Many thoughts during meditation
 

Hello everybody, i am new to spiritual forums. Firstly, i would like to apologise in advance for my english.

Now, the reason of this thread ; I have been meditating for about two years. My meditation is 'za zen'. The last 2-3 months i'm having many thoughts during meditation and it has become a little difficult to observe my breath. The truth is that there have been many changes in my life during this period. Any thoughts ? :smile:

Hi.


As many thoughts arise in times of a lot of change, they may reflect the things you need to pay attention to, so perhaps after you have put things in order and adjusted to your new circumstances, the mind will have less to be preoccupied with. In any case, whatever the case might be, treat the thoughts as if they are free to be there and come and go as they please, and as though they have nothing to do with you, so that you do not become personally perturbed by them.


As the intent is breath awareness, it matters not if you are focused for a long time or a short time. It doesn't matter if you think a lot or only a little. Whatever the case is in that regard, it is simply true in your experience. Because you have started to want less thought and more consistent breath attention, you have become slightly agitated by desire since your real-lived-reality is not conforming to what you imagine it should be, so having observed this to be the case, let it be 'as it is' without any notion that it be should be any other way. Be content with it in order that your mind remains peaceful regardless of these circumstances.

Thank you for your response, which is very helpful. One question ; Have you ever practiced mindfulness meditation , or something like that?

When I meditate and I find the thoughts come I do as Gem has suggested and I let those thoughts come and go, without striving. I find this to be very helpful and a healthy way of working through the meditation.

When we have busy lives and a lot to deal with then it can be difficult to sit down to meditate and mentally switch it all off. It is the nature of the mind to replay events and consider possible outcomes.

Mindfulness in daily life helps, which requires ongoing awareness of each moment. So when we sit down to meditate then the mind is naturally quieter.

And it depends how long you sit for. The longer you sit, the more quiet the mind becomes. But it may be that you sit for an hour and real meditation only happens in the last five minutes.

Meditation also creates separation between consciousness and thoughts. Many people are so identified with thinking that they have little awareness of the mind. Creating distance from our thinking means that we become more aware of our thoughts, and so the mind seems to actually become more active. The next stage is to disengage from thinking and rest in that which observes thought.

Peace.

You're welcome. Yes. I studied meditation under the Buddhist vipassana tradition. Vipassana is based on the Buddhist satipathhana sutta, which is 'the 4 pillars of mindfulness'. I have taken several silent retreats and practiced extensively.

Hello there. Maybe because you are overwhelmed that's why. just get your self and mind together by prioritizing well what are your important thoughts. managing it well will give you ease just take a little break then focus. visualize that you have a clear mind so that you can meditate well. i've learned this from a site i knew recently, it helps me a lot with my cluttered mind sometimes. :smile:

Everyone who is serious about meditation has to deal with the incessant internal mental chatter.

One approach is to rest in the witness state observing thoughts coming and going without identifying with these thoughts.

Another approach is to block thoughts as they arise, which requires continual vigilance.

This is stated in the 2nd sutra of the 1st book of Patanjali's yoga sutras:

Yoga is the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff.

Swami Satchidananda comments on this:

In this sutra Patanjali gives the goal of yoga. For a keen student this one sutra would be enough because the rest of them only explain this one. If the restraint of mental modifications is achieved one has reached the goal of Yoga. The entire science of Yoga is based on this.

If we can apply this restraint on the arising and modifications of thinking then the result is a quiet mind, free from thoughts, as expressed in Book 3 sutra 10:

The restraint of rising impressions brings about an undisturbed flow of tranquility.

And Ramana Maharshi says something similar:

Never allow thought to run on. If you do, it will be unending. Take it back to its starting place - the mind - again and again, and it and the mind will die of inaction. The mind exists only by reason of thought. Stop thought and there is no mind.

Peace.

I've been asking about this for a while - no thoughts, but everyone here says it's nigh impossible to keep this for long................

YES.................!!!