The environment turns according to the mind

Ru Chun: Tonight, when facing a bowl of rice that had changed color and gone off, I hesitated for a moment. I did not know whether to follow my habit and throw it away, or to be diligent in the Path and not be attached to whether food is good or bad—just fill my stomach and be done with it. I quickly chose the latter: I reheated the rice and ate it. I had expected it to taste bad, but it turned out much tastier than I imagined, and I finished it quickly. The instant I put down my chopsticks, I suddenly had a realization: food itself truly has no fixed flavor. The flavors we taste every day are all manifested for us by the tathāgatagarbha using karmic seeds. What we eat is our own karmic seeds and merit. If we eat something unpleasant, we should also feel fortunate, because karmic seeds vary in quality—by digesting the poor seeds in advance, what remains stored up for the future will be good seeds. Conversely, if we use up the seeds of merit in advance, all that will be left for the future are seeds of suffering.

When I ate the spoiled rice with a heart oriented toward the Path, my state of mind was beautiful, and so I tasted deliciousness in it. This experience deepened my understanding that all dharmas are inherently without self-nature, and I felt I had drawn a little closer to the Path. Joy arose within me. When I sat in meditation carrying this state, the sensation of qi felt especially good—my whole body felt as if it were inflated with air; especially my entire head felt tight and swollen, and my temples ached from the swelling. In meditation, it felt as if someone had peeled off my upper body the way one removes a piece of clothing.

Comment: What does it mean that food itself has no fixed flavor? It is because the eater's state of mind, cognition, and merit differ. This is called the mind transforming circumstances—circumstances turn according to the mind. Whatever you believe that food to be, that is what it is: if you believe it is poisonous, it is poisonous; if you believe it is delicious, it is delicious. The mind can change everything, changing things according to one's merit. Some people have a poisonous mind, and they can even turn the sweet dew of the Buddha-dharma into poison—that is their own problem. Some people's minds are filthy, and they sling mud at the Three Jewels; as a result, the Three Jewels cause them to fall into the Avīci hell—that is their own problem, not the problem of the Three Jewels. The mind is the master of all things: seize the mind and take hold of the mind, and hell becomes heaven; a deviant and evil mind turns heaven into hell, and everywhere one goes feels like hell. All dharmas lack self-nature, and the mind too lacks self-nature; therefore the minds of sentient beings can be transformed into the Buddha's mind. Now that Ru Chun's practice has passed through the barrier of karmic obstructions, she will advance by leaps and bounds—everything can be anticipated, and it is all very wonderful!