Pratyaya = Ways of conditioning the mind.
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We’ve been talking recently about how the mind is conditioned and we have established: The mind is conditioned by its object. But this is not the only way the mind is conditioned. The mind is also conditioned by associations. So, this morning I want to look at the pratyaya of association.

We could say that the mind is conditioned by associations or we could say that the rupas that the mind is conditioned by are themselves conditioned by associations.

Let me give you an example:
Tom and Mary are talking about re-decorating their front room and they are telling me all about it. They are enthusiastic, but I’m a little bit bored and my mind starts to wander, and after a few minutes Mary looks at me and she says: “David, you’re not listening. Now, what on earth are you thinking about?” And I say: “Well, at this moment I’m thinking about a big black horse that I used to ride in the Welsh mountains.”

Now, for Mary and Tom this is a little perplexing. How did he get from A to Z? Well, I’ll tell you:
They are talking about re-decorating their front room. They are going to strip off the wall-paper and put up some nice new floral wall-paper, and my mind shifted to a room in my childhood, a room in the house of my parents and myself where my parents did exactly that: they stripped off the wall-paper and, at that point, they said: “Now, David, there is all that bare plaster. For two or three days you can draw what you like on that wall, because it’s all going to be covered up by the new wall-paper. So, this was a huge liberation. As a child you are always told: “Don’t draw on the walls!” And here I was given full permission to draw all over the wall. So, I did! I spent a happy day or two drawing all over the walls; and as I’m thinking about this happy scene, I remember my daughter who lives on the other side of the planet, who at one stage, was the official mural artist for the city she lives in: she would go out with groups of young people and, quite literally, paint the town. So, I’m thinking of her; and as I’m thinking of her working with these teenagers, my mind goes to my own work with teenagers some decades ago when I was a social worker. But we didn’t use to paint the town. We took them on outward pursuits activities, and we’d go camping in the Welsh mountains. We’d set up a camp, which was a completely novel experience for these teenagers from the slums; and then, the following day, we’d take them horse riding, and I remember that big, black horse that I used to ride through the Welsch mountains…; and so you see how I got from Tom and Mary’s front room to the big black horse.

Now, you can see that the mind is full of pathways; and these pathways are not smooth. They consist of a series of steps and each step moves me from one rupa to the next rupa. Along with each rupa there is a state of mind and a mental process. So, one rupa: Tom and Mary’s front room. Next rupa:  a room in my childhood. Next rupa: my daughter painting walls in New Zealand. Next rupa: me setting up camp with teenagers. Next rupa: riding the big black horse.

Each of these rupas implies a world. Each of these rupas implies an identity: me as Tom and Mary’s friend; me as a child; me as a proud father; me as a social worker; me as a horse rider. None of these have anything to do with me as a priest, as a psychotherapist, as a podcast maker etc. We have many identities which are all anchored on particular rupas, particular rupas in context, particular rupas each with a world.

This is how mental association goes and if you understand my associations you understand my mind. So, I think that you can probably see that this has relevance to psychotherapy, to spiritual guidance and to self-understanding.

So, that’s the pratyaya of association.

Thank you very much
Namo Amida Bu

Dharmavidya
David

 

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