Mindfulness Of The Mind - Introduction

This is the first talk in a series on Mindfulness of the Mind aka, Mind as a Sense Door. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the foundational teachings of mindfulness, the Buddha points to this knowing of the mind. To know when the mind is contracted or expanded, when it is reactive or settled, when it is confused or clear.

At its heart. It’s the willingness—right here, right now—to know the state of the mind as it actually is. Not judging it. Not trying to fix it. Not trying to make it calmer, or holier, or more together. Just knowing: what is the mind doing in this moment.

Transcript

So I'd like to explore with you an aspect of what we focused on during retreat practice last week.

In the Buddhist teaching,

It's often spoke of these six sense doors.

They are the eyes,

The ears,

The nose,

The tongue,

The body,

And the mind.

And these faculties,

These six sense doors,

They perceive sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

The tactile sensations,

And mental objects.

This was the focus of the retreat I was on.

So for most of us,

The last sense door,

The mind,

Seems very different from the rest,

Right?

I mean,

We think of the eyes as receiving sight,

The ears as receiving sound.

But we imagine the mind as the doer,

The one interpreting,

Judging,

Remembering,

Deciding.

And yet what this Buddhist teaching is reminding us is that the mind too,

Is simply a field of experience,

No more personal than vision or hearing.

And when we begin to see the mind this way,

Something profound begins to happen.

Thoughts and feelings and memories become known as objects of the mind,

Just like sound is an object of the mind.

It's the object of hearing.

The mind is not a self,

Not a controller,

Not an owner of experience.

It is part of the natural arising and passing like everything else.

So I'd like to explore this with you.

This simple,

It's pretty simple,

But profound aspect of practice,

Mindfulness of mind.

And at its heart,

It's very straightforward.

You know,

It's a willingness to be right here right now and to know the state of the mind as it actually is.

Without judging it,

You're not trying to fix it,

You're not trying to make it calmer,

Or holier,

Or more together.

Just knowing what the mind is doing at any moment.

Is there joy?

Is there sorrow?

Is there restlessness,

Loneliness,

Contentment?

Just to simply know.

Know it directly.

This is mindfulness of the mind.

And in the Buddha's teaching,

The mind is not like a vague inner realm.

It's not vague.

It's one of the six sense doors.

Just as the eyes receive form,

The ear receives sound,

The mind receives thoughts,

And moods and memories and emotions.

So when we see the mind as a sense door,

We begin to understand that the inner experience is not me.

It's not mine.

It's simply another stream of contact,

A mental phenomena,

Coming and going,

Just like sight,

Just like sound.

And learning to make this shift of view.

It really does open up the pathway to more freedom.

We're not believing our thoughts.

You know,

When the mind is tight,

And afraid,

The whole world is,

It seems to close in a little bit,

It gets much smaller,

Right?

But when the mind is open,

And receptive,

The quality of our attention expands.

And we're able to see our perception,

And the way it shapes the world that we live in.

We begin to understand directly that what we think creates our reality.

And we experience it directly.

It's not some concept.

You know,

Many practitioners,

Even seasoned ones,

Hold to the belief that meditation should make them a better version of themselves,

You know,

More polished,

An improved model,

The 2.

0 version of you.

But the Dhamma,

It invites us into something deeper than a self improvement project.

It really does.

The heart of the practice is freedom,

Not the freedom to act on every impulse.

But the freedom to be who we are,

Without adding anything extra,

Like the self judgment,

The critic,

Without adding any unnecessary suffering.

The Dharma teacher Tara Brach,

Who has written,

She wrote a book called Radical Acceptance.

And what this teaching of mindfulness of mind is about is really radical acceptance.

Kind of meeting the mind with compassion.

Radical acceptance is not resignation.

It's not passivity.

It's,

It's courageous in a way,

Like a willingness to allow this moment to be as it is,

To allow ourselves to be as we are,

Without adding,

Fixing,

Or perfecting,

Or hiding.

You know,

And mindfulness without compassion,

Can really trap us in a self critical loop.

I've noticed this happen to me.

Actually,

Just on retreat.

Just watching that and real healing happens only when we embrace,

Care about the full range of our humanity.

That which is bright and that which is broken.

It all belongs.

It all belongs.

So,

My question for you to consider is how do you relate to your imperfections?

How do you relate to your imperfections?

Do you project them onto others?

Do they come out as criticism and aversion?

Judgment?

Do you hide behind a spiritual identity?

Some people do that,

You know.

Instead of holding and caring about our imperfections,

There is a hiding behind,

Oh,

I'm the good Buddhist.

Are you relating to your imperfections as a self-improvement project?

Someday you'll be better than you are now.

Like,

What's that story about?

And can you simply acknowledge that even our strategies,

They belong.

Like,

At some point,

Our strategies served us.

They served us at some point.

We were able to survive some of us very difficult upbringings and childhoods and situations in our lives through strategy.

It might not have been helpful in the long term.

It might have even caused harm.

But it was a strategy to get our needs met.

So that too belongs,

Right?

So this inquiry is part of discovering the mind as a sense store.

This is where I want to land for a little while.

We're beginning to see and exercise the muscle of seeing thoughts and emotions and self-view as something that arises on its own.

And it passes.

When we can meet thoughts arising and see them as stories,

As habits,

What occurs,

What starts to occur,

What becomes the default is they reveal their true nature.

Which the true nature of a thought is that it's impersonal.

It's changing.

It's not self.

The mind produces thought like the mouth produces saliva.

Totally natural.

It's what it does.

So as we explore mindfulness of mind,

We come to see the landscape of thought itself.

You know,

Thoughts are powerful.

They have shaped our emotions,

Driven our actions,

Colored our perceptions.

A single storyline that you may hold can turn peace into anxiety like that or gratitude into fear.

But if we practice mindfulness of the mind,

It can help us see the difference between thinking and what is happening in this direct experience right here.

Direct experience is immediate.

It is sight.

It is sound.

It is taste.

It is touch.

The felt sense of the body.

Thinking is the mind's interpretation.

It's happening.

It's comparing.

It's remembering.

It's planning.

It's narrating experience.

That's what it's doing.

Thoughts aren't the enemy.

It's part of our functioning.

It's part of the senses.

But when we believe,

When we believe the thinking,

When we believe the thoughts,

We just get entangled and sucked in to our stories.

We're no longer in the moment.

We're in the story.

But when we know we're thinking,

Space opens up.

Because now we're looking at,

Now there's aware of the thought itself.

Okay,

This is planning.

This is remembering.

This is narrating.

There's space.

And then there's a little bit of freedom.

Noticing when thinking is happening.

You know,

This is really useful.

I wouldn't teach it otherwise.

I really want to focus on this because I want to support this happening for you in your own direct experience.

You know,

If you're thinking about breakfast,

That's what you're,

Just knowing.

I'm thinking about breakfast.

Or I'm thinking about the conversation that I had yesterday.

Or I'm thinking about my worries.

This naming starts to open the sense door of the mind with awareness.

And when you start to practice this,

When you begin practicing this,

The thoughts quickly become a storyline.

And a changing storyline.

Or you're manipulating the storyline to make thinking look a little bit differently.

So,

I'm thinking about breakfast becomes a story about what I'm going to make.

Or a memory about that really great French toast that you had a couple of days ago.

And do you have the ingredients to make the toast at home?

So,

I'm thinking about breakfast.

See the thought.

Drop the story.

Name the direct experience.

Hunger.

I'm hungry right now.

Okay.

That's what it is.

That's what's happening.

So,

This way of seeing reveals the mind as a sense door.

It's not something that we are.

It becomes something that we observe.

And what remains is openness.

Pure knowing.

Unentangled.

And you know,

Some people relate to thinking with fear.

Some people relate to it as frustration.

It's frustrating because you have this idea,

This belief,

This thought that meditation is supposed to look a certain way.

And it's not quieting the mind.

Your mind is a train wreck,

Really.

Just a mess.

It's just a mess while you're sitting here.

But you have this idea,

This belief,

This thought.

It's supposed to be otherwise.

You know,

Some people get lost in the thinking as entertainment.

You can go down and create anything in the mind.

You can spend 30 minutes of meditation in a fantasy.

Entertaining yourself or escaping your reality.

This happens.

But the practice is always the same.

Just to notice.

It's not right or wrong,

The thinking that's happening.

It's not good or bad.

Just the mind showing itself through the sense door of thought.

And what we see clearly,

It no longer binds us.

So we will continue getting to know the mind as the sense door.

And as you move through these next days of practice,

Before coming back together again,

Start to cultivate,

Oh,

You know,

Thinking is happening.

Thinking is happening.

Drop the story.

And come into your direct experience as much as you can remember.

What else is here besides the story,

The thought?

This is the beginning of freedom.

Not by changing the mind,

But by lovingly or with care,

Knowing it.

Knowing it,

Moment by moment,

Breath by breath,

Exactly as it is.

So thank you for your attention.

Reviews

💓🙏

Thank you 🙏🏼

Talks like this are why I listen to this teacher as soon as she posts one. Thanks Lisa!