As a novice meditation practitioner, when I sit, my mind is flooded with thoughts. According to the instruction I received last night at the Shambhala meeting, in Shambhala, when you realize you are thinking, you are simply to label it “thinking” and bring your mind back to the breath. Maybe it is my ego placing more importance on my thinking than is due, or perhaps it is my Western desire to psychologize and question the causes of these thoughts, but I can’t help but think that by stepping back and watching the thoughts as they slide in and out of my consciousness I may be able to learn something. To be looked into.
Further reading:
I have experienced similar issues during meditation.
What I have learned is to let the the thoughts arise and pass away, just as the breath does.
By meditating this way I realize the impermanence of my thoughts. They are just “things” after all.
I find that this mindset is helpful in transforming my perspective on meditation and life in general.
Just thought I would share what is going on in my meditative sessions.
Hi Dharmamum, hope you have a nice time blogging.
I’m very impressed with WordPress but I’m even more impressed at the amount of productive English-language Buddhist blogs popping up the internet. Perhaps I’m just late.
I personally think Western psychology is not inferior to Buddhism. Although, the very fact that we are comparing Western psychology to Buddhism is a product of the modern mind; to categorize and isolate things. Much like how the word “Buddhism” is but an attempt at categorization by Westerners… but that will never succeed (the categorization). Even we in Asia admit it’s difficult to concretely categorize “Buddhism”.
I’ll blogroll you, you are on my “sleeping dragons” link list.
- the buddhawarrior
Charlotte Joko Beck in her writings says one ought to label the thoughts, “Thinking about sore legs” or that sort of thing. My teacher says that for some people labeling thoughts becomes an invitation to further thoughts and just wordlessly noticing them and returning the attention to the breath or whatever you are paying attention to is better for those people. I have found that I tend to notice overall patterns in the thoughts, which is indeed useful, without labeling them one by one. Think for the one hundredth time in a morning that such and such is hurting you deliberately, and you notice it, at least if you are paying attention
I have a six year old and a two year old, and they sometimes see me do zazen, and we do a bit of yoga together, but I don’t know that zazen is quite explainable to even the six year old. I have a friend who grew up buddhist, but she doesn’t meditate herself. I find the connection is more along the lines of being with small kids is very beneficial in the same ways that rigorous Zen training is – it’s full of tedium and sort of unpleasant rules (a nap every ding dong day; no snack -> no cooperation) that tend to shatter your preconceived ideas and force you open to the flow of life, and that ends up being a worthwhile thing to have happen.