Investigating Silence and the Mind...
Investigating Silence and the Mind
When you experience enjoyment, enjoy that feeling as much as you can. But if the experience of your world bothers you, instead of trying to stop problems emotionally by grasping at objects or ideas or pushing them away, check up silently to see what’s happening in your mind. You will notice the difficulty comes from your perception, not from the external objects you perceive. Instead of getting upset or anxious —“I can’t control this”— and instead of trying to stop those problems by grasping or avoiding, sit back, relax, and be as silent as possible. Silently investigate how ideas cause you trouble.
So now, just close your eyes for five or ten minutes and take a close look at whatever you consider your biggest problem to be. Sit as quietly as you possibly can, remain completely silent and with introspective knowledge-wisdom, thoroughly investigate your mind. Where do you hold the idea of “my problem”? Is it in your brain? Your heart? Your stomach? Where is that idea? If you can’t find the thought of “problem,” don’t intellectualize; simply relax.
When you sit in silence and investigate your inner nature, you begin to awaken. Why? Because usually your mind is preoccupied by the way your senses are interpreting things. When you shut down your senses, your mind becomes more conscious and functions better. Therefore, when you are tied by problems, instead of stressing out, stop and silently watch your mind.
When you investigate the way you think—“Why do I say this is good? Why do I say this is bad?”—you start to get real answers as to how your mind really works. You can see how most of your ideas are silly but how your mind makes them important. If you check up properly you can see that these ideas are really nothing. If you can sit every morning with a silent mind for just ten or twenty minutes, you’ll be able to observe the moment-to-moment movement of your thoughts and emotions. You will also see the outside world and other people in a different way.
Beauty comes from the mind.
(paraphrased from Lama Thubten Yeshe's 1975 lectures)
