Pure Land and Pure Mind

 After the meditation session tonight, we had a chance to view Master Sheng Yen's video, "Pure Land is Pure Mind" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlIqjDPO18). And this video talked about the difference between ''quiet"(静) and "pure" ( 淨)., both designated by the Chinese phonetic sound "jing". Sheng Yen explains in this video that while 'quietening' the mind refers to making the mind calmer through meditative or other stilling practices, 'purity' does not necessarily equate with 'quiet'.  Shifu uses the example of the Pure Land, which is described in Buddhist traditions as a place where even the leaves on the trees make sounds which remind people of the original pure mind. Thus, no one can say that Pure Land is a completely quiet place. Furthermore, enlightened beings are able to abide in the greatest noise without attaching to those sounds. From the deepest level, the 'pure' mind does not cling to notions of 'quiet' or 'noise', 'pure' or 'impure'.
   When I relate this concept to practice, I personally feel that quietening the mind and realizing its inherent purity are two vital parts of the practice. On the one hand, one has to often find a place to allow the mind to settle, and this often requires a quiet and simple environment, such as the quiet of a meditation hall. Over time, however, if one gets too attached to the sense of 'quiet', one generates another self, which becomes a source of vexation. I originally go to a retreat with the intention of 'purifying' my thoughts and life, only to find that I am attaching to the idea of 'quiet' as an ultimate or desirable state of mind. Then, when a disturbance arises in life, I have the desire to get back to the cushion. For this reason, I feel that one cannot assign a particular quality to mind, whether pure/impure, quiet/loud, still/moving. Doing so only creates yet another opposition, and one ends up see sawing between the two poles.
    So what to do? I think faith in mind is so important here. Looking for or grasping a specific condition of mind is like jumping off a ship in order to hold onto a stick in the ocean. So while I use the quieting practice (watching the breath, chanting, etc.) to settle the mind, I don't take that practice itself to be 'my mind'. As soon as I confuse the method with the mind, I start to attach to that method and reject all other phenomena. But the method is only there to reveal the presence of mind in all phenomena and situations. There is just no need to run away from the arising phenomena, as long as I am aware that it has the same fundamental source. But if I find that there is no way to be aware in this fashion, I use the method of stilling the thoughts in order to open a space for mind to realize its own inherent nature.