The First Point in Buddhism
by Zen Master Dae Bong NOVEMBER 13, 2018
Many of you have children. Babies really have don’t know mind. That is why we learn the most in our life between zero and five. Babies will just stare at you, they are not thinking anything. They are taking in information. They look at their hand, they don’t even know what it is. They don’t even know it is connected to their body. So naturally all of us have don’t know mind. But very quickly, we know we start holding onto ideas, some of which we brought into this life, which is what we call karma, some we make in this life and all become our habit. But we don’t see it as my habit, we experience it as truth. And this creates the suffering of humans. So when you cut your thinking, when you keep the mind that doesn’t know, that is our true nature. When you keep don’t know 100%, it is before thinking. Before thinking is your true substance. We think our substance is our body, emotions, consciousness, souls, spirits, but those are just words. What is substance? You can’t say. If you say it, it is not it. Water water water. I am still thirsty. You have to become one with it, then you are not thirsty. In the same way, our mind is thirsty for some confidence, not in our personality or our ability or anything else, just in our being. But as long as we are attached to words, ideas and feelings, we will never get there. So when we keep don’t know, don’t know is before thinking, before thinking is our true substance. That is the first point in Buddhism. Recognize your true nature is before thinking. Experience that. That is what Buddha experienced when he saw the morning star.