In the Dawn of Wisdom

Thich nu Tinh Quang

Our mind, which is pure and unpolluted, is born polluted or triggered by the 'kilesas' (defilements), resulting from the habits according to external contacts with the six senses. This condition is so strong that the mind has become accustomed to the process and accepting time frame as the main factor for its function.

In the process, the mind loses its original pure nature, which can only last a few months from birth. Under this condition, the 'present' is obscured by the past and denied the experience of the endless moment of the present. Other way, the mind identifies the objects in the time frame with ‘name' and 'form' (nāmarūpa). This is the result of delusion from ignorance (avijja-ignorance). It is simply the inability of the mind to see its own process. This ignorance has caused the problems in beginning with the present domination and continuing throughout our lives. We experience this process ‘natural outcome as like as reality at every moment of our lives, that is, we are forced to see the world through the windows of this ignorance inside us.

Enlightenment is 'timeless'. It is an experience that goes beyond the process of the mind being dependent on time. For it is timeless, it is beyond thoughts. Those are the experiences of 'infinite moments’. That’s time the pure 'dharma' operates - arising and passing away at the same time, and the experience of truth also. It is the experience of the pure 'Dharma' without the mind in creating time dimensions. That's where the thought process is activated by ‘kilesas’ (defilements) no longer works. It’s time the realities and delusions of 'self' exist. And this' is the awakening to ignorance’s mind in the dawn of wisdom. At this time, the individual does not exist. There is only light on the free path of enlightenment.