The Environment Transforms with the Mind

Ru Chun: Tonight, when faced with 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 my cultivation of the Path—not being attached to whether food is good or bad, as long as it fills my stomach. 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 had imagined, and I finished it quickly. The moment I put down my chopsticks, I suddenly had a realization: it turns out that food itself truly has no fixed flavor. The flavors we taste every day are all manifested to us by the tathāgatagarbha using karmic seeds. What we eat is our own karmic seeds and blessings. If we eat something that tastes bad, we should also feel fortunate, because karmic seeds vary in quality—by digesting the bad seeds in advance, what remains stored for the future will be good seeds. Conversely, if we use up the seeds of blessings in advance, only bitter seeds will remain for the future.

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, I felt the sensation of qi was especially good—my whole body felt as if it had been inflated with air, especially my entire head, which felt tight and swollen, with my temples so swollen they ached. In meditation, it felt as if someone had peeled off my upper body the way one takes off a piece of clothing.

Comment: What does it mean that food itself has no fixed flavor? It is because the state of mind, cognition, and blessings of the eater differ. This is called the mind transforming objects—the environment turns 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 blessings. 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 very 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 are without self-nature, and the mind too is without self-nature; therefore the minds of sentient beings can be transformed into the Buddha's mind. Now that Ru Chun's cultivation has passed the hurdle of karmic obstructions, she will advance by leaps and bounds—everything can be expected, and it is truly wonderful!