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Guided Meditation: Mindful of Thinking

Good day, everyone, and welcome. Welcome to here, wherever here is for you.

So the theme this week for meditation, especially, has been the capacity for recognizing what's happening in the present moment, and recognizing it clearly—clear recognition.

Clear recognition is this capacity to know what's happening in the most obvious way perhaps that's clear to us. It doesn't have to be some deep analytical way, but as things are observed, they're experienced in the simplest way that we can know them. But that knowing is clear enough, strong enough, emphatic enough that the knowing, the recognition itself, is its own event. It isn't that the recognition is just a casual thing on the side, a bystander of our life where we kind of know what's going on and we recognize what's going on, but we're barreling ahead and involved in what's going on. The knowing is its own event. If anything, we are resting in the knowing, or we are emphasizing knowing.

Over time in meditation, sometimes it's the most important thing that's happening, rather than the usual idea of looking at pleasure or success or attainments, or avoiding something or figuring something out. The activity is being important, whatever where it's happening. It's the knowing which is important. The activity can continue, but it's like changing the paradigm or changing the center for where our life is based. At least for meditation, it begins being more and more centered in the recognition, more than the experience that we're having. We're recognizing the experience, and this becomes particularly significant in relationship to thinking.

To clearly, clearly, clearly recognize thinking is happening. "This is thinking."

So we're not riding the thoughts, we're not in the thoughts, we're not being swept away in the river of thoughts. We're not going to kind of know we're thinking but really what we're doing is we're centered in our thoughts and moving along. It's almost as if we're not stopping our thinking, but it's like we're stepping onto the dry riverbank on the side of the river and seeing, "Oh, that's a river. That's thinking going on." With such clarity, with such calm strength, a relaxed, peaceful place: "Well, that is a thought."

So in this meditation, what I would like to suggest you do is you give a little bit more emphasis on mindfulness of thinking. And not just to be aware that you're thinking, but see if you can increase the volume or the clarity of recognizing, "Oh, that is a thought." And you might even use that expression: "That's a thought," or "Just a thought." And it doesn't matter if it's a true thought or a false thought, or if it's a thought about the past, the future, even the present. It doesn't matter the nature of the thought. The idea is to keep stepping away upon the dry riverbank of peace and recognizing, "Oh, that's thinking."

Thinking has a tremendous influence on our attitudes, our moods, the image in which we live our life, the projections and assumptions we have. It's very insidious how they get involved in our perceptions. Start stepping back: "That's a thought. That's a thought. That's a thought," clearly recognizing it as that.

As we do this meditation, if it's helpful for you, you might just do it in a relaxed way, and maybe that's the primary thing that you recognize instead of breathing. Or you might stay with your breathing, and on every exhale recognize whatever thought has arisen. Have no judgments about the nature of thoughts, no animosity or criticism for them. It's simply the clarity of, "Oh, that's a thought." And maybe, as I talked about yesterday, it's possible to discover a kind of freedom and peace in stepping back onto the bank of the river and watching the river go by. Step back away from our thinking and recognizing, "It's a thought. Just a thought." No more, no less than just a thought. It's an idea, it's a concept, it's an image. Just recognize it as such.

So sitting in a posture that's supportive for you, and perhaps closing your eyes, and taking a few long, slow, deep breaths. A long, leisurely inhale and long, leisurely exhales. As long as it's comfortable.

And then letting your breathing return to normal and relaxing in your body, especially as you exhale.

And then centering yourself more on the body breathing, the simplicity of breathing. And as you exhale, recognize thinking if there's thinking. A kind of clear recognition that's not the same thing as letting go of your thoughts, but it's similar in not being engaged or involved in the thinking, but rather being engaged and involved in the simple recognition: "This is a thought." And to do that over and over again, perhaps to discover a peaceful place that is not entangled in thinking.

Recognize yourself thinking, including how subtly thoughts will creep in on the side or be like in the background slipping in. Recognizing one thought or another has begun. Some are so much part of the background that it doesn't occur to us to recognize it.

Reflections

And as we come to the end of this sitting, the ability to see clearly is the goal of vipassana^[1] practice. Oftentimes it's thoughts and ideas and judgments and agendas that get in the way of our ability to see clearly. So to see and recognize clearly your thinking is a step towards not having those thoughts interfere with seeing the world clearly, and to see other people with some clarity.

Our ability to see others, hear others, perceive others in a direct way without thick layers of ideas and thoughts and judgments and fears and desires, bias, memories, hopes, is a gift that we give to others to simply see them as they are, to be open and present. In fact, to see someone clearly, to listen carefully, these are forms of love. When people really feel seen, there can be love. It's difficult to have real love if people don't see each other.

And may it be that our meditation practice prepares us for the world. Prepares us so that we're more inclined or more able to see others clearly, to pause, to be open, to take the time to really see and listen. And may that be the vehicle, a channel for our care and our love.

May the benefits of our practice together today travel from us, our community, out into the world. Through our ability to really be present for others, may all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free. And may we recognize that as a possibility for all of us.

Dharmette: Clear Recognition (5 of 5) Comprehension of Non-Delusion

So we come to the last talk in this five-part series on clear comprehension or clear recognition, sampajañña^[2].

So there are a variety of ways that we can clearly recognize and know and see. The fourth one of the four is a clear comprehension of non-delusion. It's kind of a mouthful. What is this? How do we clearly comprehend non-delusion?

I think one of the ways of understanding this that I really appreciate, delight in, and sometimes am amused by, is to have a clear comprehension of thinking—to really recognize when a thought arises as a thought. I find it interpersonally very helpful because I might have a thought about someone I'm with. The other day I met someone for the first time in an unusual situation, and given the context of the situation, given something about how that person appeared to me, I had a predisposition or a bias to a certain kind of stereotype. "Oh, this is that kind of person." But because I have this practice of watching my thoughts arise, I could see that thought arise, and immediately I knew, "Oh, Gil, this is just your thought. This is your interpretation of the situation. You better stay open here to find out what's really going on here, what this person is, who this person is."

And in fact, very quickly I came to see this person was not my stereotype, not what I thought. The fact that I have this bias or stereotype, these thoughts came up and assumptions that came up in person—I think all of us have that. That's a normal part of a mind that is operating in the world in a way that needs to have simplistic understanding of a complex world to find our way. So it's just kind of a thing the mind does. And that thought that arose about this person, it wasn't like I was behind the thought or I was attached to the thought, and I didn't criticize myself for having it. I just saw immediately, "Oh, this is a stereotype. This is an idea." And then I could adjust accordingly. If I'd stayed in the stereotype and got caught in it and involved in it, then I have some responsibility. Then it's in my court, and that could cause harm that way.

So in seeing the stereotype come up, this idea come up, and to see it as, "Oh, this is just a thought. Let's be careful here. Let's find out. Let's investigate more." That was clear comprehension of non-delusion. The non-delusion of questioning my thought, stepping back and saying, "Wait, what's going on here?"

It was also some non-delusion in not taking it too personally: "Oh, this is just an arising of a phenomena." I see it just as phenomena, and because of that clarity of seeing, there's a kind of freedom from it. I don't have to interpret it or berate myself or identify myself with having that thought. It's just a thought. So there also, I can be aware this is non-delusion, to just leave it very simple. It belongs to an impersonal, not-self^[3] world. To see it's just a thought coming up. I recognize it. It's not fixed; it just arose and it's just here for a moment. I don't have to get involved and pick it up. It in and of itself is an impermanent, changing, temporary phenomena. To see that thought as a temporary phenomena also is clear comprehension of non-delusion. I'm not deluded by it. I see it a certain kind of way as not-self; I see it a certain kind of way as temporary. If I took it as being permanent—"This is it, this is the truth"—and I'm going to hang on to it and stay with it, that is delusion.

So this ability to clearly recognize our thoughts that arise can be, I find it kind of delightful and sometimes amusing more than distressing. When there's such clarity of recognition that I know I'm safe—I'm safe from getting pulled into it, being involved in it, or acting from these thoughts that come up. And that delight can be there even when the thoughts are true. Then I might, with my wisdom, decide whether to act on them or not, or speak them or something. But even just stepping back and, "Oh, look at that. There's a thought, and there's a perception, an assumption, an idea." That kind of distance is like, wow, it's kind of like an amazing phenomena of nature. Like looking at a tree in a park. Lately we had sunflowers growing in our garden, and these are beautiful sunflowers. They're bright yellow, and I just delight in them. So to have that kind of delight with what arises in one's own mind. Even when things are uncomfortable to have certain thoughts, there's stepping back and clearly seeing.

And so this clear recognition, that the knowing, the awareness is not caught, is not entangled, is not reactive to the thinking I'm having, to the situation I'm having—"Oh, this is really good to have this freedom, this space, this interval where some clarity can arise and wisdom can arise." This is also a clear comprehension of non-delusion.

And I love this expression "non-delusion" because it's the absence of delusion. To say "a clear comprehension of wisdom" means I'm supposed to be wise, I'm supposed to have good thoughts or wise thoughts or something like that. But rather to see, "Oh, here there's no delusion. There's no clinging or aversion. I'm not living in the judgments. I'm not living in the thoughts and seeing the world through the thoughts." There's a place of non-delusion which is not exactly a thing or a form of wisdom that I can propositionally say, "This is true." Exactly, the non-delusion is in the nature of stepping back and being clear. This clear recognition, this clear freedom, this clear spaciousness that allows thoughts and feelings and emotions and impulses and desires and aversions—they can all arise, but there's non-delusion about them. "It's just a thought. It's just an aversive thought or feeling. It's just a desire that arises." And whether or not I act on any of this, there's space to make that choice. There's an interval, a time, there's an ability to do that. But the non-delusion sets the foundation, as the context for living a life of greater clarity, greater generosity, greater freedom.

To come from a place of non-delusion allows us to see others better, to be better friends or listen better to other people, to be attuned to other people because we're not seeing them through the filter of our delusion or our projections or our assumptions, our bias, our stereotypes. It's so useful.

And then as we meditate and we become more still and quiet, it's useful to become attuned or to recognize how subtly these thoughts creep in. Even the thought, you know, you're sitting quietly, peacefully, the mind is silent, and you have the thought, "I'm not thinking anything." And then you believe that's true, even though you just had that thought, and you don't see that the thought itself is kind of contradicting itself. But all these little thoughts come in, and some of them are evaluations, judgments, commentary about what's happening in the present. Some of them are just kind of like in the background, far away, quiet. We're thinking about things in the future or fantasies or whatever. But to really get quiet, to start getting more and more sensitive to how these thoughts arise, beginning when they're there.

This is not meant to be a lot of work. But as we train ourselves and are mindful to keep showing up and being present for what's here and recognizing what's here, one of those things is recognizing thoughts. And if you can see a thought when it first arises, there's tremendous potential there to discover non-delusion as well. The non-delusion that the thought is temporary. The non-delusion of not identifying with thought and making it "me, myself, and mine." The non-delusion that is not entangled or caught in the thought or reactive to the thought or swept away by the thought. The non-delusion that's akin to space, to peace, to openness, to a certain kind of non-involvement. Not a non-involvement that's automatic and habitual, and maybe even neurotic at times, but rather a non-involvement that is a whole different paradigm, a radically different way of living our life that's not centered in our thoughts, our beliefs, our assumptions, our ideas, but is centered in clarity and peace, in non-delusion.

So I hope that you'll experiment. Maybe you'll try over this weekend to see if you can notice those thoughts when they first arise, when they first appear. See if in that opportunity when they first arise, whether you can find non-delusion there, a non-entanglement, and have a certain kind of clarity and wisdom and freedom because you see it when it arises as just a thought.

So thank you, and I look forward to continuing on Monday on probably a different topic.