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Do you have trouble "quieting your mind"?
I see this very often. Please consider...
Note that Sogyal Rinpoche does not say that meditation is the result, but the process itself. It is not simply being in the state-of-mind which he describes, but the journey to bring it to that state. Note that he also describes it as "glimpsing" this state.
You will experience small glimpses of this state-of-mind through meditation, as you've described. (Also note that meditation isn't the only means! You will experience these glimpses in everyday life as well
) And naturally, as we're human, a small voice/thought/sensation will pop up and bring us away from this state. The trick is to not become frustrated or look at this as a failure, but to identify it and let it go without judgement, and begin the journey once again to return to that state-of-mind. Be grateful for that small glimpse, as well as the interruption i.e. another chance to practice mindfulness. The entire process is meditation.
Even the Masters experience this. It's just that, the more you practice what I just desribed, the longer you'll be able to hold this state/the quicker you'll be able to enter it.
So if you view meditation with this understanding, the "problem" you're experiencing doesn't exist.
Namaste.
"The purpose of meditation is to awaken in us the sky-like nature of mind, and to introduce us to that which we really are, our unchanging pure awareness, which underlies the whole of life and death.
In the stillness and silence of meditation, we glimpse and return to that deep inner nature that we have so long ago lost sight of amid the busyness and distraction of our minds. Isn't it extraordinary that our minds cannot stay still for longer than a few moments without grasping after distraction; they are so restless and preoccupied that sometimes I think that living in a city in the modern world, we are already like the tormented beings in the intermediate state after death, where the consciousness is said to be agonizingly restless. According to some authorities, up to 13 percent of the people in the United States suffer from some kind of mental disorder. What does that say about the way that we live?
We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don't know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.
Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home." -Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Note that Sogyal Rinpoche does not say that meditation is the result, but the process itself. It is not simply being in the state-of-mind which he describes, but the journey to bring it to that state. Note that he also describes it as "glimpsing" this state.
You will experience small glimpses of this state-of-mind through meditation, as you've described. (Also note that meditation isn't the only means! You will experience these glimpses in everyday life as well
) And naturally, as we're human, a small voice/thought/sensation will pop up and bring us away from this state. The trick is to not become frustrated or look at this as a failure, but to identify it and let it go without judgement, and begin the journey once again to return to that state-of-mind. Be grateful for that small glimpse, as well as the interruption i.e. another chance to practice mindfulness. The entire process is meditation.Even the Masters experience this. It's just that, the more you practice what I just desribed, the longer you'll be able to hold this state/the quicker you'll be able to enter it.
So if you view meditation with this understanding, the "problem" you're experiencing doesn't exist.
Namaste.
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Comments
Even the meditation practice itself seems to be no longer within my control. I find myself sitting out of a sense of reaction as opposed to intention. It seems to serve more as a temporary respite than anything else.
A more simple translation might be: First, observe what comes first. Second, observe what comes second.
A method that has helped me immeasurably to maintain some quiet, is to identify where the thoughts are coming from. Anxiety? Impatience? Whatever they are, the most predominant source of the thoughts, can be accepted and even embraced with very positive outcomes as mentioned by Somnilocus.
The method I was taught, was to the source (let's say anxiety), we ask it to sit beside you as a welcomed guest. Being a guest, you as a host can expect that anxiety (the guest) will be a gracious guest and honor your wish that it be silent. I have found this to be a very effective approach that removes my resistance and it sets an excellent setting for meditating. What I also found was that it increased my ability to accept my own weaknesses and nurture myself rather than beat myself up. When I began this, my meditation became more than temporary respite.
Best regards
Namaste
I have read of similar methods and have not been able to apply this conception because it seems like an illusory construct to me.
What I have pursued is to try to understand that however I react to, or whatever I think, is a natural response to all previous actions and all current conditions. This includes my meditation practice as well since it originated out of the suffering of chronic insomnia.
Having only initially read about the mechanics of meditation I was totally unprepared for the impact it has had and continues to have on this journey. Out of the sole desire of just wanting to get to sleep, meditation has forced me to significantly alter my perception of my own identity to the point that at times I wonder if I even truly exist. Don't get me wrong, I am aware that a body is typing what a mind is thinking. But, even in completing specific tasks I wonder if the control that I believe that I have is illusory.
To sloppily sum up, everything that I thought that I once knew has become a question for which answers are becoming ever more elusive. The reality of a dense web of interdependence that goes beyond anything that I had previously imagined has grown to a point that the only way that I have been able to identify myself is by the converse of what I am not rather than any conception of what I am.
My experience has been different than yours. I guess people react as differently as there are ways to think or believe. It could also be my particular state of meditative development.
Perhaps my mind is noisier than yours, who knows. The technique really led me to insight in respect to myself and it provides a setting that is conducive to more disciplined meditation on my part. It has also aided me in the acceptance and loving kindness towards my own foibles. It has been a boon to my practice.
Namaste
I have found exactly that during meditation I get small glimplses of a clearer and calmer mind but a lot of the time I just sit there observing the mental boiling and sometimes trying to fight it. In the end of the session, I'm usually somewhat more "here" than before it, yet not dramatically so.
But, I console myself, Rome wasn't built in a day.
It may be different for others.