Meditation Categories Peace

How Do We Observe the Mind?

Observe the mind with the mind. When afflictive emotions such as desire, hatred, and ignorance arise, turn inwards and look into your mind. Then you are able to realize the nature of mind.

How Do We Observe the Mind?

Question:

When an afflictive emotion such as anger arises, and you recognize at that moment you start to get angry. Khenpo said in the talk that there is a second approach you can take where you don’t need to analyze where an affliction comes from or where it goes, but you can just gaze into the mind space directly. My question is what exactly are you gazing at? And how do you gaze into it?

Khenpo Sodargye:

It means you just directly use your mind to observe the mind. Although one can never have two minds at the same time, yet from the perspective of observation, one is able to observe the mind with his or her own mind.
When afflictive emotions such as desire, hatred, and ignorance arise, turn inwards to look into your mind and then you are able to realize the nature of mind. This is also how enlightened beings do it. However, those who haven’t realized the nature of mind are easily driven by various kinds of conceptual and deluded thoughts.
To summarize my point, through constant practice of analytical meditation and settling meditation you will know how to observe your own mind.