Like Clouds in the Sky: Some Tibetan Approaches to Meandering Thoughts in Meditation

• In Event: Mind Wandering in Meditative Traditions

Abstract

Many traditions of meditation, in ostensible harmony with the dictum of the Yogasutra describing the cessation of mental activity as the goal of yoga, emphasize techniques of meditation that seek to arrest the flow of thought. Such approaches would seem difficult to reconcile with some understandings of Mahayana Buddhist teaching, however, where cessation is construed as a negative goal. Accordingly, in certain traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, notably in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, we find that the emphasis is more on revaluing mundane thought processes rather than arresting them. In the present communication this will be examined with particular reference to the writings of the fourth Zhamar Rinpoche, Karma Chakme, and Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol.

Author

• Matthew Kapstein, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes