… So it helps to see them as committee voices.
Then you can think about having rules of order for your committee.
Just as they have Robert’s Rules of Order in the outside world, you
can use the Buddha’s rules of order in your inner conversations.
The basic rules come down to three: What you tell yourself has to be
true, has to …
… The difference between mind states and mental qualities is like the
difference between a whole committee making a decision and the
different members of the committee having different ideas. The mind
state is the whole committee. Mental qualities are individual members
of the committee.
But if you focus directly on the mental processes right away, it’s
very easy to get lost in them …
… That way you can reclaim the breath, you can reclaim the power of the breath, so that it’s on the side of the more alert, wiser, more mature members of your inner committee.
So if an emotion like fear or anxiety comes up, your first reaction should be: How is the breath?
Now, fear is not always an unskillful emotion. I’ve had …
… You’re a wise committee chairman. The wise committee
chairman is very patient: firm, but patient.
When you can make your mind like earth like this, when you can keep it
on an even keel like this, then the meditation becomes more and more
of a skill. Something you can begin to rely on.
In the beginning, it will have its ups and downs …
… In training the mind, you have to remember there’s a whole committee in there. In the past the committee has had its balance of power, its likes and dislikes, and the politics among the various voices in your mind. Each of them has different tricks for pushing its agenda on the rest. So just as these defilements have lots of tricks up their …
Contents
Cover
Titlepage
Copyright
Anchored by Skillful Roots
Limitless Thoughts
Trustworthy Judgment
Informing the Whole Committee
Equanimity
Appropriate Attention
The Balance of Power
People Suffer from Their Thinking
Discernment
Right Livelihood
The Thinking Cure
Energy & Efficiency
On Not Being a Victim
Doing, Maintaining, Using
Before Your Face Was Born
The Riddle Tree
Close to What You Know
Practicing Your Scales
Feeding Frenzy: Dependent Co …
… But you have to think about the fact that you do have some skills, there are some things that you do well, and so think of those as the strong members of your committee. Then learn to take the lessons they’ve learned in managing things skillfully and apply them to your meditation. This is a skill that requires time, requires patience, so that …
… But if something totally unexpected comes up, this is the point where
it’s useful to think about the mind as a committee. Not everybody in
the committee is siding with that unskillful state. Make sure at least
that you have a couple members that are stepping back and not giving
their approval. Even though there’s no way that you can immediately
stop …
… As you get to know your intentions, you begin to realize that the mind is like a committee. Sometimes it’s not just a committee — it’s a whole crowd.
Even concentration is not the kind of single-mindedness we’re talking about, but it’s a basic prerequisite. It’s part of the training that takes you there. We take one intention and …
… It’s as if there’s a committee in here, and you’re learning to get the
committee to work together. If one member of the committee notices
that another member of the committee is causing suffering, you can all
agree that you want to put an end to suffering, and you can talk to
one another. That’s how the mind observes itself …
… Or a mind whose various committee members may or may not be in agreement about settling down. So try and find the members that want to stay with the breath, that want to look inside, and strengthen them.
How do you strengthen them? First through conviction, the conviction that this is a good thing to do, this practice we’re doing here. Something taught …
… So you’ve got to turn around and check that, look at that, and realize
that you don’t have to believe that member of the committee. This is
where the committee image comes in useful again. Just because a voice
is going through your head doesn’t mean you have to claim it as your
voice, or that you have to believe it …
… There may be a particularly insistent member of the committee, but
it’s just that: nothing more than a member of the committee. It’s not
the whole committee. And it’s not necessarily more real than anything
else. This is one of the big things that brings down our practice: the
belief that our good qualities are somehow less real than our bad …
… The mind is like a
committee. Some members of the committee like to meditate, and other
members of the committee like to do other things. Every member of the
committee has his or her own favorite pleasure. So you have to ferret
that out as well, because sometimes there are a lot of states of mind
that you don’t like. You identify yourself …
… But you realize that, okay, this is a committee job.
Different members of the committee have different skills, different
abilities. Try to sort through them. See which ones are actually
useful in the path.
Back when I was in school, I was studying Augustine for a while. One
of the lessons I learned about him was that—once he was converted to
Christianity—he …
… This is when you have to gather the different members of your committee around, to show that there are alternative ways of living in this world, ways that don’t involve so much frustration and pain. That’s one of the reasons why we develop the skill of bringing this new member to the committee: the member that’s good at getting the mind …
… So, it’s good to acknowledge that there are those voices in the
committee and to learn how to look at them from a little distance,
because we often identify with them very strongly. This is where the
teaching on not self comes in handy. You have to ask yourself, “What
kind of happiness do I want?” Do you want a happiness that’s …
… The first has to do with the image of the committee of the mind. If you see the mind as having lots of voices, with lots of different opinions, you might think of “mind” as a frame of reference concerned with the mind as a whole—the times when the committee has come to an agreement—whereas “mental qualities” refer to the individual members …
… If you think of the mind as a committee, you’re
strengthening your good committee members. You’ve got good friends
inside. When your outside admirable friends have been internalized,
then even though they may be far away, you feel like you’re close.
When we first were setting up Wat Metta, a lot of Americans came and
said, “Well, now that you’re …
… The ins and outs of the committee that you’re
dealing with here: if you pay careful attention, they can teach you a
lot of fascinating lessons.
So it’s not that we’re facing a dry stretch before we finally get to
the oasis. As Ajaan Lee says, there are plants growing along the edge
of the path, and if you pay careful …
Contents | ePublished Dhamma Talks : Volume III
Contents Cover Titlepage Copyright Anchored by Skillful Roots Limitless Thoughts Trustworthy Judgment Informing the Whole Committee Equanimity Appropriate Attention The Balance of Power People Suffer from Their Thinking Discernment Right Livelihood The Thinking Cure Energy & Efficiency On Not Being a Victim Doing, Maintaining, Using Before Your Face Was Born The Riddle Tree Close to What You Know Practicing Your Scales Feeding Frenzy: Dependent Co …
