Dear Friends,
Bhante Gunaratana started chapter 8 with a recounting of the Two Kinds of Thought discourse, where the Buddha described a way we can classify and reflect on thoughts:
Suppose I divide my thoughts into two classes. On one side, I set thoughts of sensual desire, ill will, and cruelty. On the other side, I set thoughts of renunciation, loving-friendliness, and compassion.
… A thought of sensual desire arose in me. When I considered that this thought leads to my own affliction and the affliction of others, it subsided in me. …
Whatever a [meditator] frequently thinks upon, that will become the inclination of his mind.
As Joseph mentions in a podcast on right thought, “the more we repeat certain patterns of thoughts, the more probable it is that they will arise again.” He continues, “thoughts condition actions, and different thoughts and motivations in the mind bring about results.”
Sylvia Boorstein describes this in another succinct way:
Bhante Gunaratana lists some points for practicing mindfulness of mind during meditation:
- If craving arises, first acknowledge that it has arisen.
- Observe the thoughts without following them until the craving goes away.
- When the craving ends, recognize that it has gone.
- Reflect on the nature of a mind free of craving.
He also offers reflections for thoughts of hatred and delusion.
Recently, the Sunday Morning Insight Meditation Group listened to comments and a meditation by Nikki Mirghafori on Mindfulness of Thinking, which might be a meditation to try out.
Do you have any thoughts to share? Please comment below!
With best wishes,
Andrea
Alas… my concern …. I cannot stop the thoughts I have from being generated. They come into the field of my awareness like immutable fully formed clouds coming over the horizon. I seem to have no control whatsoever on their generation. I have some pretty horrible thoughts. And endless cravings and desires and dark fantasies. I do not want them anymore but then there they are bobbing on the surface of my awareness.
What I derive from these lessons and from the dharma…. this is a gentle practice. We are not doing amputations or radical surgery here. By opening the curtains on the window… by being curious… by shining a light… and by acceptance of the inevitability a gradual change… a thawing… a loosening is possible. I would say a freedom from bondage but I think that is the wrong metaphor. I have never been in bondage. I have always been free. I just have to calmly gently slowly open the space around me. Be in the freedom I have always been in but just refused to see.