MIND STATES

MIND STATES

―All experience is preceded by mind, Led by mind, Made by mind.

Speak or act with a corrupted mind, And suffering follows As a wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.

Speak or act with a peaceful mind, And happiness follows Like a never-departing shadow.‖

- Dhp 1-2

The third foundation of mindfulness is mind states. The Buddha defined these in specific ways: the presence or absence of greed, hatred, and delusion. At SIM we teach this foundation as mindfulness of thoughts and emotions. Either practice is beneficial. Our ordinary experience is to be carried away by our mental states. In any given moment we can get lost in the memory of an interaction, rehearse a future dialogue, have a fantasy, get caught up in some strong emotion, or cogitate on some problem in our life. This is most often done without mindfulness and below the level of our awareness. For most of us an endless stream of mental chatter occurs almost every waking moment. There can be a ruminative and limiting nature to our mental states. What we think and feel is a result of and forms further habits of mind. There is a repetitive nature to our mental patterns. Unfortunately, due to a lack of mindfulness,

many of our mental states are influenced by the root defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion and result in unskillful speech and behaviors.

As we develop meditative awareness, we want to develop present moment awareness and to know when we have become lost in our thoughts and emotions. We do this by connecting our mind states to sensations in the breath and body, and to feeling tones. For example, when we are caught in an emotionally charged mind state or find that we are lost in a train of thoughts, we can recognize this, pause, and move our awareness from the thought(s) to sensations in the breath and body. We can notice what feeling tone is present. As always, we do not want to get lost in analysis or discursive reasoning. Rather than creating a struggle with your thinking and feelings develop a friendly, curious, and accepting attitude. We want to keep our inquiry on the simple level of asking the question, “What do I feel in the breath and the body when I am having this thought or emotion? What is the feeling tone associated with it?” Then drop the content or story line of your mind and focus on how the process of thinking and feeling manifests in the body. This transforms the abstract concepts of the mind into the direct visceral experience of the moment. The propensity of the mind to constantly proliferate ideas (called papanca in Pali) is derailed by mindfulness. With practice, the mind can become calm and focused. The power of a concentrated mind can be used to skillfully solve problems and generate insights.

Ultimately, working with mindfulness of the mind states trains us to be continuously present in the moment and not perpetually lost in thoughts and emotions. When we get caught up in stressful mental chatter, we can recognize that our attention has

been hijacked and we can return the mind to a state of peace, balance, and clarity. Using skillful effort (page 29) we prevent and abandon unskillful states of mind and develop and maintain skillful ones. Although this may seem a daunting task, with practice, it can become second nature.