Monkey Mind: non cogito ergo sum (video)

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (video); Nick Berk, Dhr. Seven, Ananda M., Wisdom Quarterly

Discursive thinking is a bad idea when trying to meditate (1843magazine.com).

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Sometimes I have a mind of my own.

The Monkey Mind is a terrible thing, a menace to serene meditation. There is no need to make it stop.

It is enough to let it be, to tolerate it cheerfully (free of annoyance), to cultivate forbearance (the highest virtue), to be comfortable in spite of its otherwise maddening nonstop activity. It is enough to let it run its course without feeding it one way or the other.

I am king of the monkeys.

What is one way, what the other? One way we feed the Monkey Mind is by trying to stop it. The other is feeding it by adding to it, commenting, reacting, arguing...

What is the BASIC meditation instruction? In a positive sense it is focusing on the breath, being with the breath, knowing the breath -- not by thinking but by direct peaceful experience. When we hold perfectly still, we can sense all other movement.

When we grow quiet in spite of the fact that the Monkey Mind is still going, we realize: That's not us. Let us not get sucked in by its nonsense. The venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche explains it very well and very concisely:

How to deal with the Monkey Mind