The Sun My Heart

from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, The Sun My Heart (new edition): When we speak of mind, we usually think of psychological phenomena, such as feelings, thoughts, or perceptions. When we speak of objects of mind, we think of physical phenomena, such as mountains, trees, or animals. Speaking this way, we see the phenomenal aspects of mind and its objects, but we don’t see their nature. We have observed that these two kinds of phenomena, mind and objects of mind, rely on one another for their existence and are therefore interdependent. But we do not see that they themselves have the same nature. This nature is sometimes called “mind” and sometimes called “suchness” (tathata) or God. Whatever we call it, we cannot measure this nature using concepts. It is boundless and all-inclusive, without limitations or obstacles. From the point of view of unity, it is called “dharmakaya.” From the point of view of duality, it is called “mind without obstacle” encountering “world without obstacle.” The Avatamsaka Sutra calls it unobstructed mind and unobstructed object. The mind and the world contain each other so completely and perfectly that we call this “perfect unity of mind and object.”