Buddha's Book of Sleep by Joseph Emet

Author:Joseph Emet
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2012-10-24T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Mindfulness Practice

from camel to high-flying bird

The following two quotations from Rumi illustrate the difference between two modes of thinking. In the first one, the thinker is a slave to his thinking and does not question the authority of his thoughts. He is ruled by his thoughts:

Your thinking is like a camel driver,

and if you are the camel,

it drives you in every direction under its bitter control.

The second one shows a feeling of perspective and choice. The thinker remains in control, not the thoughts:

At times, I give myself up to thought purposefully:

But when I choose

I spring up from those under its sway.

This is also the difference mindfulness makes. There is no wholesale rejection of thinking, no throwing out the baby with the bathwater. But the thinker is able to see her thoughts for what they are: just thoughts. With the perspective that a little distance gives, she can evaluate their appropriateness. She can consider whether they are emotion driven or objective, vengeful or loving. She is in a position to consider whether following her thoughts would bring happiness or misery.

Thoughts can loom large, like a huge balloon. But the pinprick of mindfulness can deflate this huge balloon and enable us to see it for what it is: a small piece of rubber. In the imagery of Rumi, it can turn the camel driver into a small insect, and the camel into a high-flying bird:

I am like a high-flying bird

And thought is a gnat:

How should a gnat overpower me?

This perspective is precious. Thoughts can drive us to suicide or allow us to write sublime poetry; they can push us to declare war or to seek peace. Without mindfulness, following our thoughts indiscriminately can be a little bit like playing Russian roulette.

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