“The mind is not in the body in the first place. The mind is just attached to the body.”

“The mind is not in the body in the first place. The mind is just attached to the body.”

Question (M):  Every time after meditation, when I go to sleep, I’d either dreamt about my childhood, or I’d feel that my mind came out of my body where the mind is flying around. Is this normal?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, it’s normal because when you sleep you cannot control your mind. You have no mindfulness. Whatever the mind likes to do, it will automatically do it. If you like to think about your childhood, you will keep dreaming about your childhood.

Question (M):  How about when the mind comes out of the body and flying around?

Than Ajahn:  It’s because you don’t have any control over it. It’s not like when you are awake. When you’re awake, you can control your mind. But when you go to sleep, there is no controller. So, the mind can do anything it likes.

M:  I am aware of it when the mind came out of the body.

Than Ajahn:  The mind is not in the body in the first place. The mind is just attached to the body. The mind sends the stream of consciousness to the five sense organs. We call it, ‘viññāṇa’ in the 5 khandhas. The viññāṇa comes and attaches itself to the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. The mind is never in the body. When you sleep, the mind does whatever it wants to do because there is no one to control it.

Question (M):  Is this a kind of attachment because I have good feeling when it happens?

Than Ajahn:  If you like it, then it’s attachment. But if you don’t have any likes or dislikes towards it, then there is no attachment.

The way to let go of your attachment is to see it as aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. You see that you cannot control it. Even though you like it, sometimes it might not happen. And when you want to have that experience to happen, but it doesn’t happen, you become sad.

If you don’t want to be sad, try not to have any likes or dislikes towards it by seeing it as aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā. It’s the same way like seeing the wind and the rain. You cannot control the wind and the rain. They can come and they can go. They will not hurt you if you don’t have any likes or dislikes towards them. Only when you have likes and dislikes, it can hurt you. It’s because if you like something and you cannot get it, you’ll feel bad. And when you get something you don’t like, you’ll also feel bad. So, try to teach your mind not to likes or dislikes anything. Take thing as it comes because everything is aniccaṁ, dukkhaṁ, anattā.

“Dhamma in English to laypeople from Singapore, Apr 24, 2018.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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