… We talk about the committee of the mind and that’s only part of the
range of what you can latch onto here. There are times when you
identify with the body. You want it to do certain things and you
realize that it is to some extent in your power to do those things. If
the body were totally out of your control …
… The thinking gets more refined as your concentration gets
stronger, but in the beginning you have to ride herd on this committee
inside the mind that has all kinds of opinions about what you want to
do with this hour.
When you focus everything on being right here with the breath, try to
notice when you breathe in: Where do you feel it? It …
… So
just as the inner critic has to watch and train the other selves in
your inner committee, the inner critic has to be watched and trained.
Here it’s useful to see that it’s not just one critic. It’s a whole
team. Sometimes they’re arguing among themselves about which standards
to use, and sometimes they’re ganging up on you …
… That way, it stays focused on the best place to
go—instead of being a committee that’s always at odds with itself,
running off in every direction, like that man they talked about, who
jumped on the horse and rode off in all directions at once. When the
mind’s untrained, that’s what it tends to do. It rides off in all …
… There are some voices in the mental committee that are rebellious, but when you follow them where do they lead? A lot of them are like the friends who try to get you to do something against the law and then, when the police come, go running away. In other words, something inside you wants to do something unskillful, and you give in, but …
… This means a large part of
the committee of the mind has to be on board. So it’s not just a
simple matter of putting up a fence; you also have to reason with the
mind to get your attitude right—thinking about the sights of the
world, and the sounds of the world, not so much as your playground but
as an …
… It’s as if you
have a whole committee in there: all the different identities you’ve
taken on, which have worked to one extent or another. They’re all
potentially there with their opinions on things. And many of them are
very ignorant.
But with the solidity that comes from concentration, you can begin to
watch these identities in action and see that …
… So as you’re dealing with the obstacles of trying to master this
skill, and things don’t quite fit—the mind doesn’t fit with the
breath, the breath doesn’t fit with the mind, different members of the
inner committee seem to be rebelling—you have to have a strong sense
that, yes, you can do this. You don’t let setbacks …
… Think about the committee of voices in your head telling you to do
this, not to do that. They have lots of different ideas. To learn how
to not listen to the unskillful voices, and to listen to the skillful
ones and to recognize which is which: That’s a real skill. A lot of
discernment has to go into that. It helps to …
… In other words, learning how to
talk to the various committee members in your mind, and learning
strategies.
Some of the meditation techniques we have are strategies, and
sometimes you have to practice them in advance. The teaching on
goodwill: Sometimes you sit here thinking thoughts of goodwill and you
notice that your heart isn’t in it. The mind has no problem thinking …
… We talk about the committee of the mind with all its different
voices, and you’ve been every one of those voices at some time in your
life. That’s why the voice is there. You’ve adopted that view either
from something someone else said, or just the tone of voice with which
someone else said something to you, or sometimes you’re …
… And when you let go of it, you’re letting go not because you’re disgusted with it or angry at it, which is how we tend to let go of certain members of our committee of selves. It’s a raft. When it’s taken you to the further shore, you leave it on the shore, but you leave it with a sense …
… It’s like a committee. It’s got lots of
different opinions in here: your own opinions, other people’s opinions
that you’ve picked up. You have to keep in mind the fact that you have
to be very picky about what you choose to follow in the mind. When you
choose the right voices, the mind can settle down: Choose the voices …
… You’re just trying to create some order in this committee or
this crowd inside, so that you can train the parts of the mind that
can be trained to be focused on this one issue: putting an end to
suffering.
That’s where the unity lies: willing one thing above all other things
and then submitting all your other desires to that. It …
… It’s a good
place for seeing all of the members of the committee of your mind, all
the ones that tend to hide out and stay behind the scenes. If you sit
with pain for a while, they’re going to come up to the surface.
Sometimes it’s a little discouraging to see how your mind comments to
itself on pain and …
… It’s as if
we have a committee inside. Or as someone once said, the mind is like
a lot of different modules. When this particular task comes up, this
module gets into the act. If another task comes up, another module
gets into the act. All these different roles that the mind is ready to
play, and after a while it gets bored …
… One is, “I won’t let myself think
those thoughts at all.” The other is, “No, I’m not going to follow
those thoughts.” You can think of the mind as being like a committee.
Some people in the corner of the room are talking, but you don’t have
to get involved in their conversation. Just think of it as someone
else talking …
… Don’t let those members of the committee be the ones
who take over your eyes.
Also look at the impact that whatever it is you’re looking at has on
the mind. Here again, if you see that it tends to stir up trouble,
that’s something you shouldn’t be looking at. The same goes with the
rest of the senses.
Or …
… This is why we talk
about the committee of the mind. Just because something appears in the
mind doesn’t mean that you want to follow it, that you want to pursue
it. You’ve got to examine it: Where is this thought going to lead?
This is what right resolve is all about—looking at where the thoughts
lead. In fact, the Buddha …
… Of course,
you’ll be dealing with all the voices in the committee of the mind
that say you’ve got to think about this or here’s an opportunity to
think about that. You’ve got a whole hour here: You could think about
all kinds of things. You have to re-instate your resolve you’re going
to stay right here. That …
