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Dealing with the Bossy Mind
Dhammika
Veteran
Having a rough and hypercritical day, with papanca-mind, I have been mulling an observation by Ajahn Amaro that the mind is just one of the six senses. And that it only feels like it has primacy because of the power of thoughts and the authority we give them and the passing show. But what if thought is seen as just co-equal with the other senses, just more information we may react to or not. That way we are not so subject to buying into the stories, the habitual narratives, told. I take a little comfort and respite from this insight, especially when the bossy mind says 'look at this, this is true, this is real, blah-blah, you are this and you are that....'
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I've always thought that the mind is the control center for 'running things' like the five or six senses we typically have at our disposal. Our emotions is what we choose (or not), to take the reins when we suspect or know, that are getting too strong.
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Either teach the mind that these things are unimportant, so that it shuts up on its own, or practice silence directly, so that you get to disconnect from the mind. Quietening the mind is one of the most important steps on the path, or so I heard...
true silence can be found if you want to find it. otherwise we generate our own noise to cover up the lack. after a thought takes seed, the rest is a decision on our part to let it grow or not. i have a garden in my mind...procrastinating landscaping.
mindful distraction is a good substitute in the meantime
What I find helpful is being mindful of the mind's activities in the context of satipatthana practice. Trying to be aware of it's states, moods and activities, just noticing the weird stuff it does and the changes it goes through. I think of the mind as the space where we experience stuff and where we create our world.
I think because it is easier to see what is going on when things are a bit calmer.
I recently had a conversation with someone about the similarity between a thought and a fart. And how we seem to take one far more seriously than the other!
I like very much what @SpinyNorman said, the space where we experience.
It is quite true that calming or slowing the emotional, reactive, physical and other centres (sometimes called wheels of being or chakra) is part of the developing awareness of innate capacities that are also present in the personal experience space ...
The tumultuous intensity of life needs a pause button, we call this meditation ... oh you all knew that ...
I think that slowing is only a temporary solution, because ultimately you need to come to terms with the reactivity of a centre. Insight and mindfulness is imho the best route to get to know what is there and calm the seeds that have grown there.
You are right, the tumultuous intensity of life does need a pause... sometimes... while we work on achieving peace.
It is not for nothing that the body is the first of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. It is the easiest, most noticeable place to start to wake out of the narratives and distractions that get us so lost in la-la land. There is such a habit energy around being entranced by those narratives. I guess that's why meditation and mindfulness are described as a practice.
Make your very best effort to have a wise and profound thought when sneezing.
Learn from the sneeze.
Sneezewareness?
You are over-thinking this. Over-thinking is just another way of trying to seek security ... a form of attachment, or at least of aversion to insecurity.
Buddhism is about observation and experience. Observe what goes on, but do not try to seek a resolution to it. Learn to relax into your observation without trying to pin it down. Genkaku speaks well on this ... at the moment of the sneeze, we just ARE ... and we aren't caught up in mental games. However, this is easier said than done ... mindfulness is cultivated over years, decades, lifetimes of meditating. So the answer is to meditate more, and observe the inner discomfort that is prompting our desire to find "answers". To observe, relax into, and feel compassion for that tension that insecurity arouses in us. And then to extend that compassion to all other sentient beings .. who are just like us, wanting comfort and seeking to avoid discomfort.
In the end, the more we practice compassion, the less we revolve around ourselves. And even psychology tells us that the more we focus on ourselves, the more neurotic and unhappy we will be .. while the more we care about others, the happier we will be.
@Dhammika -- I've got five bucks that says you can't do that.
PS. The Zen teacher Ummon once observed, "When you can't say it, it's present. When you don't say it, it's missing." FWIW.
Well.... I DO know you can't sneeze with your eyes open.... so being aware of that, is mind-focusing....
huh,just had a sneeze today.the sensation was personally pleasurable.
p.s.that zen teacher saying has an alternative saying in doa,paraphrasing the great lao-tzue, to know is quiet,to don't know,it's chatty.
i defenately can relate to a chatty brain,so i don't know in doa and might inquire zen.