The Nature Of Reality - Verse Thirty Seven

When a seed gives rise to a formation,
it is the primary cause.
The subject of perception depends on the object of perception.
This is an object as cause.

The store consciousness is like a field with seeds sown in it. When the seeds are watered they sprout. If someone waters the seed of anger, we become angry. Anger is a mental formation. The seed of anger is the primary cause and the person who watered the seed is known as the object cause.

Without an object we cannot be angry. If we are angry there must be an object causing us to be angry. A thought is an object too.

When a positive mental formation such as faith/confidence manifests, we should try to keep it in our mind for as long as possible. If a negative mental formation, like anger manifests, we should embrace it with mindfulness and quickly let go of the object causing the anger so the anger can subside. For example, if you are upset about a news item you read about on the internet or some office gossip about you, don't dwell upon it. When we dwell upon something that acts as an 'object cause' for a negative mental formation, we end up strengthening that mental formation.

Mental formations produce mental formations as well as seeds. If we keep on watering seeds of envy, it will emerge stronger. The habit energy associated with that seed will be very strong, like that of a person addicted to smoking cigarettes. The more he smokes, the more addicted he gets. The more we are addicted to smoking, the more we will smoke.

We should always try to create an atmosphere that prevents manifestation of negative mental formations. The simplest way to do it is to relax the mind and focus on our breath. We can breathe in and breathe out mindfully and when a thought arises in the mind we should quickly identify if it is going to water the seed of a negative mental formation. If we identify the thought to be one that waters the seed of a negative mental formation, then we should let go of that thought quickly.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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