Become a Master of Your Thoughts 

I follow your work I think you are on the Authentic Path .

Thank you Bhante! 🙏🙏🙏

Seeing things in terms of the actual mental state instead of the objects it points to really is key, and is so easy to overlook. Even the question of right asceticism is solved from that perspective, in the sense that it's not about how _hard_ one must go "against the grain", (being "too hard" or "too gentle" with yourself) but about seeing exactly Where the grain actually is, i.e. one's current mental state underlied by pressure/craving. From there it's just a matter of going anywhere else except along the grain of that pressure.

- MN 20/Dealing with the compulsive thoughts, pressures and cravings/Taming of the mind results in dispassion of your thoughts ____________________________________ SUPPORT US: www.hillsidehermitage.org/support-us ____________________________________ MORE TEACHINGS: www.hillsidehermitage.org/teachings

I would like to thank the commentators for their input. Their questions and comments are so helpful.

Thanks for the video Bhante, i think the buddha remarked that this was quality of a great man, the one who can choose his thought and think what he wants to think and not think what he doesn't.

Incredibly clear explanation 🙏🙏🙏💟

A very valuable explanation of the sutta to deal with unwholesome feelings.

Heres more: if one gets a negative mind state, be it jealousy or anger, because of the actions of another, one should see the other person as just like anyone else, as like an unknown person. Because its none of your business what other people do in their life, and what the do doesnt take away anything from you. Also its their kamma that conditioned their action, and it would not be possible for it to be otherwise. Also somewhat as the bhante said the negative mind state only lasts for some time before drying out. Everyone days it gets weaker, as you know from previous experience. It will make some comebacks but it weakens every time. Also its good to see your mind activity from the perspective of awareness, to discern that the state is impinging ON you, so it is not you, you are the perceiver of it all (and the perceiver cannot be found). And thanks for the speech it was as if speaking to me directly.

Thank you so much! Just leaving a comment because it helps with the RU-vid algorithm. Hopefully others will find your channel.

Could you say it is clarity about how you are reacting to what is there on its own? And not getting so absorbed into the foreground (thoughts, perceptions…) and blaming them/acting in regard to them out of craving and ignorance? Is this also how it is in the anapanasati sutta? The sensitivity to the mind and then calming mental determinations? Same with sensitivity to the whole body and calming bodily determinations? You can overlook your actions of body, speech and mind in regard to bodily and mental phenomena and these actions can get very subtle.

Hmm.. as I'm contemplating what the mind really is, it seems to be something that has already manifested given a combination of a perception and feeling that is currently enduring. So any thought that comes on account of it is almost secondary -- implying that the thoughts aren't the issue. The thing I'm having trouble understanding: Do the enduring thoughts point to an attitude of the mind that is currently present? If so, wouldn't I be using another thought to discern that (the mind)? I'm unsure whether or not this would be on the level of giving into the pressure of the original thought by using a new thought to discern the signs of the mind. It's almost like as soon as I direct myself to discerning the signs of my mind, the original thought ends right then and there.

Bhante, why is the first way, shifting attention not managing the suffering, but the uprooting of it? And how is this first way different from the manifestation of aversion?

Mn20 is complemented by mn19 Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking. Strongly disagree with #5 interpretation, id say literally crush mind with mind, teeth clenched and all, rouse in you some manly vigor and shut it down, refuse to tolerate as if you were assaulted. Kind of how one would scare away a wild animal who would otherwise attack if you show fear or signs of submission. Don't submit to Mara, don't let him live in your mind, defy his will relentlessly, similarly as one would hype oneself up to stay awake one can rouse some spartan vigor. This is where we hold them, this is where we fight, this is where they die! “And how is a monk a destroyer? There is the case where a monk does not tolerate an arisen thought of sensuality. He abandons it, destroys it, dispels it, & wipes it out of existence. “And how is a monk an endurer? There is the case where a monk is resilient to cold, heat, hunger, & thirst; the touch of flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, & reptiles; ill-spoken, unwelcome words & bodily feelings that, when they arise, are painful, racking, sharp, piercing, disagreeable, displeasing, & menacing to life. This is how a monk is an endurer. An5.140