An explanation of the blog name. What does “Breaking the Vase” mean?
Buddhism is about transforming our lives by taming and transforming our minds. Through vigilant observation of the actions of our body, speech and mind, both in meditation and out, we become familiar with both the functioning and the consequences of our minds activity.
The Tibetan word for meditation is Gom, which means to become familiar with. By spending time in gom, we become familiar with the True Nature of our mind. This True Nature of the mind is often illustrated using the metaphor of a vase. The space within a vase appears separate from the space outside the vase. However, when we break the vase, we realize that the space inside the vase is, and always was, continuous with the outside space. This illusion of separateness, or Duality (literally, two-things), is what Breaking the Vase symbolizes, gaining an awareness of this Non-Duality. Non-Duality is not to be mistaken for one-ness; it is a deeper concept that transcends the idea of both separation and unity. This requires a much deeper explanation. For now, this brief explanation is simply to shed light on the meaning of the name of this website, Breaking the Vase
