One of the many paradoxes in life is that thinking is both a path to peace and suffering. The Buddha taught, "Whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of the mind." An untrained mind ultimately leads to suffering. However, the Buddha was far from the only person to make this point. Seneca said, "Everything hangs on one’s thinking."
The Dhammapada (Buddhist scripture) explains,
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind, and trouble will follow you as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. …
Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you as your shadow, unshakable. How can a troubled mind understand the way?
Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.
Similarly, my conversation with longtime meditation teacher Shaila Catherine (author of Beyond Distraction) revealed that whether you are an experienced meditator or a beginner trying to develop mindfulness, you probably know the pain of wrestling with an unruly, distracted mind. Before you can experience the extraordinary joy of a settled and concentrated mind, you must learn how to dispel distractions.
Distraction is universal, explained Catherine, and even the Buddha tells us that before enlightenment, he sometimes found his mind preoccupied with thoughts connected with sensual desire, ill will, and harm.
Buddhist scripture advises that one develop a state of mind like the earth. People throw clean and unclean things on the earth, and the earth is not troubled. When we develop the state of mind of friendliness, for as you do, ill-will will grow less; and of compassion, for thus vexation will grow less.
In most episodes of In Search of Wisdom, I ask what might be the first step to putting this wisdom into practice. In my conversation with Catherine, she explained,
So the first major step forward in this process is to be mindful of a thought as a thought. And the thought is not a static thing. It’s a process, a dynamic process of thinking. It’s a mental activity. So instead of getting lost in the content or the story, we now become mindful of the activity that is occurring, thinking is happening. And this changes the entire framework of how we work with the mind.
If we’re looking at the story, observes Catherine, there’s much that we can learn and grow from by unpacking some of the assumptions and biases around the content. Clarifying some things that are maybe memories that may or may not be accurate because they’re constantly changing over time. Each time we think of something, it’s a whole new event. It’s a dynamic process. We first need to recognize the distinction between the content of our thoughts and the process of our thinking.
"Drink deeply. Live in serenity and joy. The wise person delights in the truth and follows the law of the awakened. The farmer channels water to his land. The fletcher whittles his arrows. And the carpenter turns his wood. So the wise direct their mind," at least that is how the Buddha put it.
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
“In the world’s broad battlefield,
In the bivouac of life,
Let’s us not be like dumb driven cattle,
Let us be heroes, in the Strife.”
Very helpful Indeed!
I love setting the tone of my day
By Reading ---> Perennial Meditations❤️🔥
Very helpful !:)