Question: What is the relationship of the mind and afflictive emotions?
DL: The very entity of the mind, its nature of mere luminosity and knowing, is
not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in the entity of the mind.
Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very entity or nature of the
mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because of this we are able to
remove the afflictive emotions. If you agitate the water in a pond, it
becomes cloudy with mud; yet the very nature of the water itself is not dirty.
When you allow it to become still again, the mud will settle, leaving the
water pure. How are defilements removed? They are not removed by outside
action, nor by leaving them as they are; they are removed by the power of
antidotes, meditative antidotes.
-- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, published
by Snow Lion Publications
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