Reading Highlight

There is the story of a man who goes to the Buddha and asks him, “If each separate sense-door (smelling, seeing, tasting, etc.) does not connect to the other, what holds all the senses in a single body?” The Buddha replies, “The mind holds all the senses.” All the senses arrive into the mind and can be observed from the mind. “Ah,” says the man. “What then holds the mind?” The Buddha says, “The mind is held by awareness.” Awareness can see everything in the mind. Finally the man asks the Buddha, “What holds awareness?” The Buddha replies, “Awareness is held by the unconditioned.” 2 Awareness has no conditional basis for seeing, and therefore does not see from memory.