As you become aware of thoughts, notice that the train of thought pauses temporarily. In that moment, you are stepping outside the train and observing thoughts without being caught in them.
How does it feel to be released from thoughts? Sense the freedom. Can you feel the wide open, empty space of your awareness?

When I first started to meditate many years ago, I often felt frustrated because I had certain expectations. I hoped to have an extraordinary transformative experience although I wasn’t sure exactly what that might look like. After I had been practicing a while, I realized that the purpose of Buddhist meditation was to gain liberating insight through mindful observation.

Extraordinary meditative experiences come and go; they are impermanent like everything else in this world. But in focusing on the arrival of a transformative experience I was subtly resisting what was happening in the moment. After that, my practice became not about anticipating something extraordinary in the future but about enjoying freedom from my thoughts in the present.

Method III

The third method for letting go of thoughts is simply realizing that all mental suffering is conceptually constructed. Our thoughts appear to be real, but upon closer examination we can see that they are products of our imagination. Once we have this insight, we will no longer be bothered by thoughts.

Whenever you feel stressed, worried, or depressed, first notice that you are feeling stressed, worried, or depressed. Become aware of your current state of mind without any judgment. Simply notice it objectively as if you were observing it from afar or watching it on TV.
Now trace the main cause of your mental suffering. What stories are you telling yourself about the cause of your suffering? What beliefs do you have about yourself or the world? What past memories have conditioned you to suffer in the present moment? The main causes of mental suffering aren’t external but thoughts from the past, which act as a filter preventing you from accurately seeing present reality.
Notice the artificial, random, and subjective nature of your thoughts. They are often divisive, petty, and conditional while serving as the main source of your prejudice, fear, and disconnection.
Notice that you suffer mentally only when there is a thought. Without a thought, there is no suffering.

There is a classic Buddhist teaching about seeing a small piece of rope on the ground and mistaking it for a snake. We become filled with fear, thinking the snake is real, but it is only a mentally constructed image. The same is true of our thoughts. Once we stop giving them so much attention and credibility, they drop away in our awareness. Then it becomes possible to see reality as it truly is.
===
Haemin Sunim is the founder of the School for Broken Hearts in Seoul, a nonprofit that helps people in difficulty through group counseling and meditation. His first book, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down has sold more than three million copies worldwide, and his latest book, Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection has received widespread acclaim.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha
===

Big Buddha Hong Kong, Lantau Island.

Yamaka Vagga
The Twin Verses

2. Manopubbangama dhamma
manosettha manomaya
Manasa ce pasannena
bhasati va karoti va
Tato nam sukhamanveti
chaya'va anapayini.

GOOD BEGETS GOOD

2. Mind is the forerunner of (all good) states. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with pure mind, because of that, happiness follows one, even as one's shadow that never leaves.

Story

Mattakuudali, the only son of a stingy millionaire, was suffering from jaundice and was on the verge of death because his father would not consult a physician lest some part of his money should have to be spent. The Buddha perceiving with His Divine Eye the sad plight of the dying boy, appeared before him. Seeing the Buddha, he was pleased and dying with a pure heart, full of faith in the Buddha, was born in a heavenly state.
===
Buddha dharma teachings channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/lorddivinebuddha
===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/212/the-teachings-of-ajahn-chah_pdf.pdf
===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

This book is a collection of talks he gave to both laypeople and monks. The talks he gave to monks are exhortations given to the communities of bhikkhus, or Buddhist monks, at his own monastery, Wat Nong Pah Pong, and some of its branches in both Thailand and the West. This fact should be borne in mind by the lay reader reading those talks. These talks to monks are not intended to, and indeed cannot, serve as an introduction to Buddhism and meditation practice. They are monastic teachings, addressed primarily to the lifestyle and problems particular to that situation. A knowledge of the basics of Buddhism on the part of the listener was assumed. Many of these talks will thus seem strange and even daunting to the lay reader, with their emphasis on conformity and renunciation.

Free download here:
https://static.sariputta.com/pdf/tipitaka/212/the-teachings-of-ajahn-chah_pdf.pdf
===

Yamaka Vagga
The Twin Verses

3. Akkocchi mam avadhi mam
ajini mam ahasi me
Ye tam upanayhanti
veram tesam na sammati.
4. Akkocchi mam avadhi mam
ajini mam ahasi me
Ye tam na upanayhanti
veram tesupasammati.

RETALIATION DOES NOT LEAD TO PEACE

3. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me", in those who harbour such thoughts hatred is not appeased.

4. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me", in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred is appeased.

Story

The Venerable Tissa, proud of being a cousin of the Buddha, did not pay due respect to the senior monks. When they resented his improper conduct, he took offence and, threatening them, went up to the Buddha and made a complaint. The Buddha, who understood the position, advised him to apologize, but the Venerable Tissa was obstinate. The Buddha then related a story to show that Tissa had done likewise in a previous birth. Later, the Venerable Tissa was compelled to seek pardon from the senior monks.
===
Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/tantrayanabuddhism

Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/tibetanbuddha
===

Bhikkhus, there are these five defilements of gold, defiled by which gold is not malleable, wieldy, and luminous, but brittle and not properly fit for work. What five? Iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver. But when gold is freed from these five defilements, it is malleable, wieldy, and luminous, pliant and properly fit for work. Then whatever kind of ornament one wishes to make from it—whether a bracelet, earrings, a necklace, or a golden garland—one can achieve one’s purpose.

“So too, bhikkhus, there are these five defilements of the mind, defiled by which the mind is not malleable, wieldy, and luminous, but brittle and not properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints. What five? Sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. But when the mind is freed from these five defilements, it becomes malleable, wieldy, and luminous, pliant and properly concentrated for the destruction of the taints.

Partially excerpted from AN 5.23 Upakkilesasutta : Defilements

Yamaka Vagga
The Twin Verses

5. Na hi verena verani
sammanti'dha kudacanam
Averena ca sammanti
esa dhammo sanantano.

ANGER IS CONQUERED BY LOVE

5. Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world; through love 8 alone they cease. This is an eternal law.

Story

A husband had two wives, one barren, the other fruitful. The former, actuated by jealousy, mixed a drug in her rival's food and caused two successive abortions. On the third occasion the potion caused the death both of the mother and of the child. The dying woman willed vengeance on her rival and her offspring, and she carried out her resolve. The other too did likewise. Thus both women avenged themselves in the course of two successive births. In their third birth circumstances, however, compelled both to meet the Buddha, who pacified them by advising them not to retaliate.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:

https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===

Phaya Si Mukda Maha Muni Nilapala Nakkharat, giant King of Naga Dragon protecting the Buddha in subduing Maras gesture, Wat Roi Phra Phutthabat Phu Manorom Buddhist temple, Amphoe Mueang Mukdahan, Thailand.

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Into The Stream
A study guide for the first stage of Awakening
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu



Free download available:

https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN383.pdf
===

Free Buddha Dharma ebook

Into The Stream
A study guide for the first stage of Awakening
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The Pali Canon recognizes four levels of Awakening, the first of which is called stream entry. This gains its name from the fact that a person who has attained this level has entered the “stream” flowing inevitably to nibbana.

He/she is guaranteed to achieve full awakening within seven lifetimes at most, and in the interim will not be reborn in any of the lower realms.

This study guide on stream entry is divided into two parts. The first deals with the practices leading to stream entry; the second, with the experience of stream entry and its results.

Free download available:

https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN383.pdf
===

Buddha Sāsanaṃ Ciraṃ Tiṭṭhatu


"So long, Ānanda, as the monks, the nuns, the male lay followers, and the female lay followers live according to the Dhamma, practice the Dhamma properly, and act in accordance with the Dhamma, then the Buddha’s dispensation will last long."

DN 16, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta

These Are Not “Your” Thoughts

Insight meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein explains how to treat consciousness as the object of meditation.
By Joseph Goldstein

It is important to make thoughts the object of mindfulness.If we remain unaware of thoughts as they arise, it is difficult to develop insight into their impersonal nature and into our own deep-rooted and subtle identification with the thought process. This identification reinforces the illusion of self, of some “one” who is thinking. To meditate upon thoughts is simply to be aware, as thoughts arise, that the mind is thinking, without getting involved in the content: not going off on a train of association, not analyzing the thought and why it came, but merely to be aware that at the particular moment “thinking” is happening. It is helpful to make a mental note of “thinking, thinking” every time a thought arises; observe the thought without judgment, without reaction to the content, without identifying with it, without taking the thought to be I, or self, or mine. The thought is the thinker. There is no one behind it. The thought is thinking itself. It comes uninvited. You will see that when there is a strong detachment from the thought process, thoughts don’t last long. As soon as you are mindful of a thought, it disappears, and the attention returns to the breath. Some people may find it helpful to label the thinking process in a more precise way, to note different kinds of thoughts, whether “planning” or “imagining” or “remembering.” This sharpens the focus of attention. Otherwise, the simple note of “thinking, thinking” will serve the purpose. Try to be aware of the thought as soon as it arises, rather than some minutes afterward. When they are noticed with precision and balance they have no power to disturb the mind.

Thoughts should not be treated as obstacles or hindrances. They are just another object of mindfulness, another object of meditation. Don’t let the mind become lazy and drift along. Make the effort for a great deal of clarity with respect to what’s happening in the moment.

Suzuki Roshi in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind writes:

When you are practicing zazen meditation do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears that the something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer . . . Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise but they are just waves from your own mind. Nothing comes from outside your mind . . . If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind.

Just let things happen as they do. Let all images and thoughts and sensations arise and pass away without being bothered, without reacting, without judging, without clinging, without identifying with them. Become one with the big mind, observing carefully, microscopically, all the waves coming and going. This attitude will quickly bring about a state of balance and calm. Don’t let the mind get out of focus. Keep the mind sharply aware, moment to moment, of what is happening, whether the in-out breath, the rising-falling, sensations, or thoughts. In each instant be focused on the object with a balanced and relaxed mind.

Instruction: Consciousness

One of the foundations of mindfulness is consciousness, the knowing faculty. [The four foundations of mindfulness are outlined in the Satipatthana Sutta. The other three are the body’s sense objects, feelings of pleasantness or aversion, and mental qualities.] One way to develop mindfulness of knowing is to treat consciousness itself as the object of meditation. In any movement of the body, you can begin to sense the knowing faculty, because the physical object is so apparent. Relax the mind and try to sense the knowing faculty arising at the same time as the movement.