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Buddhist Meditation: Catching the Right Thought Train
Sile
Veteran
in Meditation
Neat article from Anushka Fernandopulle:
"Consider your mind being like the platform of a train station where different trains of thought pull through the station in each moment, heading to various destinations: childhood memories, creative ideas, revenge fantasies, cravings for chocolate, vacation plans. The untrained mind gets on every single train that pulls through the station, only later realizing what the destination is. For instance, the "Jealousy Train" leads to a bleak wasteland -- fear, aggression, obsession, stalking your ex, burning garbage, large rodents -- you do not want to get on that train! On the other hand, the "Generosity Train" leads to a place that is spacious, happy, relaxed and connected. That's a good one to board...as we develop our practice we can learn to get on the thought trains that are helpful and skip the ones that are not. And just like in a train station, if nobody is boarding the trains that go to a destination, they will stop running them so often, and eventually stop running them at all. This is known as the path of purification, and it is completely possible for a 21st century person to attain, if you are interested in learning."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anushka-fernandopulle/buddhist-meditation-catching-the-right-thought-train_b_1988349.html
"Consider your mind being like the platform of a train station where different trains of thought pull through the station in each moment, heading to various destinations: childhood memories, creative ideas, revenge fantasies, cravings for chocolate, vacation plans. The untrained mind gets on every single train that pulls through the station, only later realizing what the destination is. For instance, the "Jealousy Train" leads to a bleak wasteland -- fear, aggression, obsession, stalking your ex, burning garbage, large rodents -- you do not want to get on that train! On the other hand, the "Generosity Train" leads to a place that is spacious, happy, relaxed and connected. That's a good one to board...as we develop our practice we can learn to get on the thought trains that are helpful and skip the ones that are not. And just like in a train station, if nobody is boarding the trains that go to a destination, they will stop running them so often, and eventually stop running them at all. This is known as the path of purification, and it is completely possible for a 21st century person to attain, if you are interested in learning."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anushka-fernandopulle/buddhist-meditation-catching-the-right-thought-train_b_1988349.html
6
Comments
Or maybe the love train
Through training and experience the Sufi gains a complete understanding of the train system.
"When you truly penetrate to see the present, with its arisings and ceasings, it's really no great affair at all. Whatever one thinks about will naturally come to a close. But if you can't foresee its cessation, then whatever comes up will be grasped and held, plunging you into turmoil and continuing thought proliferations. You must stop this stream of conceivings and imaginings. Cut it off! Secure mindfulness and fix your total attention on the mind, and the chain of thought and fantasy — which had become an obsession — can be broken and stopped. You can do this at any time and the mind will always release its hold and become still and free. This must then be guarded as the normal state of mind by repeatedly keeping the thought proliferations in check. Whenever they run out of control you must be aware of the situation and stop them. You should practice like this until you become skilled, until the mind is no longer stuck in its obsessions."
Training for Liberation
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/kee/directions.html