The Radiant Mind
March 22, 2023
This mind is radiant, the Buddha said, but it’s darkened by passing defilements. So exactly where does that radiance lie? He’s not saying that the mind is innately pure. Ajaan Maha Boowa makes this point very clear. If the mind were innately pure, then how did it get defiled? And if a pure mind can be defiled, what’s going to happen to it after it gets purified again? It could get defiled again. In fact, Ajaan Maha Boowa says that the radiance of the mind is actually part of its main defilement, ignorance: the defilement that’s left when all the obvious defilements go away. But, the Buddha said, it’s because of this radiance that we can train the mind
