Mindfulness is the data collection system for intuitive awareness and letting go of thinking

We live in an imperfect unfixable world, which we constantly try to fix or correct– This leads to suffering! One of the ways we obsess is through a type of thinking called papañca.

In and out breathing has the potential to smooth out and calm the body's energy field. Use the thinking mind to point to and stay with the energy of the breath. The affective sense (citta) will respond by becoming more settled and bright. Unifying the mind, body and citta in this way is the samadhi process.

Thinking about Indian simile, Metaphor. Brief historical point about sudden and gradual debate in Lhasa

According to a recent Harvard study, the wandering mind is the cause, not the consequence of our unhappiness. And the "doing mind" - analytical reasoning, problem solving, figuring things out - does not lead to wisdom!

Conscious recollection (eg of Buddha and of death) uses the doing thinking mind to touch and enter the citta as heart. This shifts us out of our personal mindset into the mind-tone of the sacred.

Shaila Catherine gave this talk on planning tendencies of the mind. Papanca is a Pali term that means proliferation. A lot of our planning is not preparation for action. Rather, it's a form of dukkha: chronic planning may be a manifestation of anxiety, restlessness, worry, or obsessive thinking about "who I will be." Planning is fuel for self-becoming, self-grasping; restless planning perpetuates the fantasy of a future we think we can control or predict, but such future may never happen. Instead of habitually indulging in planning tendencies, we can train our attention to be mindful of life as it actually unfolds. We can thus learn to calm fantasies that distract the mind, let go of expectations, and gradually strengthen concentration to be more fully present. We can also curb the tendency to become lost in imagined scenarios of hope and fear about life's events.

In our response to unsettling news we can easily react with self-righteousness, sure that our "dharmic" view is the "right one" and feeling superior to those who act in ways we don't understand. But the Buddha asked us to put aside any such arrogance. Through genuinely trying to understand another's perspective, we can cultivate true humility for our ignorance of their reality and greater understanding about the thinking behind their actions. Then our response, which might be one of fierce compassion, is not coming from hatred and ill will but from compassion and wisdom. This talk includes some thoughts on white privilege as well as Andrew Harvey's brilliant audio clip on Sacred Activism.

Investigating impermanence in the contexts of sound, sensation, thinking, the breath, experience as a whole (with eyes closed), and seeing.