A person new to Satipatthana Meditation almost always wonders,"How do I be mindful every moment?"
The answer is, consciousness is not yours and is not under your control all the time.
"Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness."- Dhammapada verse 35
The aim of Vipassana is to see things clearly - i.e. the three characteristics of reality namely Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness and Ownerlessness- not concentration!
Concentration comes along with the bundle of application of the mind to the object and it is not the final goal. The final goal is wisdom that comes from seeing things as they really are. However, tricky the mind maybe, tricks can be used to not let the mind wander too much. And if it does, bringing it back gently to the present moment is the best solution rather than cribbing about the moment of not being mindful.
The trick is: At every moment, there is usually more than one thing that we can be choose to be aware of. Still, I do not mean that there is more than one thing happening in the mind at one instant. But since we get the notion of wanting to concentrate on the present moment rather than seeing it clearly, we limit the spectrum of our experience. For instance, when you are standing at the bus stop, acknowledging standing is the usual noting procedure and thereby when the mind wanders, we see it as a distraction as opposed to an object of contemplation. When we see sensual objects, we forget that we can acknowledge seeing. When we stand, there is pressure in the legs that we can be aware of. We can be aware of the leg touching the shoes, to be more creative!
As a final comment, Vipassana opens the doors of the mind to experiences we thought never existed in the mind :) Happy meditation!
The answer is, consciousness is not yours and is not under your control all the time.
"Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness."- Dhammapada verse 35
The aim of Vipassana is to see things clearly - i.e. the three characteristics of reality namely Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness and Ownerlessness- not concentration!
Concentration comes along with the bundle of application of the mind to the object and it is not the final goal. The final goal is wisdom that comes from seeing things as they really are. However, tricky the mind maybe, tricks can be used to not let the mind wander too much. And if it does, bringing it back gently to the present moment is the best solution rather than cribbing about the moment of not being mindful.
The trick is: At every moment, there is usually more than one thing that we can be choose to be aware of. Still, I do not mean that there is more than one thing happening in the mind at one instant. But since we get the notion of wanting to concentrate on the present moment rather than seeing it clearly, we limit the spectrum of our experience. For instance, when you are standing at the bus stop, acknowledging standing is the usual noting procedure and thereby when the mind wanders, we see it as a distraction as opposed to an object of contemplation. When we see sensual objects, we forget that we can acknowledge seeing. When we stand, there is pressure in the legs that we can be aware of. We can be aware of the leg touching the shoes, to be more creative!
As a final comment, Vipassana opens the doors of the mind to experiences we thought never existed in the mind :) Happy meditation!
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