Teachings on Practice - Part Five

V.

Where the mind leads the soul may follow. Of course, the soul may not wish to follow. The soul has its own function and purpose. Here. The soul is to the non-material world what the mind is to the material world. The soul allows the being to perceive and integrate the non-material world, the spirit world. The soul perceives and informs the being. The soul perceives the original purpose for which the being was incarnated. The soul mediates the karmic truths. The soul perceives the dharma and shows it to the being. The mind shows the reflection of the dharma to the being.

We have told you that the being is neither soul nor mind. However, the being cannot perceive or know who or what it is without the soul and the mind. Delusion affects both soul and mind. Just as there is Original Mind, that which perceives the pure dharma of being as form, so there is the Original Soul which perceives the pure dharma of being as spirit. The True Self resides in the confluence of Original Mind and Original Soul.

Of course, all this is neither soul nor mind, since neither thing has an independent arising or independent existence. This is more rhetoric. To know Original Mind and Original Soul; to reside in True Self, a being must have neither awareness nor perception of Original Mind and Original Soul. True Self lies beyond mental formations, concepts, thought forms. The True Self lies beyond knowledge.

So, here. A being cannot know Original Mind or Original Soul. Both are empty and both are formless. What is known of Original Mind and Original Soul is a mere reflection of dharma. And true Dharma cannot be seen, or heard, or spoken.

on the same wind
smoke from the wood stove
a butterfly going south