Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

suffer as we all do.
It’s interesting to read how some experts in Quantum Physics
have come to the same conclusion in this regard, that the
mind has a moment of interaction with every experience that
can have real consequences in the physical realm. They say
that quantum physics leaves a perfect space for the
experiential mind to interpret the data and make decisions
based on it. They say that with every experience there is a
moment where the mind can intervene and collapse the
quantum state from a smeared-out series of possibilities to a
specific state, a decision. This is very close to the
description of karma in Buddhism, and it’s very close to what
is experienced in Buddhist meditation. It is quite impressive
to see that what we realize in meditation is being explained
in terms of modern Physics, where they can describe how it
appears from the outside and we can verify it from within.
According to Buddhist theory, this intervention of the mind
occurs at every moment; every time we experience an
object, there is a mental interaction with the otherwise
closed physical reality. Normally, the physical realm works
according to internal laws of cause and effect; X causes Y
causes Z and so on. When the mind intervenes, however,
it’s able to change this, or to play a part in it at least.
Though there is much debate amongst Physicists about
whether this is so, it is quite clear from the point of view of a
Buddhist meditator that we give rise to judgements and
make decisions on a moment to moment basis. In the
practice of mindfulness, we attempt to purify our mental
state at the moment at which the intervention would occur,
remembering it simply for what it is. When we see
something, we attempt to see it clearly; we attempt to purify
our awareness in that moment, so there is no greed, no
anger and no delusion, just pure awareness of the object as
it is.
We always hear in Buddhism about how one should stay in
the present moment, not thinking about the future, not
thinking about the past. This is not just a clever aphorism,
it’s actually a meditation instruction; you should be
meditating right now on what you experience in the present
moment. It doesn’t do any good to think in terms of how
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