Phurpa Tashi Rinpoche
We must learn how to rest our minds no matter where we are. If a person has a constantly restless mind, this becomes a habit. If we allow this to become our habit, our minds are unable to settle down whenever we do Dharma practice.
There are two types of people: those who are impatient and those who are relatively slower in their reactions. It is much better to be slower. Slow down your thoughts and physical actions, then your mind can slowly become tranquil. If you can do this, no matter where you are, you will feel happiness and peace in your mind.
When one’s mind is restless, even eating delicious and expensive food, or wearing beautiful and luxurious clothes will not make a lot of difference to you. Time passes in a flash due to your lack of mindfulness.
The happy person is able to experience every single moment fully. This is only possible when one’s mind is settled and quiet. If I were to ask a person whose mind is very restless and distracted, “How did you pass your day yesterday or the day before?” this person is usually unable to recollect how he spent his time, because his life is spent in a lack of awareness, with a restless and distracted mind.
On the other hand, if you are able to savour and experience every passing minute and moment, being very present, it means that your mind is clear and in a state of purity.
When a person’s mind is restless, time passes very fast without being noticed. “Oh! It’s afternoon already!” “Oh! It’s night time already!” (audience laughs.) Therefore, one must learn to relax the mind, don’t simply allow your mind to wander. Otherwise, you do not experience much during your entire life.
I recall my days in the retreat center (in Yarchen monastery) with great fondness. We are not allowed to go anywhere beyond the yard. During the 100 days of winter, time seemed to stretch on infinitely. Each day seemed to last a very, very long time. We had a lot of time and there was the feeling of having infinite time. Every single part of the day seemed to stretch on endlessly.
But presently, I feel like I am skipping over blocks of time unknowingly. This is due to the restless mind — a mind that is unable to quieten down.
The days I spent in the retreat center were filled with an incredible happiness. Even making a meal seemed so leisurely and time moved slowly, unlike nowadays when we seem to be missing entire blocks of time because mind is not allowed to rest.
A good quality life depends on a quiet and centered mind. A restless mind will definitely reduce the quality of our lives. Even if you fill your life with quality enjoyments like good food and beautiful clothing, you will not be able to enjoy the experience fully. It is almost like putting beautiful clothes on an unfeeling corpse. Someone who lacks the sense of smell will not really appreciate good food.
Basically, our present state is quite similar to not having these senses. This is owing to our restless mind. So, we must learn to settle into the flow of life. When mind is quiet and rested, life becomes very enjoyable. When mind is restless, you always feel something is lacking, something is left undone. You are constantly wandering around somewhere. This kind of life feels so meaningless and shallow.
For a practitioner, quieting the mind is essential and of greatest help to the practice. Therefore, applying such mindfulness to our life is very helpful to our practice. We need to subdue or tame the mind, therefore this is very important!
Some people say that a rich life depends on the quality and not on the length of the life. (Rinpoche chuckles) Yet, who truly manages to experience their life fully? They think that luxuries of good food and good clothes bring a premium, top-tier life. But these are not the factors that bring about quality of life at all!
If you gave these wonderful food and clothes to a dead person, would it make a difference to them? Although we have the sensory functions of sight, taste and touch, we can’t truly utilize them to truly experience our lives because our minds are restless and distracted.
Our lives become quite sad and pathetic because of this. We are like walking robots or corpses simply passing the remaining time of our life.
Today, we live for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we live for the next day. Everyone says, “Live in the present.” Yet, who truly does? A restless and distracted person will never be able to live in the present. We are always planning. “Where should we go tomorrow?” “What should we do tomorrow?” We are living in the future, not in the present. This is the sign of being restless.
I am also an impatient person who eats very quickly. My doctor advised me to eat slower to help my digestion. Therefore, the quality of my life is quite lousy too… Okay, I have said a lot about this. That’s all for now, I still have recitations to do.
