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Mingyur Rinpoche ~ Calming the Mind: The Practice of Awareness Meditation

Lerab Ling・29 minutes read

The text discusses the essence of meditation in calming the mind and addressing issues such as stress, focusing on awareness rather than the absence of thoughts. It emphasizes the importance of wisdom, experience, and understanding in overcoming the monkey mind's exaggerations and transforming perceptions through acceptance and different perspectives.

Insights

  • The essence of meditation lies in awareness, not the absence of thoughts or emotions, emphasizing that everyone possesses awareness, love, compassion, wisdom, and clarity.
  • Transforming the monkey mind by understanding its exaggerations, accepting oneself, and gaining wisdom through experience in meditation, ultimately giving the monkey mind a job to become its boss and gradually calming and clearing the mind.

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Recent questions

  • What is the main focus of meditation?

    Calming the mind and addressing stress.

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Summary

00:00

"Mastering Meditation: Calm Mind, Clear Wisdom"

  • Meditation is the focus of the text, aiming to calm the mind and address issues like stress and spiritual development.
  • The essence of meditation is awareness, not the absence of thoughts or emotions.
  • The text emphasizes that everyone possesses awareness, love, compassion, wisdom, and clarity.
  • Monkey mind, a term used to describe a busy and problem-making mind, is a key focus in the text.
  • The monkey mind tends to exaggerate problems, leading to negative self-perception and distorted views.
  • Wisdom is highlighted as the key to understanding and overcoming the monkey mind's exaggerations.
  • An example is given of how the monkey mind can magnify small issues, like body image concerns, into significant problems.
  • The importance of accepting oneself and seeing things from different perspectives is emphasized.
  • The text stresses the need to understand how the mind creates perceptions and misperceptions.
  • A personal anecdote is shared to illustrate how perceptions can change drastically based on new information or understanding.

26:40

"Transforming Monkey Mind Through Sound Meditation"

  • Understanding the impact of perception change after observing someone for 10 minutes
  • Importance of wisdom and experience in meditation
  • Wisdom involves knowing oneself and the mind's functions
  • Experience is gained through awareness meditation to calm and clear the mind
  • Transforming the monkey mind by making friends with it
  • Revealing the secret of giving the monkey mind a job to become its boss
  • Starting with part-time job for the monkey mind to calm and clear the mind gradually
  • Practical steps for meditation: maintaining a straight spine and relaxed muscles
  • Sound meditation as a method to develop awareness and recognize meditation
  • Listening to any sound to give the monkey mind a job and calm the mind, leading to wisdom and clarity.

01:03:28

Embracing Wisdom and Goodness Through Meditation

  • Focus of the talk: wisdom and experience
  • Wisdom involves understanding the function of the mind and its role in shaping reality
  • Recognizing the innate goodness within oneself
  • Meditation is about acknowledging and appreciating the inherent goodness in life, not about changing it for the better
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