Ideas to help quite the mind
Ajahn Brahm’s Retreat Discussion about how to quite the mind
Video Transcript:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haWd-1Ia3d0Understanding what I mean by silence.So as I am speaking, some of youhave heard this before but pleasedon’t interrupt and spoil it for other peoplebecause as I’m speaking I’m going toask you also not just to listen to what I’m sayingbut to listen to the reaction in your mindwhat’s happening inside of youas I’m speaking becauseas I’m talking you will beginto noticesomepauses betweenmy words.In those spaceswhat was going onin your mind?there it was again, you were silent.You were awarewithout a thought going on in your head.That’s why it’s a very skillful reflective trick.Now is the first time many people have realised,oh, I can be silent.There it is again.andit’s beatiful.It’s profound.It’s deep.And somehow or otheryou know there is so much freedom and meaningto be found in that silence.So by giving you a taste of that silencenow you understand its value.Now you have to increaseits length of time.So you are more and more and moresilent.It’s lovely isn’t it?So once you start to value the silenceand take the value off the thinkingyou find that there’ll be many manymore moments of silencethroughout your day.Silence will grow on you, literally.Until you-know, you only think when you really have toand when you don’t, you won’t.The related technique which helpsyou remain silentis actually doing what we call little mantras.A mantra is a group of words yousay to yourself over and over and over.It’s what the Buddha said in the Sabbasava Sutta [?]of like substitution, substituting one thing for anotherSo the thinking goes on and on and on,so you want to substitute a thought,yes this is a thought, a mantra,which you say to yourself but a very simple thought.Instead of having the thoughts go all over the placetake one set of words, a mantra,a thought, and keep repeating it again and again and againbecause it blocks out the other thoughts.Now many of the mantras which I heardas a young monk, yeah they didn’t really workand one of the reasons why they didn’t work wasbecause of the way it was used.It’s not just repeating the mantra over and over and over again.It’s important if you’re using mantras to make the mind silent,to put spaces between the words.Now there are many many different mantrasand I’ll just mention the one I was talkingabout last time I was overseas,the old Tibetan mantra,the old “om mani padmi hum” mantrawhich I thought was the most famous, I knew that as a kid.So you can use that if you like.If you’re a die-hard Theravada you can use sort-of the"Namo Buddhaya", that’s the Indonesian greeting.Na-mo Budd-haya. That means homage to the Buddha.Or, I don’t know, you can make up your own mantrasif you like, but the important thing, that’s just the Theravadan,Namo Buddhaya say, if you’re doingmantra remember to put spaces between the syllables.NaMoBuDayaIf it’s om mani padmi hum - ommanipadmihumombecause the spaces are more important than the words.If you’re very restless, and thinking alot,lots of things worrying about, close up those spaces,ommanipadmihumommanipadmihumBut as you settle down, increase the spaces.ommanipadmihumAnd the more you quieten down,the more you lengthen the spaces between those words.ommanipadmihumUntil those spaces get so longyou don’t need to say the words anymore.It’s a way of learning how to be silent inside.How to stop this terrible thinking mind.And if you ever get upset, angry, anxious or whateveryou’ll always find that there are so many thoughtsgoing on in your head and it’s great to find thiscircuit-breaker, this switch, you can just switch totry and stop all these crazy thoughts, and that’sone thing you can do. Get your mantra, if you’re gettingreally crazy - om mani padmi hum, om mani padmi hum, om mani padmi hum,om mani padmi hum, om mani padmi hum, om mani padmi hum,ommanipadmihum.It’s like going down the gears in a carwhose breaks have failed. It works.So - that’s how you can learnhow to be quieter by using that little technique.You can make up your own mantra, most importantpart is putting spaces between the words.And getting to know that silence,getting to respect it, getting to value it,and after you value it, it grows.Now there’s also the problem which I mentioned last nightin brief which is an important part of meditationit’s an important part of the spiritual path - fear.You know it’s amazing how many people are afraid of silence.When we first came over here to this part of the bushwe had this beautiful land opposite where our monastery now stands,it’s very quiet.And sometimes we had visitors coming inand as soon as they came in they raised their voice.They spoke louder than necessaryand I’ve seen that many times in quiet parts of the worldpeople actually raise their voice or are almost shouting.And I was really wondering - what is the psychologicalthey don’t need to speak so loud.And after a little consideration you realise thatthe silence was so threatening to them, they needed to destroy itwith loud talking, more than is necessary.Because silence is a bit scary if you’re not used to it.So to understand how to overcome thedifferent fears which happen in meditationI say in every level, every stage of meditation,I describe there are three levelsand this is a wonderful little insight in