Huang-Po

The mind is so powerful. The first thing I thought of when I started to read the writing. To be completly honest, this wasn't the easiest writing to comprehend. An almost repetitive style of writing used. It basically says that the mind is uncomprehendable. If we try and figure it out we will get know where. It compares Buddha and all ordianary beings in the first part of the writing. I got out of it that it is saying that the two are basically the same thing. Basically saying that the only difference is that the ordinary mind searches outside of its body and mind for buddahood (65). Really he's saying that we underestimate the power of our mind.

The writing talks about how the ordinary person, uses way too much conceptual thinking. That if we didn't focus so much on what he hear, feel, and see that the real truth would be exposed. The way Huang-Po thinks is almost out of my realm, and it's something I don't fully comprehend. One quote that caught me was, "When most people hear that the Buddhas transmit the teaching of the one mind, they suppose that there is something to be attained or realized apart from mind, and they use mind to seek the teaching, not realing that mind and the object of their search are one"(66). It says that too many people make the mistake to search for answers about the mind. That really all along its up in your head.

You know honestly, I could be interpreting this all wrong, but I see it as a way of almost explaining that the Buddha is an ordinary person like all of us. It's almost confusing for me, because it explains how to free from the Buddha; but saying that the Buddha is the entire visible universe. Feel free to comment if you have an idea to explain what is being said. I basically feel that what he hear, see, and feel can't fully explain the reality of the mind.