Transforming Reality: The Power of the Mind

Introduction

In the April 14, 2024 UK Sangha talk You Don’t Have To Fix The World, valuable insights were shared on sati (remembering), the nature of reality, and the path to inner peace. These teachings, deeply rooted in the Buddha’s wisdom, shed light on how our thoughts and perceptions shape our experiences and how we can transform our lives by cultivating sati.

The Mind: The Creator of Our Reality

Our mind is the creator of our reality. Our thoughts, perceptions, and reactions shape our experience of life. When we hear or see something, we create an internal representation of it in our minds.

So the commentator can say all of these statistics and they can talk about all the stuff. Like, for instance, the Israelis are going to flood the tunnels in Gaza. When I say that, don’t you imagine a tunnel? Didn’t you see a tunnel in your mind?

We create images based on the information we receive, and then we react emotionally to those images, not to the information itself.

And guess what? It took you much less time to see the image of a tunnel being flooded than it took me to say the words. In Gaza, the Israelis are flooding tunnels. And those images are really, really fast. And when we feel, we feel with those images as well as the didactic.

Our thoughts and perceptions are influenced by our past experiences and conditioning, which are stored in our memory. Through investigation of that we can begin to understand how our mind creates our reality, and then we can begin to take responsibility for our thoughts and emotions, and work towards creating a more positive and peaceful experience of life by taking the right effort of replacing those thoughts and habits of thought with wholesome thoughts.

This, in fact, is what we call wisdom. Wisdom is being able to see what’s happening in advance rather than what happened in the past.

Sati: The Skill of Remembering and Choosing

Sati is a crucial aspect of Buddhist practice, and its importance in transforming our lives cannot be overstated.

What do you think it means? Other than to remind ourselves, which is exactly how we use the word sati, in the sense of to remember or to remind ourselves that we’re in reality.

By cultivating sati, we can become more aware of our thoughts and choose to focus on those that lead to happiness and well-being.

The Sequence of Thoughts: Understanding the Chain of Causation

Understanding the sequence of thoughts and how one thought leads to another in a chain of causation is crucial.

Begin to watch the thoughts, because most people, they can’t track one thought. By the time that they’ve got one thought, they’ve got another, and they don’t even know how they got there.

We can develop the skill of tracking our thoughts, starting by watching so that we can backtrack at least three thoughts back.

I would suggest that you start watching so that you can backtrack at least three thoughts back. And if you’re getting good at it, you can go back four or five or six thoughts.

By observing the chain of thoughts, we can better understand how our mind works and intervene when necessary to cultivate wholesome thoughts.

You Don’t Have To Fix the World

Instead of trying to fix the external world, we can shift our focus to working on our inner world.

Stop trying to fix the world. You can’t do it. The reality is, is that we all live in a paradise. All seven or 8 billion of us live in a paradise. It’s just seven or 8 billion people don’t know that. They’re trying to fix it because they’re confused.

By turning our attention inward and working on transforming our own mind, we can find true happiness and peace.

Empathy vs. Spreading Joy

The conventional notion of empathy often leads us to join others in their misery.

Compassion means join their pity party. “Oh, mom is crying over Granny’s casket. Let me go nurture her and say, oh, she was a good woman” and all of that kind of stuff. You can nurture her well, and you can help her to have a smile.

Instead of getting caught up in others’ suffering, we should spread joy and help pull people out of their misery.

What we need is a way of pulling people out of their misery. And that’s your job, to spread joy to spread the dhamma.

The Buddha’s Teachings: Understanding the Present Moment

Understanding the present moment and changing unwholesome thoughts into wholesome ones is at the core of the Buddha’s teachings.

The real deal, which is the teaching of the buddha called dependent origination, or piticha samupada, is the important point when he teaches us how the mind winds up in dissatisfaction, how we wind up in Duka. Why is that? Because that’s what’s most valuable.

By focusing on the present and letting go of our attachment to how things “should” be, we can find true freedom and happiness.

So throw the rules out. Stop having rules about how things are supposed to be. Stop trying to fix the world. Because the world really, in reality, that world out there is not broken.

Conclusion

These teachings offer a powerful and transformative approach to living, grounded in the wisdom of the Buddha. By understanding how our mind creates our reality, cultivating sati, understanding the sequence of thoughts, focusing on our inner world, spreading joy, and understanding the present moment, we can create a reality of peace, happiness, and freedom. As we navigate the challenges of life, let us remember the power of our mind and choose to cultivate wholesome thoughts and actions, transforming ourselves and the world around us.

Want More? Watch the Whole Dhamma Video Here

Or you can read the entire transcript of the video here

Private chats with Dhammarato are available at no charge. Questions about meditation are welcome.

Participate in one of our Live Sanghas (Free of Charge)

►The Sangha US, Friday 7 PM PDT Join Skype Call.

►The Sangha UK, Sunday 10AM BST Join Skype Call.

►The Sangha UK, Wednesday 7PM BST Join Skype Call.

There is nothing like direct transmission of the teachings in a one-to-one or one-to-group (Sangha) format from a skilled teacher. We encourage you to participate in our weekly Sanghas.