Recently I've found my thoughts turning to the notion of 'mind-stream' - the chain of karma that runs through life times, rebirth after rebirth. The diamonds in Indra's net are only reflections, there are no separate diamonds. In the everyday we can see that we are who we are because of the connections and causes of our everyday life. Every aspect of this everyday can be investigated and found to be conditioned. We are conditioned creatures living conditioned world-lives. There are as many worlds in this sense as there are sentient beings. The effects of my actions are not limited to me alone - they affect other beings and vice versa. So how is an individual person (existing in the conventional sense) to be understood in terms of karma and 'mind-stream'? How do we understand the 'ownership' (not the best word but maybe it will do) of karma when we are both separate and interconnected? If we accept that it is the intention behind an act which is the product of and determines our subsequent mind state and ultimately karma, then we start to see a bifurcation- the states of the world and the states of our mind. But again, both the world and what we are calling our mind in this way, are conventional and not things existing in the absolute sense. But we need to take care here with these words. For world we might say field of experience, which hopefully invites an appreciation of an interplay of conditions generating moment after moment - reflections in Indra's net. The word mind is more tricky. It can refer to thoughts and sensations, habits of mental processes at various levels of subtlety, a notion of the 'space' in which this 'contents of mind' emerge, 'awareness', 'consciousness' and no doubt other descriptors. At this point it might be clear that the bifurcation collapses- the world we know and the mind we know and the sense of I, are not outside of or inside of each other, they are mutually arising- all reflections in the diamonds, including the diamonds. However, what has been pointed to here are ripples of intent, ripples of causality and circularities (or spirals) of intention in 'mental habits'. Ripples, whirlpools, reflections and the like are common metaphors in such discussions of the nature of our nature, as are candles lighting each other. But are we any closer to grasping how my intentions in this life time determine what happens post mortem? This is a deeper question than simply observing that in the everyday sense we have a legacy, what is being considered is the deepest nature of our existence. But such considerations are philosophical, arise out of our existing paradigm and by their very nature realise that this paradigm is conditioned and thus ultimately empty. In this regard, post mortem (probably like time) becomes less meaningful than we might have assumed. Or to put it another way, this paradigm throws up questions the answers to which are unavailable within the paradigm. And so I find I'm left with a vague feeling that I lack both the intense philosophical training and the intense spiritual training and 'attainment' to see all this much more clearly. All the while remembering that 'attainment' and 'more clearly' are traps. Does this matter? Practically, no. Living in accordance with the precepts and seeing their worth doesn't require clear evidence of post mortem conditions. And practically, yes, at least for me. The life of the (intellectual) mind is a valuable and enriching part of human existence and for me it presents as part of the koan. And whilst the koan can't be intellectually resolved, it can be honestly lived. And living is a bigger field than we fully know. In this sense I suspect that 'mind-stream' is yet one more convention... And as said in my last post - '...none of us know the the final cloth of our lives, for it extends beyond what we think of as our life.' I'd change that word 'final' now... it feels too abrupt. Who knows how far the ripples and reflections spread... The light is more than a single passing of a flame from candle to candle.
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