No Mind No Thoughts Simplicity Meditation Technique
No Mind Meditation Technique
Insights from Advanced Meditation
Continuing with the series on Insights During Advanced Meditation Practice, I would like to provide the quote below that I noted after such a session.
No Mind, No Thoughts, Simplicity Meditation
Nothing is required of you. This is the most important point to understand. You need to do nothing, and not even that.
Simplicity is the absence of the cognitive mind. We are constantly moving around in the complexity of the mind. Simplicity is the rejection of this whole dimension.
As soon as we lapse, we are again lost in cognition, chasing after something, doing something which we think will get us somewhere. Simplicity is staying out of this whole thing.
It is very clear how love, laughter, truth, simplicity exist and come into reality – when the cognitive dimension is rejected.
The sitting began with work on single-pointed attention and then turning attention to the thinking mind.
One’s motto has to be to keep going!
Analysis of No Mind Meditation:
As I have mentioned before in this series, the type of meditation I practice is along the lines of Insight Meditation and Gyan Yoga. It is closely aligned with the techniques of J. Krishnamurti and I have explained this technique in some detail in chapter 12 of the Silent Mind Meditation Program – The Silent Mind Meditaiton Technique.
As you can see above, I start with Zazen – Zen Buddhist Meditation (Single Pointed Attention to the Breath) and then, once the mind/thoughts slows down, I turn my full energy and attention to comprehending the thinking mind via direct perception, from moment to moment. This combination has been my method for some time now and I have found it to be very effective in bringing about the explosion of insight and a shift in awareness beyond the ego-centric mind.
The point I want to emphasize here, is that one has to “step out” of the entire cognitive stream. In other words, as long as you are reacting and moving within the network of thoughts, you will continue to be lost in “the chase”. Close observation is not an effort to bring about the end of this chase, close observation IS the end of the chase.
A very effective way for understanding what is being pointed out here is by asking the question, “Am I inside or outside my thought?”. If you have “bought in” to what the thought is offering, you will find yourself lost and chasing, and as you as you become aware that you have “bought in” to the thought, in that moment you will be outside, in observation. Watching and rejecting in this fashion, intently, is meditation.
One final thought I want to share with you has to do with the last line of the quote above. You have to be willing to stick to it with regard to meditation and spiritual growth. One week of meditation is not going to make you the Buddha. So integrate this practice into your daily life, practice quietly and consistently and enjoy it’s enormous rewards.
For those looking to start a meditation practice. Here are some nice free courses and techniques.
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