“Imagine you are a lone explorer wandering in a dark unknown forest….” So begins the introduction to “Finding the Mind” by Ratnaprabha, which is part of a series of Triratna books subtitled A Buddhist View.  These books are often suggested as introductory books for beginners, including topics such as “Solitude and Loneliness” and “Vegetarianism”.  However, “Finding the Mind is by far my favourite, for it is this book that was responsible for introducing me to the parable of the city.  

“Suppose, bhikkhus, a man wandering through a forest would see an ancient path, an ancient road travelled upon by people in the past. He would follow it and would see an ancient city, an ancient capital [106] that had been inhabited by people in the past, with parks, groves, ponds, and ramparts, a delightful place. Then the man would inform the king or a royal minister: ‘Sire, know that while wandering through the forest I saw an ancient path, an ancient road travelled upon by people in the past. I followed it and saw an ancient city, an ancient capital that had been inhabited by people in the past, with parks, groves, ponds, and ramparts, a delightful place. Renovate that city, sire!’ Then the king or the royal minister would renovate the city, and some time later that city would become successful and prosperous, well populated, filled with people, attained to growth and expansion.” (The Connected Discourses of the Buddha – trans. By Bikkhu Bodhi; SN 2 12.65)

The suggestion, of course, is that the city is the human mind and that the job of the spiritual seeker is to restore the human mind to its former glory.  The ancient path that the seeker follows is the Noble Eightfold Path.  This parable has always excited me because it points to the truth that within our skulls we all posses riches beyond our imagining!  After all modern science has taught us that the human mind is the most complex structure in the known universe, how could it not be such a jewel?  And one that is possessed by all of us.