The Body, Mind and Heart: Which is the Station of Your Life?
K. Wong
Introduction
There are three levels of operating the human body consisting of the body, mind and Heart. A person utilizing only the body is excessively emotional to express his or her feelings uncontrollably. He or she safeguards his or her self-interest strictly. He or she is a person of flesh. Such personality is highly emotional in dealing with others. He or she is fully directed and empowered by self-centric ego. He or she still produces volitions or kammasrirected and empowered by self-centric ego. Such an emotional personality usually loses his mind and Heart. He or she function only with the consciousness of the five sense faculties. He or she easily loses his or her head (mind) when he or she is agitated. He or she is highly sensitive, fallible and vulnerable. Mentally, such person is still a sentient being.
The person of mind analyses and conceptualizes before acting. He or she is more rational than the person of body or fresh because he or she can think rationally or logically. His or her emotions are suppressed by intellectual reasoning. This reduces the unnecessary outburst of emotions. Anyway, he or she still produces kammas because all his or her sensual activities are still directed and empowered by self-centric ego. The attachment and aversion still exist. He or she uses his or her head well but is ignorant of the function of inner Heart. There is still the chatter of mind which disturbs him or her. This is where religion can play the role of mental appeaser or tamer.
The inner Heart is the intuitive mind which pacifies the intellectual mind.The is where religion plays its role as an appeaser or tamer. Whoever intuitively perceives the ultimate Reality of Unity or Non-duality dwells in the inner Heart in which his or her consciousness reunites with the mind of God or Buddha. He is enlightened and liberated. He or she dwells in the inner heart in which the ordinary consciousness merges with the pure, infinite consciousness of God or Buddha. The false self or ordinary defiled consciousness is predominated over by the intuitive mind of the inner Heart.The inner Heart is actually the pure, infinite consciousness in which Brahman, Buddha or God dwells.
There are still countless sentient beings (Human beings included) who dwell either in bodily consciousness or intellectual mind or mental consciousness. An enlightened one transcends the defilements caused by grasping upon the body and mind as this is I ; this is mine ; this belongs to me.. Such discerning persons are adept at using the inner Heart to appease the body and the mind. Buddhistly put, the inner Heart is the mind of God (God-head) or Buddha (Buddha-nature). It is the mind of Nirvāṇa.
The adherents of current world major esoteric religions advocate the communal truth of wisdom that a human personality is constituted from three dimensions (body, mind and Heart) of the human consciousness. Even the modern psycho-spiritualists, designated as modern psychologists or counsellors, coach their clients on the art of wisdom living based upon these three dimensions of human life.. The first two dimensions are the outward or exoteric dimension of human life ; the third dimension of Heart or Spirit is actually the domain of inward or esoteric dimension of the human spirituality. The Buddha-nature or the essence of God dwells in the inner Heart. We ought to be wise enough to strike a happy medium between exotericism of secularism and esotericism of inner spirituality. In other words, both the head and heart are to be utilized in equilibrium with the Heart as the chief commander.
Left and Right Brains
The neuro-scientists or brain-scientists unveil that the conceptual or intellectual Mind is the function of left brain. The Heart or Spirit is the function of the right brain which is the intuitive mind. Enlightenment occurs only in the right brain. Dr. Jill B. Taylor, a neuroscientist or brain scientist from Harvard University as well as her counterparts in the sphere of neuro-science or brain-science concur that the left brain functions intellectually, analytically (perception of parts instead of totality or the whole) and egoistically. They also reveal that the right brain functions intuitively, holistically (perception of unity or the whole) and egolessly. They also agree that human performance or prestige reaches its summit when there is a balance of the utility between the right left brain and the right brain. Spiritually put, the left brain function, related to human IQ (Intelligence Quotient), is secular ; the right brain, related to human EQ (Emotional Quotient) is spiritual. In this sense, knowledge of science aids the comprehension of esoteric religion and vindicates the Truth of religion. In actuality, science is the subset of the universal set of God or Buddha.
Buddhist Worldview
From Buddhist perspective, the utility of both brains is the middle path of employing the spiritual wisdom of ultimate Truth in living in the knowledge of the conventional world. The ultimate Truth is the first principle or Absolute Truth which deals with the secular life of conventional truth of multiplicity. The multiplicity consists of the many-foldness of the diversifying contigent phenomena or beings constituting the entire cosmos. The ultimate Truth is the One ; the conventional truth is the many or all. Both truths interpenetrate in terms of the One in many and the many in the One. The One is real and the many is unreal. Without the One, the many does not exist. Without the many, the One is also meaningless.
Ultimate Sanctuary
The most marvelous discovery and revelation from Neuro-scientist, Dr. Jill B.Taylor is that the complete silence of the chatter of the human mind ( known as Nirvāna in Buddhism and Vedānta of Hinduism) is located in the right brain. In actuality, this complete silence of the human mind is not the ordinary mind or consciousness. It is the inner heart of Man in which all religious adherents take their refuge or sanctuary. Whoever dwells in the inner Heart is considered to be enlightened and liberated. This deep Heart is the sanctuary which protects all of us from the storms or adversities of life. In actuality, the inner Heart is dissimilarly designated as God, Buddha, Brahman, Tao or Allah. Yes, it is the common home for all of us. From the religious perspective, this deep Heart is the pure, luminous and infinite consciousness of the human being. It is the Buddha-mind ; it is the mind of perfection of wisdom. It is the mind of Chan, Zen or Tao. It is the eternal, blissful Nirvāṇa.
Inner Heart
The inner heart is pure because it purges the human personality of the illusive self-centred ego superimposed by the ordinary worldlings or sentient beings. It is luminous because the maximum power of intuitive wisdom is manifested from the inner Heart and not from the intellectual mind. The ordinary mind is deluded. It further fabricates the multiplicity of the empirical world unceasingly until enlightenment is realized. The multiplicity is a cosmic illusion. The inner Heart is the mind of Buddha or mind of God. Dwelling in the inner Heart, the Knower or Gnostic discerns the relationship between the conventional truth and the ultimate truth lucidly as they really are.
Divine Eye
The inner Heart is the eye of God (Certainty or Spiritual Eye) or the eye of the Buddha (Dharma Eye). God’s eye or Buddha’s eye perceives the perfect relationship between the world and God or Buddha (between the phenomena and principle from religious perspective). A Gnostic or Enlightened One utilizes the God’s eye or Buddha’s eye in all his or perceptions and activities through the body, speech and mind. When the inner Heart is the chief commander of the body and mind, there is peace and security for the saved believer or practioner of religion. The delivered One perceives as the God or Buddha perceives ; The delivered One acts as the God or Buddha acts. This occurs only when one’s self or ego is totally surrendered to the wills of God or the self-grasping is replaced by the Buddha-mind or God-mind. This spiritual surrender or submission to God or the actualization of the Buddha-mind can only occur when the liberated One attains the wisdom of non-duality between oneself and all others. Such a saved or liberated person lives non-dualistically in oneness with the world. The oneness of the world is the original truth in which all people are actually brothers and sisters living in a global village.
Spiritually, a global village connotes oneness of the world. The world is increasingly pulled towards living in a global village by the force of liberalization and globalization for incessant economic prosperity or survival. If the globalization is constructed upon a genuine alliance of civilizations from all parts of the world in accord with the divine truth of unity, human beings are functioning with the mind of God. The mind of God or Buddha is located in the inner Heart.
Unfortunately, the current force of globalization is motivated purely by economic or materialistic selfishness, self-interest and hedonism instead of humanistic or spiritual unity. We are actually moving away from the Heart of God. Monotheistically, we are being separate from God. From Buddhist view, we are abandoning the Buddha-mind. Jesus declares that the kingdom of God is found within the human mind. Gotama Buddha promulgates that there is a Buddha-nature in every sentient being. There is only one world and one dream – knowing the oneness of the world and the common spiritual aspiration to return home to the inner Heart. The inner Heart is our real home. Without the inner Heart, there is no peace, harmony and prosperity for the world. The clashes of civilizations between the west and the east can be averted by returning to the inner Heart – our common home.
Buddhist psychology categorizes the human personality into two major divisions, namely Name (Nāma) and Form (Rūpa). The name is the Mind and the Form is the Body. The Mind is further divided into two dimensions, namely the mundane wisdom of ordinary defiled consciousness and the supra-mundane wisdom of the pure and infinite consciousness. The latter is known as the inner Heart of Man. It can only be perceived by the Gnostic or Enlightened One. The Mind and Body are dependently co-arisen and are inseparable.
In Christianity, the inner Heart can only be reached when the saved believer sees God within and is born of God. He (his ego) dies before he dies (natural death). In Vedānta of Hinduism, the inner Heart is indwelt if the Ā̄tman of the emancipated believer is reunited with Brahman. For the muslims, the inner Heart is the communion (bagā) between the soul of the saved believer and Allah. A Taoist is said to dwell in the inner Heart if he has entered the path of Tao (Eternal Truth of Unity). In Chan Buddhism, the Heart is designated as Chan or Zen Wisdom state of self-realization. It is labelled as the Pureland in the Buddhist Pure Land Buddhism. The Pureland is within not without. Jesus Christ also affirms that the kingdom of Heaven is within.
Irene O’Conner, a spiritual practioner and coach, hailing from Los Angeles, U.S.A and presently residing in Portland endorses the communal truth of wisdom pertaining to the inner Heart thus:
When the Spirit (Heart) is first, all issues of health, disharmony,
frustration and world diminish. They become small when you find
you can be blissfully alive every minute of everyday in the present
world.
In her website of Spirituality and Wisdom, she declares that spirituality is the answer to everything. Yes, she is perfectly right. All human affairs are either related to Spirit (Heart) or not related to it: God or other than God (parallel to conventional truth and ultimate Truth). If we only utilize the Body and Mind and neglect the superb inner Heart or Spirit, we invite troubles and even severe catastrophes, such as global warming and climate change leading to massive natural disasters, and selfish speculation of oil prices leading immense human suffering globally. Conversely, if we are wise enough to utilize the inner Heart to appease the Body and Mind, we live a peaceful life in harmony with the God (synonymous with Tao, Brahman or Buddha).
The inner Heart is the inner Peace of mind. There are many pathways, called dissimilar religions, to reach the inner Peace – the inner Heart. However, there is only one inner Heart for all human species – the oneness of God. The inner Heart is God. You may designate it otherwise if you wish. In actuality, God is the ineffable Truth or Absolute which cannot be designated. God is the Tao – the Truth, the Way and Life of Eternity, Bliss. Self and Purity (Mahāyā̄na Parinirvāṇa-Sūtra). Human being is innately supreme because God indwells in his or her Heart ; he or she also dwells in Him. In addition, human being is also supreme among all other living beings because a realized human being is a perfect image of God or Buddha. Most importantly, he or she can be empowered by God to preach the Truth to other human beings. Only Man can do it most excellently among all living beings surpassing even the angels in the heaven. |
