This week’s reading is pages 174-82 (from the beginning of the chapter ‘Paying Attention’ to BASIC AWARENESS).
Darlene continues this section talking about hindrances we may experience that get in the way of paying attention.
Critical Mind
Darlene talks about how our minds are prone to make judgements. She points out that we should not try to rid ourselves of these judgements, which are a natural part of being human, but instead allow them to come and go. She also notes that many of our judgements are a replaying of events from our childhood or earlier life by people who were critical of us.
When asked by her teacher to avoid judgement, Darlene became aware of just how much her mind judges and this, to me, is the purpose of many of the teachings – not to stop us thinking certain thoughts, which are often outside of our control, but to see how much we do it and become aware of our mind that picks and chooses, makes judgements and wants things to be different than they are.
Sleepiness
Darlene notes how meditation and relaxation are not so different, so it can be usual for our bodies to go into a restful state when we start to wind down during meditation. She offers remedies for dealing with that. I would also note that if we find that we are sleepy at the time we usually do meditation, it can be good to see if other times work better in terms of our wakefulness, if that is possible. For some people, work and family schedules mean either getting up early or sitting after children are in bed which can limit times of practice to when we are naturally sleepy.
Compulsive Mind, Restlessness
Darlene describes this as ‘pacing tiger syndrome’ and I imagine we can all recognise that from periods of zazen in which just sitting still feels like the opposite of what we want to be doing. For those of us with ADHD it can be prominent a lot of the time. Her antidote is to become intensely curious of what the sensations of restlessness feel like and explore them with attention.
She notes that we can allow all of our restless thoughts (which I often refer to as the vortex of my mind, especially first thing in the morning) both on and off the cushion and notice how much we spin out like this, predicting and analysing, making lists and being impatient about what we want or need to do. By watching these states we can see how transitory they are.
Darlene reports how during stressful times in her life she set aside ‘worry times’ in which her mind was free to indulge in all of the thinking and analysing it wanted to do, and she said it was helpful knowing that she could often set aside her worries for later when that period would happen.
Doubting Mind
Darlene describes a friend she knew who doubted her decisions about everything from her choice of clothing to her relationships, and also notes that her husband is similarly distrustful and doubting of many things. She points out that doubts only have power if we choose to buy into them and also suggests that doubting mind can also be powerful when used well to undercut conventional wisdom and ways of thinking about things that are habitual rather than skillful.
Darlene notes that each of these states of mind tends to be short-lived and they can morph into each other. Through practice we can note that we shift from one state of mind to another and none will last.
She suggests that we pick one hindrance to examine throughout the week both during your sitting practice and everyday life and to stay with it and see what happens.
Question prompts
1. Would you say you have one particular hindrance that occurs more frequently than others? (you can include Desire from last week as well as those described above)
2. If you wish, undertake the exercise that Darlene suggests above in picking one state of mind to be attentive to in sitting practice and throughout the week.
Wishing you all a healthful week. Thank you all for your continued engagement with this, and I am sorry I haven't had the time to respond to everything, although I try to read it all.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
Darlene continues this section talking about hindrances we may experience that get in the way of paying attention.
Critical Mind
Darlene talks about how our minds are prone to make judgements. She points out that we should not try to rid ourselves of these judgements, which are a natural part of being human, but instead allow them to come and go. She also notes that many of our judgements are a replaying of events from our childhood or earlier life by people who were critical of us.
When asked by her teacher to avoid judgement, Darlene became aware of just how much her mind judges and this, to me, is the purpose of many of the teachings – not to stop us thinking certain thoughts, which are often outside of our control, but to see how much we do it and become aware of our mind that picks and chooses, makes judgements and wants things to be different than they are.
Sleepiness
Darlene notes how meditation and relaxation are not so different, so it can be usual for our bodies to go into a restful state when we start to wind down during meditation. She offers remedies for dealing with that. I would also note that if we find that we are sleepy at the time we usually do meditation, it can be good to see if other times work better in terms of our wakefulness, if that is possible. For some people, work and family schedules mean either getting up early or sitting after children are in bed which can limit times of practice to when we are naturally sleepy.
Compulsive Mind, Restlessness
Darlene describes this as ‘pacing tiger syndrome’ and I imagine we can all recognise that from periods of zazen in which just sitting still feels like the opposite of what we want to be doing. For those of us with ADHD it can be prominent a lot of the time. Her antidote is to become intensely curious of what the sensations of restlessness feel like and explore them with attention.
She notes that we can allow all of our restless thoughts (which I often refer to as the vortex of my mind, especially first thing in the morning) both on and off the cushion and notice how much we spin out like this, predicting and analysing, making lists and being impatient about what we want or need to do. By watching these states we can see how transitory they are.
Darlene reports how during stressful times in her life she set aside ‘worry times’ in which her mind was free to indulge in all of the thinking and analysing it wanted to do, and she said it was helpful knowing that she could often set aside her worries for later when that period would happen.
Doubting Mind
Darlene describes a friend she knew who doubted her decisions about everything from her choice of clothing to her relationships, and also notes that her husband is similarly distrustful and doubting of many things. She points out that doubts only have power if we choose to buy into them and also suggests that doubting mind can also be powerful when used well to undercut conventional wisdom and ways of thinking about things that are habitual rather than skillful.
Darlene notes that each of these states of mind tends to be short-lived and they can morph into each other. Through practice we can note that we shift from one state of mind to another and none will last.
She suggests that we pick one hindrance to examine throughout the week both during your sitting practice and everyday life and to stay with it and see what happens.
Question prompts
1. Would you say you have one particular hindrance that occurs more frequently than others? (you can include Desire from last week as well as those described above)
2. If you wish, undertake the exercise that Darlene suggests above in picking one state of mind to be attentive to in sitting practice and throughout the week.
Wishing you all a healthful week. Thank you all for your continued engagement with this, and I am sorry I haven't had the time to respond to everything, although I try to read it all.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
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