So on Tuesday,
I offered this practice opportunity to work with something very close to home for most of us.
And that is the judging mind.
The invitation for all of you is not how to get rid of the judging mind,
Not how to improve it,
But how to recognize judgment as it arises,
And not get hooked into it.
Because judgment will arise,
You know,
It's not a personal failure.
The mind is doing what the mind does.
And the practice is not to stop judgment.
The practice is to know it as judgment.
We have been exploring mindfulness of mind now for a couple of weeks.
And mind states like judgment arise at the sense door of the mind,
Just like sound arises at the sense door of the ear.
And when we miss that judgment is arising at the sense door of the mind,
What happens is it feels personal,
It has authority,
And it's very real.
The mind says,
This is how it is,
Or this is what's wrong.
That might even come out of our mouths.
And we don't,
We don't suffer,
Because judgment arises,
We suffer,
Because we believe it,
Without knowing that we're believing it.
Like the thought that this shouldn't be happening often comes with a strong sense of certainty.
It doesn't feel like a suggestion.
It feels like a fact,
Right?
But the suffering doesn't come from the thought itself.
It comes from the unconscious agreement that follows it.
The unconscious agreement sounds like,
Yes,
This is true,
Something must be done about that this is happening.
There's a yes,
Right behind the this,
The thought that this shouldn't be happening.
The secondary unconscious agreement is yes.
That's right,
It shouldn't be happening.
And if we really are paying attention,
In that moment,
What happens is physically the body tightens,
And awareness collapses into problem solving mode.
So now we've moved away from knowing the mind into being recruited by it.
We're going to solve this,
This shouldn't be happening problem.
You know,
The mind says this shouldn't be happening.
And the body says I'm taking it personally,
Like that's the hook.
The body says yes,
It shouldn't be happening.
Awareness is no longer curious,
There's no spaciousness.
And so what happens is,
Awareness is now a tool in service of controlling what's happening.
And so what mindfulness practice with this practice of coming back does this practice that we do coming back,
Coming back to the breath,
Coming back to the body.
Mindfulness interrupts this really fast movement,
This really fast moving agreement.
Not by arguing with the judgment,
But by seeing it as a mental event.
If we can get there,
It's a practice,
It's challenging.
You know,
Sometimes it's just easier to recognize some things happen,
And I'm already tense.
I'm already tense.
I'm already planning.
I'm already convinced that something needs to happen.
This is not okay.
And recognition,
Just recognizing it.
Oh,
Look at the the body wants to move towards fixing this problem.
Recognizing is just that's the practice that it's just to recognize.
And another way to kind of catch that unconscious agreement from spinning into action is just to notice the body.
When we're hooked in judgment,
Typically,
The body is leaning forward.
There is a strong sense of urgency.
We lose patience quickly,
Immediately,
Almost our jaw gets tight.
Our body language is like arms crossed in front of our chest.
When there's judgment,
We speak forcefully and quickly.
And this is the immediate action when judgment arises.
And it's helpful in those moments to just sort of like,
Feel that experience that leaning forward into the next experience where you're going to fix everything.
Just to feel your feet on the ground.
Just feel your feet on the ground.
Feel the breath in your belly.
Notice even that the inner voice that's kind of saying you shouldn't be judging.
Like that comes up right away too.
Because once you start to bring awareness to the judging mind,
Then there's this secondary agreement that says you shouldn't be judging.
And that's that's just more judgment.
You know,
Our practice is like,
Oh,
Here it is.
Here it is.
Again,
I see you judgment.
I see you.
There's a really important moment that happened on the night of the Buddha's awakening.
When the Buddha encountered these forces that were named Mara.
Mara was the name given to this whole array of inner forces that represent fear and doubt and desire and kind of accusation and threat.
And Mara is depicted as this male figure,
Like a demon male figure.
So the Buddha is steady and he's practicing and Mara appears.
And what is important and Mara says to the Buddha,
Like,
Who do you think you are that you can wake up?
Who do you think you are?
Trying to insert doubt.
And what's important is how the Buddha responds.
He doesn't argue.
He doesn't fight.
He doesn't try to push Mara away.
He simply says,
I see you Mara.
So Mara,
In daily life,
Is this voice that says,
This shouldn't be happening.
Something needs to be done about this.
Mara's power is not in appearing,
His power is being believed.
So when we take these words as truth,
The awareness collapses into fear into self concern.
But when Mara is seen,
There's no ground for Mara to stand on.
It means we see judgment as judgment.
We see doubt as doubt.
We see urgency as urgency.
The push to act is a conditioned impulse.
We see the push to act as the push to act.
And here's the kicker.
Here's what's crucial.
We do not have to agree.
We don't say yes to what's arising.
We don't feed it.
I see you.
I see you judgment.
I see you doubt.
I see you urgency.
I see you impulse.
We meet it with awareness instead of believing that it's true.
And that's the practice.
Judgment will arise and it's not a problem.
The problem is the quiet,
Unquestionable yes that follows it.
And when we see that agreement arising,
Judgment loses its power.
It becomes just another voice in the mind,
Not an authority,
Not us,
Not me,
Not mine.
And in that moment of seeing,
We have choice.
We have a possibility of a wise response.
So thank you for your consideration.
And I look I look to you now to hear how this practice is going.
