The Buddha Mind: A Practical Path Through Satvic Food
How can one begin to describe the Buddha mind? In truth, the Buddha mind defies explanation. The moment we attempt to define it; it slips through the grasp of language. As the ancients have said, “Once you can explain the Buddha mind, it is not.” All efforts to articulate it fall short, because the mortal mind cannot communicate with what is immortal. The Buddha mind has been called many things - Beingness, Emptiness, and the Indescribable - yet these are only gestures toward something far greater.
The Buddha mind cannot be reached through effort or study. It is not an outcome of practice, but a realization of what has always been present. It is not something to define or achieve; it is something to live. One simply awakens to it when the conditions are right.
As long as the body breathes, the mind remains attached - tethered to illusion and time. Even in deep sleep, when the mind becomes inactive, breathing continues, and illusion lingers. The Buddha, in contrast, needs no breath, no heartbeat. The mind that clings to life and form is the mind of transience. When this mind dies - not in death, but in deep destruction, through love - only the Buddha mind remains.
The Zen word satori means “last breath.” In its deepest sense, it marks the moment when the mind becomes inoperable, completely. What remains is unconditioned awareness - the Buddha mind - timeless, formless, changeless. It was never born and can never end. And yet, it is always with you.
The question remains: how can one realize the Buddha mind?
The answer, though often overlooked in modern interpretations, lies in something deeply practical. Buddha Sakyamuni himself taught that a body that is healthy and well-nourished enough to sustain true inner silence makes realization not only possible, but inevitable. This is the ground for awakening - not in the clouds of abstraction, but in the simple truth of a satvic diet.
The ancient route to holistic health is through satvic food - pure, balanced nourishment that supports clarity, stability, and peace. This is not just dietary advice; it is a sacred principle. As the Arab physician Rhazes wrote over a thousand years ago: “When you can heal by diet, prescribe no medicine.”
And to take that wisdom further: sacred food dissolves the disease of attachment. And it is attachment to phenomena that is the final obstacle to sacred holistic health. When attachment falls away, so does the veil between the mind and the Buddha mind.
The way may be ancient, but its relevance is eternal. In rediscovering what it truly means to nourish the body with satvic purity, we also rediscover the simple, powerful truth: the Buddha mind is not far. It is right here, awaiting your stillness.
You can read more in the book Sacred Holistic Health.
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