{"id":102,"date":"2013-10-07T12:16:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T19:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/?p=102"},"modified":"2014-03-18T10:12:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T17:12:39","slug":"there-is-space-around-every-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/2013\/10\/07\/there-is-space-around-every-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"There is space around every thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across a lovely meditation instruction from Ajahn Sumedho<\/strong> (“Noticing Space”<\/strong><\/a> Tricycle Fall 95). Enjoy.<\/p>\n

In the mind, we can see that there are thoughts and emotions\u2014the mental conditions that arise and cease. Usually, we are dazzled, repelled, or bound by these thoughts and emotions. We go from one thing to another, reacting, controlling, manipulating, or trying to get rid of them. So we never have any perspective in our lives. We become obsessed with either repressing or indulging in these mental conditions; we are caught in these two extremes.<\/p>\n

With meditation, we have the opportunity to contemplate the mind. The silence of the mind is like the space in a room. Take the simple sentence \u201cI am\u201d and begin to notice, contemplate, and reflect on the space around those two words. Rather than looking for something else, sustain attention on the space around the words. Look at thinking itself, really examine and investigate it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Ajahn Sumedho continues:<\/p>\n

Now, you can\u2019t watch yourself habitually thinking, because as soon as you notice that you\u2019re thinking, the thinking stops. You might be going along worrying, \u201cI wonder if this will happen. What if that happens? Oh, I\u2019m thinking,\u201d and it stops.<\/p>\n

To examine the thinking process, deliberately think something: take just one ordinary thought, such as \u201cI am a human being,\u201d and just look at it. If you look at the beginning of it, you can see that just before you say \u201cI,\u201d there is a kind of empty space. Then, if you think in your mind, \u201cI\u2014am\u2014a\u2014human\u2014being,\u201d you will see space between the words. We are not looking at thought to see whether we have intelligent thoughts or stupid ones. Instead, we are deliberately thinking in order to notice the space around each thought. This way, we begin to have a perspective on the impermanent nature of thinking.<\/p>\n

That is just one way of investigating so that we can notice the emptiness when there is no thought in the mind. Try to focus on that space; see if you can concentrate on that space before and after a thought. For how long can you do it? Think, \u201cI am a human being,\u201d and just before you start thinking it, stay in that space just before you say it. Now that\u2019s mindfulness, isn\u2019t it? Your mind is empty, but there is also an intention to think a particular thought. Then think it, and at the end of the thought, try to stay in the space at the end. Does your mind stay empty?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across a lovely meditation instruction from Ajahn Sumedho (“Noticing Space” Tricycle Fall 95). Enjoy. In the mind, we can see that there are thoughts and emotions\u2014the mental conditions that arise and cease. Usually, we are dazzled, repelled, or bound by these thoughts and emotions. We go from one thing to another, reacting, controlling, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}