The concept of Mind: Life and Thinking

Why are you happy? Why are you not? All the happiness and unhappiness come from the mind..READ IT........IF YOU THINK.....................


My concept name is “strong mind” which is really very important for थे real life. By this concept I will show how a person can be freed from sufferings, and live a better life. This idea is totally based on Buddhism ethics, and examples are taken from real world.


We all know that no one can escape death as well as no one can live a life without facing problems. Everything we are doing, we are doing it against a problem. If I ask you how many problems are in the world? I think it is not possible to get answer. But let’s now come to some common problems of the world. Where we don’t see problems? Like every people have problems all the same every country has problems. What are the problems we commonly know? If we try to find out some problems, it will be easier to find out I think. For example: family problem, worries, superstitious belief, facing realities, neighborliness, manners and custom, suicide, how to face death, suicide, diseases. I think it is better not to tell more. As I know very well that the list of problem will be increasing time to time. But why am I telling about the problems? I want to make it clear that the mind is related to problems, and feelings or emotion comes from problems.



Why we are facing lots of problems in this world? Do we know that we are creating our problems by ourselves? Why we are saying that we are not happy. Why can not we enjoy the whole day? There are lots of questions which are arising in our own mind everyday. I think the entire problem comes from our own mind.

That’s why I think we have to say that we must face the problem. It is universally true for the world. It is not possible to live in this world without facing some kind of problems. In a sentence, I will say that the problem is our life. We should not avoid all the problems; I am not saying that we don’t have the ability to face the problem rightly. By making the mind strong we can solve all the problems. In our daily life, when we are facing some difficult situation, we say that we don’t want to live. I think it is the negative way of thinking the situation. This negative way of thinking comes from fear. These problems bring unhappiness to our own mind. I think, fear is negative feelings of our own mind. When people are in negative feelings, their mind can not work properly. When mind can not work properly, it comes to us as a fear. Fear is also related to happiness and unhappiness. Because of the degree of fear, the functions of mind can not work properly. So, this difficulty of problem comes to us as a fear which makes our mind unhappy.


According to k.sri. Dhammanda – “fear is the child of selfishness or ignorance”. In his book “why worry “he said that “fear imprisons the mind, it is father of superstition which flourishes in the garden of ignorance” k.sri. Dhammanda indicates that “fear as selfishness or ignorance” why? I told it before that when people are in fear, the function of the mind can not work properly. A fearful mind seeks security very quickly. As, mind is tortured by the thoughts, so, the performance of the mind reduces sharply, and works like an ignorant person. We all know that an ignorant person always does wrong, and live in superstitious world. I want to say that fear is the main bar to cultivate a strong mind. Fear destroys the mind. In the real life, we see that many people don’t get success because of fear. They can achieve something, but due to fear they say that if I can’t, what will happen? This destroys their sound mind. This is the problem for most people: they take the situation wrongly.



Fear is also connected to the affection of the mind which has also relation with the strong mind. Before going to affection, I think it is important to tell what the things that create affection are: I think they are: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.


Desire or craving comes from eyes, ears, skin, nose, tongue. Desires are arising from the forms the eyes see; from the sounds the ears hear; from the fragrances the nose smells; from tastes pleasant to the tongue; from things that are agreeable to the sense of touch. Form these five doors to desire comes the body’s love of comfort. For example we love someone seriously. But she or he doesn’t. What happens to our mind? You love him or her--- it is like a desire to you. As a result, it gives you suffering because of not getting him or her. That’s why I am not saying that we will not love each other. But what we will do for overcoming the desire. I think following things are important: these eightfold noble path is taken from “the teaching of Buddha”.


The eightfold noble path:

right view
right thought
right speech
right behavior
right livelihood
right effort
right mindfulness
right concentration


Right view means to understand the law of cause of effect

Right thought means the resolution not to cherish desires, not to be greedy, not to be angry, and not to do any harmful deed.

Right speech means the avoidance of lying words, idle worlds, abusive words, and double tongues.

Right behavior means not to destroy any life, not to steal, or not to commit adultery.

Right livelihood means to avoid any life that would bring shame to a man.

Right effort means to try to do ones best diligently toward the right direction.

Right mindfulness means to maintain a pure and thoughtful mind.

Right concentration means to keep the mind right and tranquil for its concentration, seeking to realize the minds pure essence.







I think if we follow these eightfold noble path, we can live a better life by building the mind with these elements. I will request my reader to try to understand these eightfold noble path correctly. Now we can to go to the true nature of life. What is the true nature of life? I think something we can not avoid like problems. So, problem is one of the natures of the environment. We can not avoid the environment as well as the problem. If we judge the problem according to these eightfold noble path, I think anybody can face the problem rightly, and they can free themselves from suffering very soon. In my own point of view I think we have to face problem bravely, and we have to win the problem. I can give a great example. We all know about Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, a well known poet explains in his payers how to face the difficulties.

“Let me not pray to be sheltered from danger,
But to be fearless in facing them

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
But for the heart to conquer it.


Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
But hope for the patience to win my freedom.”

What is the meaning of these lines? Dr. Rabindranath Tagore wants to face the problem bravely. He said that he wants face his danger fearlessly. He wants to win his pain. He even said that he don’t want to save anxious fear which is really craving. He wants win this craving by his patience.






Now come to the philosophy of Spinoza. Spinoza said that “we don’t have absolute command over emotions” it is totally depending on our will. Without some practice and zeal, we can not control our emotion. Spinoza even said that the determination of will depend on our own power. This power of mind is defined solely by the understanding. For example: I have a goal, and for this I know that I have to face lots of problem. I will try to understand the problem, and ask myself why this is happening. If I don’t get answer, I will not lose my confidence. I will not be frustrated. I will face the problems bravely. However, if I fail, I will start again.




I think emotion is the main bar to cultivate the strong mind. For this reason I think we should know more about emotion. In my point of view, I think, Emotion is a feeling. Mind produces emotion by the elements of the environment. What are the elements of the environment? Man is one of the elements of the environment. Everybody in the environment is being attracted by the elements of the environment. By being attracted, the emotion produces two kinds of emotion. One is positive emotion, and another is negative emotion. At the same time an emotion has degree. This degree of emotion is being changed by the environment. Now let’s come to positive emotion. What is positive emotion? Positive emotion means when a person has the ability to judge something according to the environment, and they have fully control over them. They can use their emotion by understanding the environment. If you want to possess a strong mind, you should keep in mind that you can not avoid the environment. In this environment, various degrees of emotion are present. A strong mind holder always thinks about the present not the future. The best use of the mind is the present time. If you can concentrate on every work in present time, it will be very useful for your future and past. Why am I saying this? We can give an example: we can see that some people are very worried about their present. As a result, they can not think properly. On the other hand, some people are so strong in mind that they don’t even think what will happen in near future. They understand their present only. They want to enjoy their present. They are not worry about their past or future. Why I am saying this? I think these kinds of people are doing rights things, as we can only control the present. If we want to be a strong mind holder, it is important to understand the present. A past experience can be useful, if we understand the present properly. For example: If we do a wrong task for first time, I think we will not do it for second time. If we understand the present properly, at the same time we can understand the future and past. What K.sri. Dhammananda think about the time?


According to K.sri. Dhammananda:







When you are feeling sad, my dearie
Go and cheer some other soul
When you are feeling weak and weary
Smile, and lend a hand to all;


Then the morrow will drawn happier,
And the sun will brighter shine;
And the day will seem far fairer
Than if you were prone to pine


When you are feeling angry, dearie,
Speak one word of love of peace
To the one who made you angry,
And your anger will cease;


Love is always like the sun shine,
It will ever bring you cheer;
It will burn your heart and mind;
It will make you sick and weary;
Love can heal the sick and blind.


So may be you be sun of love
To shine a loft of sky of life;
From sphere to sphere thought to move,
And dispel darkness, hate and strife!







In my previous paragraph I have told about the relation of emotion with the time (present, past and future. I focus on present time.

If we observe K.sri. Dhammananda’s song of cheer, he makes a relation with other people. Why? I think we are interrelated one to the other. Like, we have a family. We are living all together. So, my happiness is not only related to me. My happiness is also related to the others. That’s why, K.sri. Dhammananda said that when you are feeling sad, go to make someone happy. Love the others people. In my own point of view, it is necessary to know how to laugh in a difficult situation. K.sri. Dhammananda even shows us time factor in his song of cheer. He told about the present time, and the present time is the only time to build the mind. He talked about the happiness. Now question comes what is the relation with the strong mind? In my own point of view I think he showed us a path in which we can face the problem rightly, and to make our life so strong. If we can face the problem bravely, we can make a happy life. For example: everyday we are facing some kind of unexpected things, if we can tackle the expected things by understanding their nature and degree of emotion. Then, it will be easier to us make our mind so stronger.


In my final part I would like to tell more about the mind. What is a useful mind? A useful mind means when the mind is concentrated in right thoughts with right efforts and understanding the effort it can produce the immense.


According to K.sri. Dhammananda “mind training is essential thing to do if we want to live happily in this world. If the world is wicked, our mind is responsible for that; we can not change the world into a better place unless we ourselves change our mind”


Now come to others things which are important to make life strong. I think to build a strong mind following things are important.

Honesty
Patience
Sacrifice
Don’t take decision when you are in mood
Humility
Speak gently
Understanding Universal truth
Avoid from killing , stealing , lusting, lying , desire, anger, ignorance , evil companion


In the conclusion I hope that people understand the emotion, and they will use this emotion for good deeds. I also hope that by understanding this concept they will make a better life.

I have done this writings under my honourable teacher Marherita Pascucci who was a visiting faculty of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh


Promotosh Barua

9th semester, School of Business
University of liberal arts Bangladesh