How the Mind Works According to the Buddha | Venerable Radha | 10 April 2026

Venerable Radha shares a year of personal insight into the Buddhist understanding of the mind, focusing on the five khandhas—form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness—as the foundational framework for mental experience. Drawing from his engineering background and meditation practice, he explains how these processes are automatic and impersonal, not driven by a central 'self.' A pivotal moment comes when a student challenges his teaching by asking, 'What if my breath doesn’t want to be friends with me?' This leads to a powerful exploration of how unresolved emotional wounds—like childhood rejection or grief—can manifest as mental resistance during meditation. Radha illustrates this with stories of a woman haunted by her father’s suicide, a Malaysian retreatant burdened by guilt, and a teenager experiencing hallucinations rooted in self-loathing. He emphasizes that healing begins not with fixing the symptom, but with uncovering the underlying view or belief that fuels it. He also addresses the illusion of free will, referencing Ajahn Brahmali’s view that volition is conditioned, yet reconciling this with a sense of freedom through contentment and non-craving. The talk culminates in a call to recognize the mind’s automatic processes, let go of unhelpful narratives, and cultivate compassion for oneself and others through mindful awareness and ethical living. The episode blends personal narrative, psychological insight, and Dhamma teaching to show how understanding the mind’s mechanics leads to liberation from suffering.