Chapter 10 - Right Thinking

Question 1

define:

Right Thinking

2

Answer 1

• mind’s ability to reflect things as they are
• thinking = speech of our mind, therefore Right Thinking makes our speech clear and beneficial

based on Right View and leads to Right Action and Right Diligence

Question 2

Why is Right Thinking a difficult practice?

Answer 2

• mind and body are often not unified

Conscious breathing is often the link we need

Question 3

enumerate:

4 Practices of Right Thinking

Answer 3

1. “Am I sure?”
2. “What am I doing?”
3. “Hello, habit energy!”
4. Boddhichitta (mind of love)

Question 4

explain:

“Am I sure?” / 1st Practice of Rt Thinking

Answer 4

• wrong perceptions cause incorrect thinking and unnecessary suffering
  ex: rope in path mistaken for snake

ask this over and over again!

Question 5

explain:

“What am I doing?” / 2nd Practice of Rt Thinking

Answer 5

• helps us be right here, right now
  to respond we need only smile

helps release thinking about past or future and return to the present

Question 6

explain:

“Hello, habit energy!” / 3rd Practice of Right Thinking

2

Answer 6

• once we can accept ingrained thoughts and not feel guilty about them, they will lose much of their power over us
• our way of acting depends on our way of thinking, and our way of thinking depends on our habit energies

Question 7

define:

Boddhichitta (mind of love) / 4th Practice of Rt Thinking

2

Answer 7

• deep wish to cultivate understanding in ourselves in order to bring happiness to many beings
• motivating force behind mindful living

everything we say/do can help liberate others

Question 8

enumerate:

Two Parts of Thinking

Answer 8

1. initial thought
2. developing thought

Question 9

exemplify:

initial thought

Answer 9

• ex: this afternoon I have an essay deadline

Question 10

exemplify:

developing thought

Answer 10

• ex: I wonder whether I am writing this essay correctly, if I should proofread it, if the teacher will notice if it’s late etc.

Question 11

What happens to thinking in the 2nd stage of meditative concentration (2nd dhyana)?

2

Answer 11

• it’s no longer there
• deeper contact with reality, free of words and concepts

Question 12

What is Thay’s rephrasing of Descartes’ famous quote?

Answer 12

• “I think therefore I am not”
  = as long as mind and body are separated, we get lost and we can’t claim to be really here

Question 13

Why tell a child “it’s the colour you see” rather than the obvious answer if they ask what colour something is?

Ex: What colour is the tree’s bark?

Answer 13

• so as not to add another concept

Question 14

What did the Buddha liken unwholesome thinking to?

Answer 14

• wearing a dead snake around the neck

Question 15

define:

non-thinking

Answer 15

• entering reality fully

“Think non-thinking”: well known statement in Zen

Question 16

How can we consider a telephone ringtone?

Answer 16

• as a bell of mindfulness

Stop, breathe, receive

Right Mindfulness in action

Question 17

What does Thay’s metaphor of the cassette player, running day and night, illustrate?

Answer 17

• how mindfulness helps us hear the cassette tape in our mind and notice whether our thinking is useful or not

ex: we may worry, become tense, have nightmares unnecessarily

Question 18

What’s the easiest way to keep unwholesome thoughts from arising?

2

Answer 18

• to live in a community that practises mindful living
• dwelling in a good environment is preventative medicine

Question 19

Changing the Peg

a Right Thinking practice / 2nd way to grow good seeds

3

Answer 19

• replacing an unwholesome thought with a wholesome one
• by breathing in and out and inviting a wholesome seed, the unwholesome one will go down
• useful if often assailed by unwholesome thoughts

Question 20

How do we obtain Boundless Merit doing an everyday task?

3

Answer 20

• dwell deeply in the present moment
• not wish to be anywhere else
• not care about fame or recognition

i.e. by doing it in mindfulness