“Listen, Achita, are you sure about that? Where do you think the ultimate truth is?” the
Buddha asked.

“Uh… it’s with the knower, with the one who has attained enlightenment, sir,” he
replied.

“So, that’s why you traveled to find me, because you think the ultimate truth is with me,
right?” the Buddha asked.

“Yes, sir,” Achita replied.

“Alright… this may be the only opportunity in your life. If you don’t understand what
I’m about to explain, you may miss it forever, because it’s rare for someone to tell this
story.” the Buddha said.

“Please tell me this as soon as possible,” Achita begged.

“Listen, Achita… this isn’t the first time you’ve searched for this. In every past life,
you’ve searched for it. You’ve done this hundreds, thousands of times, and you’ve
always thought this thing is somewhere, with someone. And no matter how many
knowledgeable gurus you’ve met, no matter how many so-called enlightened ones
you’ve encountered, you will never find it,” the Buddha answered.

“Then what must I do, sir?” Achita asked.

“Just stop seeking from external things and start looking within your own mind,
because the ultimate truth is hidden within you,” the Buddha answered.

“Within me, sir? Then it must also be within Punnakada, within Dhotaka, within
Upasiva, and within all my friends, right, sir?” Achita asked, pointing to all his friends.

“It’s within everyone, regardless of gender, age, social class, or education. It’s in both
kings and beggars,” the Buddha answered.

“And how can I find this thing that’s within me, sir?” Achita asked.

“As long as you use the word ‘find,’ you will never find it,” the Buddha answered.

“If not ‘find,’ then what word should I use, sir?” Achita asked.

“Because the word ‘find’ still makes you feel separate from that thing. But before I tell
you the method, you must first know what that thing is,” the Buddha answered.

“Please tell me quickly, sir, what is that thing?” Achita urged.

“You know you have a mind, right?” the Buddha asked.

“Hmm… if the word ‘mind’ refers to feelings and thoughts, I know I have that, sir,” he
paused to think before answering.

“And do you know where that mind comes from?” the Buddha asked.

“Uh, uh… I don’t know, sir. It just exists, right?”

“Nothing comes into existence by itself. Everything has an origin, a cause and
condition,” the Buddha answered.

“The mind has an origin, sir?” Achita asked.

“Of course. Everything has an origin. Your mind must have an origin. Where do you
think your mind comes from?” the Buddha asked.

“I don’t know, sir,” Achita answered immediately.

“Let’s just say for now that you should know that the mind ‘has’ an origin,” the Buddha
said.

“Alright, sir.”

“And what you perceive right now is that you have your own mind, right?” the Buddha
asked.

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

“And you’ve never felt the existence of the mind that is the origin of your mind, right?”
the Buddha asked again.

“Yes, sir,” Achita answered.

“Do you know why you can’t perceive the existence of this origin mind?” the Buddha
asked.

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Think about it again, why?” the Buddha continued.

“Uh… because I never knew that I was supposed to know, sir,” Achita answered.

“And what did you do?” the Buddha asked.

“So, I didn’t care,” he answered.

“Exactly, Achita. Because you didn’t know, you never cared that this thing exists, even
though it’s the most important thing, the ultimate goal, the ultimate truth. And you’ve
been seeking it from external things, from books, from scriptures, from teachers,
without knowing that you have the wisest thing within you,” the Buddha explained.

“Who would know this, sir?” he said.

“Listen, Achita, from now on, I will call the mind that you can perceive ‘the gross mind’
or ‘the human mind,’ and I will call the mind that you cannot perceive ‘the subtle mind,’
‘the origin mind,’ ‘the Buddha-mind,’ or ‘the God-mind.’ Normally, you clearly perceive
the existence of the human mind because you have five channels for perceiving the
outside world: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. The information you perceive
goes to the gross mind, which then creates gross feelings and thoughts, or what you
call emotions. The process of their arising is instinctive, or uncontrolled. When these
emotions form, they lead to unconscious actions, which are composed of memories,
both good and bad experiences, leading to personal opinions, personal understanding,
judging everything from the ego, without seeing the ultimate truth. The final result is
liking and disliking, leading to actions towards each other, leading to attachment,
leading to existence.”

“Now, because you don’t know that the root cause of all this comes from the gross
mind, and you also don’t know that you have a subtle mind hidden within you, because
you’ve never cared to observe it, the experiences you’ve had, whether in this life or
past lives, all accumulate and cover the subtle mind, becoming one with it. If you’ve
been born a hundred thousand lives, this mind will have the experiences or stories
from those hundred thousand lives tightly wrapped around your subtle mind or
Buddha-mind. Of course, the state of the Buddha-mind at this moment is different from
its original state. This mind is no longer as pure as it once was. And because it’s not the
same, I will call the subtle mind with all the accumulated experiences ‘the
subconscious mind.’ And this is the point you need to understand.”

“Even though the ‘subconscious mind’ has the qualities of the Buddha or the subtle
mind as its core, once it has accumulated experiences, whether it’s the pain of being
hurt, the resentment of being wronged, the wounds from life, or the good feelings, the
happy and fulfilling experiences, the subtle mind records and stores them tightly. So,
this mind is not pure, it’s covered in the grime of all past life experiences.”

“This is where the concern arises. If you use the human mind to try to search for the
ultimate truth, the subtle mind or the Buddha-mind within, no matter what method
you use, such as hypnosis or guided meditation, to try to delve into the spiritual realm,
it has to pass through this layer full of the grime of those experiences. You have to
spend time unwrapping the stories in each layer. You have to use methods of
purification step by step. You have to use methods of refinement to break through to
the core. Along the way, you may perceive experiences from this subconscious mind,
manifesting as various images, but it’s still not the subtle mind itself.”

“Many times you get trapped in these illusions. You may have special abilities, you may
have supernatural powers from past life skills, or you may become a knower and seer of the past, able to predict the future. And you may become fascinated and enamored
with those abilities, forgetting about the pure, clear Buddha-mind.” the Buddha
explained.

“Then what method should I use, sir?” Achita asked.