Hi Florent,
Interesting quote reminds me of

http://theravadin.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/coming-back-to-remember-sati-ii/

metta,
Lennart

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 9:23 PM, flrobert2000 <flrobert2000@...> wrote:

> Dear Kumara Bhikkhu,
>
> Thank you for reminding this important fact which is quite obvious but
> which seems to be overlooked by many meditators. There's really no need in
> trying to repress our thoughts, whether their contents are good or bad, but
> one should rather try to observe the fact that there is thinking happening
> in this very moment. I would like to cite the following answer made by U
> Tejaniya (a Vipassana meditation teacher here in Myanmar who has a different
> approach from the traditional Burmese way) to a Yogi about the awareness of
> thinking (from his excellent book "Awareness alone is not enough"):
>
> "Most people have very little practice in recognizing thoughts, i.e. in
> acknowledging that a thought is happening and in remaining aware of the
> thought. What most people are used to is focusing on thoughts in order to
> make them disappear.
> I advise beginners to simply recognize a thought, to just acknowledge it
> and then bring their attention to whatever object they had been observing
> before. Doing this grounds them again. Watching the thought continuously
> would suck them in the story. You can try yourself by doing this over and
> over again; recognize that a thought is happening and bring your attention
> to whatever else you had been observing. This builds up awareness. But once
> you get involved in the story in some way, you will get lost."
> Once you have some practice in recognizing thoughts in this way, you can
> ask yourself the question: Do I see that this is a thought or do I recognize
> that this is the mind?
> The contents of what you are thinking might be about the past or the future
> but the mind arises in the present moment only. We often use the expression
> `wandering mind' which seems to suggest that the mind has wandered away, has
> moved somewhere. The truth is, however, that the mind does not go anywhere;
> the mind is only happening here and now. All it does is arise and pass away.
> A thought about someone far away or about an event in the past or the future
> is simply a thought that has arisen here and now. Awareness alone can only
> recognize that a thought is happening. But when there is a realization of
> the nature of thoughts, when there is some understanding, wisdom can see
> that this is only the mind.
> You can look at thoughts from many different perspectives. You may realize
> that this thought is just the mind, that it is a defilement, that it is
> important or unimportant, or that it is wholesome or unwholesome."
>
> Sorry for this long quote, but I thought it could be really useful to those
> who practice vipassana meditation.
>
> With metta,
>
> Florent
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]