The Zen of Advaita - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

mind.”Bodhidharma says, “If youbring me that mind, I will pacifyit for you.”The monk says, “WhenI search, my mind I cannot holdit.”Bodhidharma says, “Then yourmind is pacified already.”In a similar story by early 20 thcentury sage Ramana Maharshi, astudent comes to Ramana talkingabout his mind. Ramana replies,“Show me your mind.”This too is exemplified in thework of Ludwig Wittgenstein,namely, that we conceive of themind as a thing, a substancewhich produces thoughts etc.However this concept of mind isa linguistic metaphor, a conceptwhich does not exist outside oflanguage.Once “you” see the mind,(emptiness-consciousness-formemptiness)as a concept whichhas no existence outside of aperceiver-language and concepts,“you” are left with an experienceof a knower. However the knowertoo, (as will be discussed later),has no reference point and is anappearance. This undercuts the120