Peace of mind
The mind often experiences conflict and confusion due to sorrow, anguish, and anxiety.
During such times, it goes without saying that we seek mental peace.
If I am immersed in sorrow, I want to escape from it.
Sorrow consists of feelings of loss, loneliness, and emptiness and can be said to be thoughts and emotions arising from attachment to past memories.
Since the cause of the sorrow lies in the memory of the experience itself, unless the memory of the past disappears, it is impossible to escape from the sorrow.
When I look at myself, immersed in sorrow, there is a duality consisting of me and the sorrow. The sorrow will not end as long as this duality of me and the sorrow, and my attempts to escape from it, exists.
While we seek peace, we degrade ourselves in the opposite direction to peace, using methods such as escape and struggle.
The mind wants to end the sorrow and attain mental peace.
By observing sorrow as it is, it can be ended.
Only by simply gazing at sorrow, the duality of sorrow and me disappears, and you can understand the entire structure of sorrow.
When you understand its entire structure, you can accept the true nature of the sorrow.
Indeed, what we seek, undoubtedly, is mental peace.
From experience, we know that persistent peace of mind cannot be obtained from external sources. However, we repeat the same things according to memory because, experientially, we know that we have gained temporary stability by seeking externally.
What can be gained from the outside, and the mental stability brought about by material prosperity, in other words, mental stability in the form of physical sensual comfort, is not unnecessary.
However, what the external world brings is only temporary.
There is an essential difference in saying that eternal peace and mental stability obtained from the outside are not equal.
The eternal peace of mind is the most abundant thing we should desire.
Peace is something that originally exists within me. However, because we live in a relative world and have dualistic thoughts, we are not aware of that inherent peace. If it is relative and dualistic, there is no peace.
The best way to encounter peace is to view the fortunes and misfortunes experienced in the relative world equally and to understand the duality of thoughts as it is.
By doing so, the mind becomes silent and free.
And when the mind is silent and free, you encounter the true aspect of the original peace.
translator：Makoto Ishii