… Here, too, you can think of the committee of the mind. You’ve got to ferret out which voices are the ones really worth listening to. Just because one voice is loud and repetitive doesn’t mean that you have to take it seriously. Try listening to the voices that are compassionate, that do want you to do the practice well, and are happy …
… I’ve often said that the mind is like a committee. Sometimes the good
members are working on something, and some unskillful members sneak
in. All of a sudden, you find that the task you had assigned to the
good member gets taken over by somebody else. This is why the Buddha
says you have to be determined on this mindfulness, keeping in mind …
… Why? Which member of the committee is doing the listening: the greed
member, the anger member, or the simple observer? If you see there’s
any greed involved in your motivation for looking, don’t look. Also,
check to see what’s happening as a result of your looking.
What this means is that you’re looking at your engagement with the
senses as …
… This is where it’s good to
think about the committee of the mind: The members are embryos of all
kinds of different states of becoming, and they have their desires.
Some of them want to get the concentration out of the way so that they
can think about other things. They want to talk to this person, they
want to deal with that …
… Then you try to figure out how you can do it, because there are members in the committee who say, “Well, I’d much rather relax right now, or take things easy, or I need my rewards of pleasure. I can practice tomorrow.” How are you going to deal with them? That, too, is an element of wisdom. Knowing that there are things that …
… Or you can think of them as the committee of the mind. You have lots
of old habits, old ways in which you’ve looked for happiness in the
past, and they come bubbling up to join the committee and make their
suggestions.
As in a Thai phrase, “suam roi,” they step into your inner
conversation. And they seem to be you talking to …
… As for groups of people, remember the committee in your mind. When
greed, aversion, and delusion come in, with their tender, sweet
voices—how do you deal with them? When they come with their harsh
voices—they’re yelling at you, and as the Thais say, they’re squeezing
your nerves: What do you do? You need to have techniques for
recognizing different groups …
… Let’s go back and look at it again.” This is where the image of the mind as a committee comes in useful: You were able to take care of some of the committee members, but others are still active. They may have been quiet the last time you went through, but now they’re showing that they’re still there. It’s time …
… This gives you some insight into the committee of the mind, realizing there are lots of different selves and lots of different becomings—lots of different bubbles are being blown all the time. And again, just because something is there, you don’t have to go with it. You don’t have to get involved. Sometimes the thought will try to get you involved …
… This is one of the reasons why it’s good to look at the mind as a
committee or as a corporation. There are lots of you’s in there. You
have to figure out which ones you can trust and which ones you can’t.
Learning how to step back from all the different voices in your mind
helps you to look at …
… Think of your mind as a committee, and it’s not an ordinary committee.
It’s like the Chicago City Council. Sometimes the impulse will say,
“We know this is the right thing,” but that’s because Karl Rove is
behind it—or the Chicago equivalent, okay? And other times you know
because you know. But it’s only when you go through the …
… There I was met at the airport by members of the temple committee. They took me straight to the princess’ palace, where a committee of 30 or so people were in the midst of holding a meeting. The committee—composed of old nobility, government officials, merchants, and householders—was discussing plans to buy land for the temple: seven acres on a tall hill. The …
… If you see that
it’s an unskillful member of the committee of your mind, do what you
can to counteract it. That way, when the time comes to sit down, here
you are. You’re already looking after your mind, rooting out what’s
unskillful. And sitting down and closing your eyes simply gives you a
better chance to do it with a …
… This is why the analysis of your sense of self into a whole committee of selves is useful. You try to identify with the self that’s doing the concentration. As for any other self that’s going to come up and propose that you go off and enjoy some of the hindrances, you can dis-identify with it. And then take it apart …
… You’re adding new committee members with new
ideas, new attitudes, in hopes that they’ll shake things up a little
bit.
This way, you can make the most of the freedom you’ve got. Because for
a lot of us, having a big chunk of free time like this is daunting and
almost a little scary. But as you gain a sense that …
… You’re
using these perceptions to lure yourself, to lure the committee of
your mind to go along with that desire for the body.
Now, because we’re attracted to human bodies not only for the body
itself but also for their ability to provide us with an entry point
into the human world, you have to ask yourself, with regard to
whatever you …
… There was one time, toward the end of Ajaan Lee’s life,
when he was building a new monastery on the outskirts of Bangkok, Wat
Asokaram, and the temple committee decided they wanted an ordination
hall. It’s typical in Thailand that ordination halls tend to be on an
east-west axis, the Buddha on the west side of the ordination hall
facing east …
… This is where the fact of having a committee of the mind—which can so
often be a problem because the members can be pulling in different
directions—can actually be helpful. There’ll be part of the mind that
gets convinced about something, but you can look around for another
part of the mind that’s willing to question it.
Think of Ajaan …
… When you’re here in the present
moment and the mind is still, you can hear the different voices of the
committee or the corporation of the mind. You can
sort out who’s responsible and who’s not
responsible, who can be relied on and who can’t be relied on. In that
way, your values become a reality. They really do develop …
… In fact, that’s half the battle right there, because you’ll find that, in the committee of the mind, there are lots of members who want to go for it. They think a thought of sensual desire would be really attractive, a lot of fun, nourishing, refreshing, entertaining.
You want to see their reasons, so you set yourself up against the hindrance: Say …
The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee
… There I was met at the airport by members of the temple committee. They took me straight to the princess’ palace, where a committee of 30 or so people were in the midst of holding a meeting. The committee—composed of old nobility, government officials, merchants, and householders—was discussing plans to buy land for the temple: seven acres on a tall hill. The …
