Advice on quieting the mind (Ramana)

(One Timeless Witness) Ramana Maharshi ("Great Seer" Ramana) was asked a question by a spiritual seeker trying to "meditate" (reach samadhi, stillness, unification of mind, coherence). Ramana answered him. The mind may never stop thinking [except deep in the Buddhist meditative absorptions], but if we turn our attention to what or who [the witness, watcher, asker, knower] is listening, suddenly the inner voice may stop or at least pause.

...The answer, "I am." Then ask, "Who is this 'I' who can be loved or unloved. The story collapses. And that shame, the sense that you have not progressed, that others have arrived somewhere you cannot reach, ask: "Who is the one who has failed?" Answer: "I am."

Then ask, "Who is this 'I' that can succeed or fail at practice? Its owner cannot be found. The shame does not to be argued away; it simply has no ground to stand on.

"The witness is not cultivated," Ramana said, "it is uncovered. Every time you notice the voice, you are already the witness. You just have not recognized it yet."

The seeker sat with this. It was so simple, it felt impossible. He had spent years trying to improve his mind, control his thoughts, become a better meditator. And now Ramana was saying, "Just notice what is already aware [mindful]. Every example leads to the same place. The voice has an owner that cannot be found. And what remains when the owner [ego, atta, atman] disappears, that is what you are."

"Bhavagan," he said quietly, "what is the purpose of the question, 'Who am I?' if it cannot be answered?"

Ramana smiled. "The question, 'Who am I?' is not meant to be answered by the mind. It is meant to dissolve the mind.

The seeker closed his eyes. The voice had nothing left to say.... He no longer needed the voice to stop.

• Sage (philosophy)

Mind changes when we try to observe it

(Buddhism Podcast) Mind changes when we try to observe it mindfully | Buddhist Wisdom

• Mindfulness as sati (noticing, observing, bare awareness)
• Satipatthana: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (body, feelings, mind, mind-objects)
• Satipatthana Sutta: Discourse on the Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness
• "Mindfulness" defined (Ven. Analayo)
• Establishing Mindfulness Sutra (podcast)

Dhp. 1. Mind precedes all mental states. [Mind is the forerunner of all conditions.] Mind is their chief; they are all mind-made (wrought). If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows one like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

2. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-made. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows one like one's never-departing shadow.

3. "That person abused me, struck me, overpowered me, robbed me!" Those who harbor such thoughts will not still their hatred.... More

• The Dhammapada: The Buddha's Path of Wisdom

The MIND that sees without reacting

(Buddhist Wisdom)

Alan Watts: Get out of the mind once a day

(Simply Art- Inspire) Go out of the mind once a day: Alan Watts on Buddhist meditation

• Alan Watts every week on Buddhist Radio Los Angeles (Something's Happening honoring Roy of Hollywood Tuckman), Sundays at 8:00 am (PT) and Thursdays at midnight with Speech Impediment Buzz and Nurse Diane. FREE worldwide live online (kpfk.org) and in the archives for the following 90 days
• AlanWatts.org via Simply Art- Inspire (YouTube); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly