All states of being are determined by mind, it is mind that leads the way.

This is the opening quotation in The Dhammapada which is supposedly a record of many of the sayings of Buddha. No one can be sure though because he never wrote anything down and many of them come from the memory of his followers after Buddha’s death. As the opening quotation it surely has some significance, a kind of a scene setter or laying down of a standard for what is about to come next in the book? But it does more than this; it opens up the whole can of worms about the difference between mind and brain, together with the question of whether an experience determines how we feel (state of being) or the converse that our mind affects the experience!

From about 15 years ago I became convinced it was the latter, with the…