What Gets Your Attention?

All Dharma, all of the Buddha’s teachings, lead to one thing: their root, which is your mind. It’s beautiful. We all think we know our mind. When we hear that the dharma “leads to one root, your mind,” we all think we know what that is. And I think you should know – you should definitely know your mind. 

In Tibetan, we have a saying: “Your own mind is not hidden from you.” If you look, your mind should be right there. Nothing is hiding it. Of course, others’ minds are hidden from you. But your own mind should not be hidden from you. It should be right there, accessible, all the time.

But the question here is, do we look? Do we take the time to focus inwardly and try to know, to understand, our mind? If we don’t do that, then obviously it’s going to be hard for us to know our own mind. If you don’t look, you will not see it. 

Are You Paying Attention to Your Mind?

What are we paying attention to, usually? Do we pay attention to our mind, or do we pay attention to something else? Most of the time our attention is not directed inwardly. Our attention is almost always directed outwardly, toward outer phenomena. 

Even when we think we are looking at ourselves, we are actually looking outside. When we look at our body, we’re looking outside. Even when you look in the mirror, you’re looking outside. We pay so much attention to our body.

I’m not sure if you will agree with me or not, but according to the dharma, the Buddha’s teachings, your mind is like the engine in a car. If the engine’s not functioning well, then the car will not function well.

You can polish your car, shine it, wax it. You can put that special trim on the tire rims, that sometimes makes the wheels look like they’re moving backward. You can gold-plate it. You know, the whole car can be gold, like you see in some towers. You can change the seat covers to beautiful brocade upholstery.

You can make the whole car very luxurious, but if the engine is not working, the car’s not going to move. You can just sit inside and enjoy how beautiful it is. You can put your hands on the steering wheel, make zooming sounds, and have a nice time pretending to drive. But in the end, the car’s not functional. It’s not going anywhere.

In the same way, we can take very good care of our body. Make it shiny, have it waxed so it looks very beautiful. But if the mind is not working, if it’s not healthy, the body isn’t going to work well. It’s not going to go where you want it to go.

So, the most important point here is to know our mind first, and then take care of it. Take care of our mind, and bring it to a healthy spot.

Where Is Your Mind?

For that reason, the first thing we do is try to find our own mind. That sounds weird, doesn’t it? “Try to find my mind, what are you talking about? I have my mind right here.” But where is it, exactly? And what does it look like?

Actually, we don’t even know our mind as well as we know our closet. Which isn’t saying much. Many of us don’t know our closet very well. But we know our mind even less. Think about it: What’s in your closet? 

I was cleaning my closet before the New Year and found some clothes that I had never worn. I never even realized I had them. But then you think, “Oh, I paid a lot of money for that.” We find thoughts like that in our closet of mind. We paid a big price for this thought, but we don’t even know it’s there.

Therefore, the first step for us is to look for our mind. 

Try This

1. Ask yourself, “This mind of mine, what kind of a thing is it? What is my mind like? Don’t worry about the details at first. Just look generally.

2. Think about your mind, and see what kind of mind you have. What is the general trend? Is it a happy one, or an irritated one? It is a sharp, clear mind? Or is it kind of a dull and sleepy mind? Notice the general trend in your mind. Write down what you noticed.

3. You’ve done the first step! Of course, your mind can change. But for now, this is the general trend in your mind. To learn more, you can try meditation.

We do meditation to find our mind, and to understand our mind. Meditation is not just a process of calming your mind. It is also a process of knowing your mind, of understanding your mind.

This article is based on a teaching given by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche at Nalanda West in Seattle, Washington on March 16, 2025.