Luminous Mind

[Aloka]

This is the text of the Pali Canon sutta "Luminous":

Aṅguttara Nikāya

1. Book of the Ones

49-52. Luminous

“Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements.”

“Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements.”

“Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The uninstructed run-of-the-mill person doesn’t discern that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that—for the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person—there is no development of the mind.”

“Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present, which is why I tell you that—for the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones—there is development of the mind.”

https://legacy.suttacentral.net/en/an1.49-52

Here's an alternative translation with notes:

https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN1_50.html


.....and this is a newspaper article from several years ago:

"What the luminous mind of the Buddha shows us"

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...us-mind-buddha


Any thoughts?


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[philg]

I guess it's in the way you tell them. Set up a paradox in the first two lines then hit them with the tag line that the well instructed disciple develops the mind to discern what is actually present. The Guardian article is useful and describes that the well instructed disciple, "is now awakened from the confusion of dream and the oblivion of sleep" and that, "The metaphorical contrasts of sleep and awakening, dullness and luminosity reflect a fundamental intuition of Buddhist thought – that there is a causal connection between our mental states and the nature of our experience". The world is still the same, it's how we see it and understand it that changes as we do.

[Aloka]

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Chapter 12 "Knowing, Emptiness and the Radiant Mind "of the book "The Island" by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno is worth reading in connection with this subject.


https://amaravati.org/dhamma-books/the-island/