A man told his friend, "What an unlucky day I'm having today! A mosquito flew into my eye. I had to spend fifty bucks to see the eye specialist."

That's nothing, his friend said, "This afternoon a dress flew into my wife's eyes. That costs me five hundred bucks!"

When our eyes are attracted to something, we cannot easily forget them and tear them away from it. It can remain in the mind and heart for a long, long time. Sometimes, our eyes are so intrigued by a particular person or thing that images of them appear before us again and again right in front of our foreheads. This is because we live in a colorful and materially seductive world full of temptations for our eyes. Many troubles and worries start to take place.

Our human heart seeks peace and tranquillity, but because our six desires create such turbulence in us, the peace of our heart is constantly disrupted. The six desires arise through the interaction of the six sensory organs (eyes, ears, noses, tongue, skin and the brain) with the external conditions (form, sound, smell, taste, touch and idea). The six sensory organs form the six awarenesses which give rise to the six desires when they come into contact with the six external conditions. When the six desires emerge, distracting thoughts are generated, then the human heart is not tranquil.

Desires arise when our eyes are enchanted by appearances, our ears are intrigued by sounds, our noses are enticed by frangrances, our tongues are delighted by tastes, our bodies are pleased by the sense of touch and our awareness is confused with ideas. When we have desires and careless thoughts, we live then only for physical satisfaction and spend our time indulging in the pleasure of a materialistic life. Our bright nature is then obscured and contaminated. This is the state of mind of a person enslaved by forms.

The heart is the master of the body. We have to act carefully from the heart, control our physical impulses and avoid temptation. Always maintain a sincere heart. Curd all unrighteous thoughts and be respectful Then the true nature will be at peace. A wise cultivator transforms the six senses into servants under the control of his true nature. Conversely, an ordinary person allows the six senses to become six thieves and obscures the true nature. The hearts of both these people have the same essence, yet there is a huge difference in their characters because of the different foundations of their actions.

A Great Chinese Saint, Mencius said, "Eyes and ears are incapable of thought. They are constantly distracted by the physical world and, having no control over it, they are just like other objects. When the eyes and ears come into contact with the external objects, they are drawn to them and we experience temptation. In our hearts, however, we can contemplate. When we do this, we gain benefit. If we do not contemplate, we will not gain. Our eyes, noses and hearts are gifts from Heaven. As long as we nurture the essence of truth within our hearts, the lesser organs of the body will not be able to disrupt its tranquillity or confuse its purpose. This is the way of a virtuous person."

We love to hear words of praise but easily become defensive when we are criticized. We prefer to look at beautiful things and avert our eyes from ugliness. In life, both we cannot avoid, learn to use our true nature to rule our senses. We can control the heart, see and act wisely and do not allow emotions and awareness to become inner thieves.

Author: T.A Chew