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I personally think it is impossible to stop your thoughts. That is what the brain does. It thinks. You may as well try to tell your stomach to stop producing stomach acid. As a Zen practitioner my teacher told me that you can't stop thoughts from popping up in your head when you are meditating. But you can just notice them and let them pass by and not become attached to them or focus on them. That was a big help to me because, when I first started Zen practice I thought the goal of Zazen (meditation) was to make your mind go blank, and I was frustrated because I couldn't stop the array of thoughts that kept popping up in my head. Now I just let my thoughts come and go as I meditate. (Great video by the way.) :-)

As a Zen Buddhist priest, the exclusive focus on non-thinking meditation is one of the criticisms I have when it comes to many Zen practitioners and even teachers in the West. It becomes an attachment to that goal, rather than the 'just sitting' that Zazen is supposed to be. It is quite rare you hear someone in my tradition talk about contemplative meditation or Dhyanas, even though it is still part of the Zen tradition originally. You made quite some good points in this video that I will bring with me when discussing this topic in the Sangha, as always. Thank you!

I study Comparative Religion and we're at Buddhism now, this channel is awesome help! We tackled this exact question in class today and practiced some Samatha meditation. I'm new here, but loving it!

In my experience, it's common to have both. You can have a stretch without verbal/active thought, then a bit of verbal thought, then go quiet again, in which there is only awareness. So, as you say, it's not a dichotomy, just less thought. But it is also my experience that spending time with only awareness, and no narrative, or decisions, or direction, produces lasting changes in the mind, in a way that, say, contemplation, does not. That is, thoughts can change the content of the mind, but awareness without what we normally label thought, can change the nature of the mind. It is also my experience that this is fairly "dose dependent." The longer the silence, the more profound and long-lasting the change is.

What a gorgeous story regarding the monk carrying a woman across the river. That stopped me in my tracks and brought my attention to a recurring thought about someone who isn't in my life anymore. It is time to set that person down, gently, but deliberately. Thank you for sharing that.

Observing thought in deep meditation is one of the best ways to understand anatta deeply.

Hello Doug, just found your channel I think it brilliant. I'm going to use your information to become a kinder, calmer ,nicer person.

As a person who can easily spin off a story whilst not meditating, not thinking during meditation is like sunbathing with the warm sunshine on your face. Doug, your explanation has been most helpful. As time goes by it gets easier for me to get into the non thinking / minimal thinking state.

As usual, great no nonsense presentation & information, with thanks

Doug, you have a lovely way of explaining tough topics clearly. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this-for all your videos, actually. I've probably watched 15 in the past two days as you answer questions that I haven't been able to ask my teacher. I think this video is very important, as I read the Power of Now before I ever started meditating, and I thought the implication was that we were to cease all thoughts. Imagine my frustration when I began meditating, and thoughts kept arising. Finally, I was told that what I was experiencing was normal and to not make a 'blank mind' my goal. I believe a lot of people try meditation with this erroneous belief and become incredibly frustrated and simply give up. Thank you, again!

Thanks for this information. It's helpful. Yesterday I read about this partially as well. Someone explained how they use concentration meditation to calm down and get into a concentrated state first and then they switch to mindfulness meditation to observe their thoughts, emotions, body sensations etc. That was the first time I truly realized the difference between concentration meditation and mindfulness. It also made me realize that many guided meditations seem to use the same tactic as this person. Concentration and mindfulness seems to get mixed regularly. Probably the reason I didn't notice the difference before.

I'm glad I found your channel. You know your material.

Very clear, accessible and reasonable. I'm glad I find you Doug!

Dough, I watch quiet regularly your videos and do really appreciate your excellent comments, remarks,..on buddhism ! Thank you very much !🤗🙋🏻‍♂️

Super clean presentation, Doug! So helpful for me with my studies - thanks as always!

Thank you so much for your videos, Doug! It's my to-do thing every night now before going to bed. They're very clear and interesting!

For me, thinking is very much the goal, specifically intuitive thinking rather than logical problem solving.

Thank you for this. I think the Koan is great, and the example of minimalist thinking is a great distinction. Often times with practice you begin to think that thinking is not something you want to do but really you want to use thoughts to solve a problem and then move on and now leave the faucet on so to speak.

Thank you Doug I appreciate you clearing this up.

I was just about to lie down to meditate and find this video! This channel is so great for beginners

So I went through a phase on the path of non thinking. But not only in meditation, but during the day too, as much as possible. I learnt about a teaching of listening to your heart, or your inner knowing by a teacher named onji. I discovered that there are alot of moments in life where we do things and require no thought at all. Sometimes we have remarkable insights that come in the form of a feeling rather than a thought. This is because alot of teachwrs say the ego leads to suffering and cravings, but when you operate from your inner sepf which is beyond thought, you make the right decisions, because it is unconditional of selfishness. However I ended up in this situation where I was mindful but having lots of negativity and hateful thoughts, which lead to strong emotional backlash. Having depression, anxiety and anger build up. I assumed that this was just my ego and not self, bit it was still weighing me down. Later I decided that thought was nit had but had to be used skilfully. So I think in ways that were relevant to the situation and this was the perfect balance. Lessening our thoughts and making them relevant. Even during meditation. Sometimes you need to think in order to keep yourself engaged in the meditation. Especially around the beginning. For example twlling myself I breathe in, or breathe out. It swaps irrelevant thoughts out for productive thoughts which at first aid my focus on the breath. However as I deepen the meditation I go into just awareness of the breath. Most of this was due to a lack of teaching or the ability to ask questions so I struggled to understand the practice by relyong on the internet.

Brilliant! Thanks!

This lecture is indeed a mind opener for me...gives me lots to think about my mental state while in "meditation" Thanks so much for sharing, very appreciative of your help...💝🌻

I am unsure how the KZfaq algorithm knows just what I need to see in your videos, but this one came up today and it is extremely well-timed... a dharma-friend of mine and I were talking about this just earlier this week... and I had seen a Jon Kabat-Zinn 'ad' come up which talked about this very notion of "emptying your mind", which he quickly laughs off. ;)

I sometimes get the feeling that sudden enlightenment comes into my mind, like I contemplate a concept about non dualism and I can visualize a way to explain my “question”. Almost like the non-self is answering the ahamkara, instead of thoughts popping up into my head I feel as though it’s the questions that pop in and then something else replies to them with confidence and truth that I don’t find in myself during regular states of consciousness, it reminds me to psychedelic experiences where the “unconscious” brings up answers to questions we have about ourselves, only in this case there’s sometimes information I had no idea I had within me. I’m not a traditional practitioner or really a true believer of esotericism but I do find this extremely difficult to explain without accepting that it almost feels as if I access something or someone larger than my own concious mind, or maybe an unknown side of my non-self that I had no idea existed During these experiences I feel as though the ideas I understand (not logically but truly truly understand as like from experience and not reading a book) are obvious and I effortlessly, almost as if shown to me, visualize amazing ways to show epistemic diagrams for non dualistic concepts, it’s even hard to put into words but for example finding the exact place where 1 becomes 2 and then realizing you can zoom into it forever like a fractal. It’s really out there Afterwards I no longer feel as confident or the same but I can remember the visualizations or ideas I learned I’ve been kinda thoughtful about it though, because is that daydreaming? Even if it’s insightful, maybe that’s something of value, just not actually meditation Not sure though because it only arises after deep meditation when I forget about reality and start to observe some of the questions that pop in my head once I slow my thoughts down and observe them I just don’t stop being a self during these experiences as opposed to other times where I can detach from the sense of self

As marcus aurelius said:"don't add!". "Wipe out imagination! Stop the pulling of the strings!".

Thanks for this video Doug. This topic is one I have been struggling with. Trying to learn meditation from books and the internet is a mixed bag. The different styles of meditation and when to use them and why are difficult for me to grasp. This video helped clear some of that up. Thank you.

Blessing from Nepal, Land of Himalayas and Birth Place of Gautam Buddha. (Lumbini).

Thanks Doug really well explained 😊

did vipassana 10 days course. you are so right about thinking, also no love or aversion to thought will pacify thinking

This is very valuable for me to compare with various experiences in my own meditation. Some of them leave me a bit clueless wondering if I took a wrong turn. I know the vanishing of verbal thinking towards a horizon. Then something like space opens up that sometimes is filled with something like smog. In that stage I watch my mind coming up with activities in form of movements without words. On lucky days a pleasurable clarity appears which unfortunately in later sessions I want to find again. All I get then is smog again.

I have been listening a lot to Yuttadhammo Bhikku and I can relate to mindfulness and noting to be in the present always bringing the mind back to the present when it goes off on a tangent, noting, thinking. I love the the idea of just let seeing be seeing and hearing be hearing. I understand that it takes a lot of training of the mind but it seems beautiful in it's simplicity.

For me the key is just being aware of what the mind is doing. Are there a lot of thoughts? That's ok. Are there no thoughts? That's also ok. Just don't get too attached to any particular state of mind. Also thoughts are fuel for the practicing of awareness imo. We can't train awareness of thoughts, which is very useful in daily life, without thoughts to be aware of.

Very helpful explanation.

I really enjoy your channel.

Thinking, takes energy, a lot... When you live your life constantly thinking, the loss energy turn you into a state of limited experience of life... the same happens with other constant, we believe involuntary, activities, sense cravings, fear, stress... all are object of the mind, also and fundamentally objects created by the mind. We need to arrive naturally to a state were we are not throwing our energy away fruitlessly... Discovering this proccess in the making is the object of meditation... Yes, the object... Right now you have to think that this is just more thinking... When you, naturally discover Sunya, Zero... the process accumulates energy instead of lossing it... Coming in and out of zero, accumulates energy. this can be confirmed in you regular day, but specially in situations were meditation is done constantly... Since this is just, a thought in the page you are reading, it is not inmediately evident for you... It is less evident that this process creates and disolves you! To put it to the test without a fixated self to do the testing, this is meditation... Usually we are creating objects without taking notice, mostly and essentially our selves, and this is a fundamental alienation. Alienation, that can not be overcome without the process we call Life, really Life-Death... it has to end naturally, expontaneous process... When you arrive to this your time may be Now. May it be, we know the compassion of the Buddhas is universally needed! Deep Gassho!

I find that the longer I sit the chances of not actively thinking increases. Longer spaces between thoughts. It usually takes 10 minutes to start slowing and after 25 minutes there are noticeable gaps. For daily practice I don’t usually go beyond beyond 25 minutes but usually that’s enough to slow things down and get my head right.

This reminds me of the shikantaza meditation of Soto Zen where you are supposed to observe thoughts as they come and go without being too fixated on them. Like a rock in a riverbed which remains unmoved as the water flows through it.

In recent times I’ve attended retreats in 3 different traditions: Tibetan (lead by a Tibetan lama). Soto Zen, and Vipassana. All 3 teachers prompted us to become aware of the gap or hiatus between thoughts. Sort of a ecumenical or synergistic approach to meditation technique going on these days. Doug! Totally different question. Are you doing these talks with the aid of a teleprompter or is it all extemporaneous? Either way quite interesting.

Thank you fot this video...

Thank you!

Doug thanks,,: your teachings Are Amazing.! The jhanas Are the 5th dimension? Do you think the devas realm Is the 5th dimension? Thank you very mucho again.

can you do a video about self love seen trough the lens of early buddhist dharma? and how does detachement from the idea of self, affect self love ?

Hey doug. I was wondering if you could discuss enlightenment. Theres alot of grey area about enlightenment. For example. Does enlightenment mean nothing will ever bother you? That you will never get angry? Or does it mean, things do bother you, but you don't suffer or make a big deal out of it? Can an enlightened being be sad, or angry? Are they always blissed out? Maybe, do enlightened beings always sit in a strong jhana state. Or can they sometimes be in states of deep thought? Id love to hear a video talking about the concept of nirvana.

When Gotoma was a teenager, his dad told him to meditate. His response? "I don't jhana!"

This is a very good topic. The view of not thinking goes along with the misconception that to be Buddhist is to be pacifist. In terms of meditation, it would seem to be largely developing correct view. For instance, not rationalizing. One of the things that sem to me to be human is to be able to find excuses to justify actions. If you only look at what justifies your actions and not what that would indicate your actions would be unskillful, you can always justify your actions. To me, mindfulness and meditation is allowing us to see that complete view, free from congative bias based upon what we want to be true.

I had a rather scary experience once while doing a clearing type meditation. It took a while before I got to the point where the ocean of thought actually stopped and when it did there was a wordless recognition that word based thought had stopped(still thinking but not in words?) then there was a loud animalistic type scream within my own mind that just said "hey". This wasn't some disembodied voice that seemed to come from outside of me or anything. That caused my heart to race and although the brief moment of almost complete stillness felt great I've been nervous about even trying to reach that state again ever since. Although I was a teen when this happened I'm now 40 and have never shown signs of a mental illness like schizophrenia. I'm not sure how to even phrase this experience so that I can do more research into what it was, why it happened, etc. This "clearing type mediation" first started as me actually putting in effort towards cessation of thinking but then eventually after I realized that wasn't going to work I just started observing the thoughts. At some point they just stopped and shortly after I recognized it in a wordless way is when I had this experience.

Some Thai master or monks deliberately go to very haunted place or isolated mountain areas.

Even we sleep also will have dreams which we cannot control

Help me out Doug- I have been disturbed by reports of people trying to "empty their mind of ALL thought" only to suffer cognitive problems that sound like depersonalisation disorder. Is it more correct to say that "non-thinking" meditation is about focusing on one thing (e.g. the breath, a mantra, physical senses) and emptying the mind of all OTHER thought (before letting subsequent thought rise and fall without attachment)? Or am I still off?

the mindfullness of death meditation seems like a verry important part that we forgot to practice. the agoris in hinduism do it (maybe abit too much haha) .

I went through a phase where if I had any thoughts I didn’t notice at all it was a deep state of silence I achieved it practicing Sakshy Dhyan I’m not debating I just can’t deny my personal experience about this topic but this hasn’t happened to me with other kinds of meditations with Shamatha was different I had thoughts but they didn’t bother me I didn’t identify with them they came and went 😊

Can a person with many troubles thoughts able to meditate? Me

สาธุ! สาธุ! สาธุ! 🙏🙏🙏

But... Sir for me... It is impossible to do meditation without thinking about other

I once tried long long time ago but failed to. Maybe wasn't in peace and cannot focus. What I heard(dunno true or false), some beginners may encounter negative things, ghosts? Something like that. Is it true?

how can one describe these mind states from an experienced viewpoint without thinking about them while meditating?

Samādhi = Concentration = No thinking (Samatha) The final destination of Samādhi is Jhana and Abhiññᾱ Contemplation = Thinking (Vipassana) The final destination of Vipassana is Magga , Phala and Nivirna.

Is it true spirits can enter your body while meditating ?

Hi Doug recently I read this book by Osho called" The book of secrets: 112 meditations to discover the mystery within" and it has some good insights about meditation contemplation and concentration but they seem to ambiguous. If possible could you clear that up🙏🙏

You are supposed to think really really hard about all the thoughts you would have had if you allowed yourself to think during meditation.

16:20 :)

14:05 This is very Shamanistic don't you think? Things are what they are. That's what it boils down to.

If you haven't yet meditated and you think meditation involves a blank mind, you're in for a big surprise! Hahaha!

I'm a bit disappointed here with the apologetics for the four elements. It sounds like you might not know how the modern phases of matter or are just skipping over that it invalidates the older models.