TRAINING THE MONKEY MIND – VEN. THAY THANH

Training the “Monkey Mind”:

Teaching in Virginia Beach in 2016, Ven. Chuc Thanh said “When addressing our monkey mind, we should not approach it as needing to “control” our mind.  Rather, we should breathe into the thoughts that arise and welcome them as our guest or as a friend.  We train our mind to recognize, welcome and then let go of the thoughts that enter it.”

It is common to think about the practice of Buddhism as a means of learning to “control” our minds (our lives) through practice and meditation.  This teaching is a thought-provoking perspective on how we can train ourselves to deal with the myriad thoughts that enter our consciousness.

(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC.  The quotation titles and commentary are by temple member Mark Palamara.)