… all the different levels
of the committee members. And ultimately, you dig down to something
that really is free: totally free in an unconditioned way.
This is how exercising your freedom increases it and gives you greater
insight into the possibility of freedom: why it’s possible. Then,
ultimately, you get to something that’s even more important than that:
the fact that there …
… How do you protect that, that awareness of the breath, from all the
other pushes and pulls in your mind and all the different committee
members who tell you, “Now’s a good time. You’ve got a whole hour
free, you could think about whatever.” How do you protect the mind? If
you’ve had some experience with meditating, you can remember things …
… simply, “Oh, yes, there’s that, too.” This is where the
image of the mind as a committee is useful because you can see the
voices in the mind as members of the committee, but you don’t have to
go along with them. They may be campaigning. They may be trying to
influence you in a particular direction and it may have been …
… As I often say, the
mind is like a committee. Sometimes it’s like the Chicago City
Council: All kinds of deals are being made behind the scenes and they
can get disruptive. Sometimes it’s like the national assembly they
called in France at the end of the Old Regime. They were called in for
one purpose and they ended up overthrowing the …
… See: “Where is the allure of that kind of thinking? Which member in my
mind’s committee likes that kind of thinking? Is that someone I want
to identify with?” That’s another choice you have.
As for the old issues that tend to get bubbling up to the surface as
you’re meditating, this is where it’s good to think about the …
… The other quality is restraint, realizing there are a lot of things
that you might like to do, and that the children in your mental
committee might like to do, but if you give in to those impulses, it’s
going to be bad; you’re going to suffer. This is another reason why we
have the meditation to fall back on. The sense …
… The mind, you
could think of as the entire committee of the mind that has made a
decision. It’s on the side of greed or on the side of anger—or on the
opposite side. Or you’re trying to get the mind to settle down, so you
check your progress against the Buddha’s list. Either it’s
concentrated or it’s …
… Just make sure that the main member of your committee is right here. As for the other members of the committee, they can be off in the corner talking about whatever they want to, but you don’t have to silence them. If you don’t pay attention to them, after a while they’ll fall silent on their own. Otherwise, if you keep …
… It’s
good to be thinking about that for a while because you’ve got to
strengthen those members of the committee, the ones that want to
meditate.
If you’re willing to take some time to sort things out like this,
you’re developing a quality that actually gets useful in the practice
of concentration: evaluation, learning to evaluate all the problems
that …
… And you don’t have to humor all the other members
of the committee. Just plow right through.
At the same time, don’t put a lot of pressure on the body as you’re
doing this. There only has to be a mental kind of pressure. It’s the
decisiveness that keeps you here, keeps you here.
Because we do have to make …
… The reason you don’t like it yet is because it’s unfamiliar territory,
and the mind has those committee members who want instant
entertainment. But when you can settle down and gain a sense of being
fully planted in the breath, fully wearing the breath throughout the
body, then there’s the sense you’re at the spot where you should be.
Everything …
… If some of your committee members are getting in the way, there are some standard contemplations to counteract them. The purpose of these contemplations is to cut through the mind’s usual narratives and to create some new committee members with new narratives that will help put things into perspective so that you’re more willing to stay with the breath.
The sublime attitudes …
… So it’s good to think of these voices in the mind as being members of
a committee. Like right now, you’ve got many of the members all
together here working on the concentration, working with the breath.
You’ve got some other members, though, that have other ideas. They’re
waiting for a lapse in mindfulness and then they’ll come out …
… But for the committee members who are
not on board, you’re just going to have to let them go, let them go.
Don’t pay them any mind; don’t show them any interest. You’ve got to
hold on to your intention to stay with the breath and to stay with
your awareness right here.
When you breathe in, ask yourself: Where …
… This is where the fact of the committee of
the mind comes in really helpful. One part of the mind can watch
another part of the mind. In fact, as you develop this observer—that’s
the alertness part—it becomes the part that’s also going to allow you
to gain some discernment by stepping back from your actions to
evaluate them.
If …
… You have to hold that possibility in mind, and talk to all the members
of your mind’s committee, because some are very fearful. Some are very
close-minded. Some are very impatient. You tell them to try something
new, and they try it for two or three breaths and say, “This is not
working,” and they go back to their old ways. So …
… Again, think of the mind like a committee. You have to ask yourself who’s doing the looking and listening. Often they won’t let you know who they are until you get in their way. Then they’ll complain—and that’s when you’ll know who they are.
Q: What can one do when one has doubts about one’s own spiritual …
… 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 …
Basic Instructions | With Each & Every Breath
… If some of your committee members are getting in the way, there are some standard contemplations to counteract them. The purpose of these contemplations is to cut through the mind’s usual narratives and to create some new committee members with new narratives that will help put things into perspective so that you’re more willing to stay with the breath. The sublime attitudes …
