolute. It”s a tool to use. At least with Buddha-Dhamma you”re not asked to support a convention in itself, you”re encouraged to use it for mindfulness and wisdom. And I can see that in Christianity also.

　　Hinduism and Islam have this in some form or another. Then ther”s the perennial philosophy. There”s a lot of this really clear thinking going on now among human beings that is quite wonderful - the mental clarity and use of wisdom that is happening in different places on the planet. No matter how gloomy and pessimistic the newspapers sometimes are about the state of the world, I can”t help but feel more optimistic. I can see that it is changing and that in just my own lifetime theres been a remarkable change in the development of a spiritual understanding and wisdom, compared with say twenty-five years ago.

　　Q: Why do monks and nuns not claim attainments

　　A: The rules for the monks and the nuns were made for pa…

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