It is amazing to hear from eminent Buddhist monks and teachers when they talk about meditation, about the «distractions» or the «thoughts» that supposedly happen when they meditate.
In meditation it is truly impossible to happen. And it can only happen to an inexperienced person who has not yet mastered the technique and is also negligent.
The Buddha never talked about «distractions» or «thoughts» because it does not make sense directly.
So … When we talk about meditation, what are we referring to? Because sitting cross-legged, putting your hands in the form of a mudra, closing your eyes is not meditating in itself. The meditation taught by the Buddha are the jhānas, which are altered states of consciousness in which the mind can be transformed.
Speaking of distraction in meditation is as strange as talking about distraction in a very deep sleep. Would you be able to imagine a very sleepy person, wake up suddenly because he has «been distracted»?
Once again it is denoted that all these important people do not even imagine what it is to meditate.
If you see an «important» person unable to stop their own thoughts, it is not «important» it is simply a vulgar person, someone dominated by his own mind, who is subjugated to it, who is a puppet of his mental viruses.
The first thing the practitioner achieves is thinking when he wants to think and not think when he does not want to think. It is not a high achievement, but it is the minimum that can be asked of someone who practices.
Does it make any sense to try to purify the mind if it does what it wants and can not be mastered?
Would you learn to drive an airplane with a teacher whose hands and feet tremble, unable to control them?
So are the «outstanding teachers» that proliferate in the Buddhist world.Those of today and those of yesterday. Always speaking of thoughts, of distractions … of things that the Buddha never spoke of. Maybe because I could not understand as much negligence as there is today everywhere.
This is what the Buddha said of someone who does practice:
Aṅguttara Nikāya
The book of the cuatros
AN 4. 35.Vassakāra
On one occasion, the Blessed One was living in Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the shrine of the squirrels. Then the brahmin Vassakāra, the prime minister of Magadha, approached the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him. When they finished their greetings and cordial talks, he sat down to one side and said to the Blessed One:
«Master Gotama, we describe someone who has four qualities as a great man with great wisdom. What four? (1) Here, someone is highly educated in the various fields of learning. (2) Understand the meaning of several statements, so you can say: ‘This is the meaning of this statement; This is the meaning of that. « (3) He has a good memory; he remembers and remembers what was done and said a long time ago. (4) He is skillful and diligent in attending to the various tasks of a householder; He has a good judgment about them to carry them out and organize them properly. We describe someone who possesses these four qualities as a great man with great wisdom. If Master Gotama believes that what I say must be approved, that he approve it. If he thinks that what I say must be rejected, he should reject it. «
«I do not approve your statement, Brahmin, nor reject it. Rather, I describe one who possesses four other qualities as a great man with great wisdom.What four? (1) Here, he is practicing for the well-being and happiness of many people; he is one who has established many people in the noble method, that is, in the goodness of Dhamma, in the salubrity of Dhamma.(2) He thinks whatever he wants to think and does not think what he does not want to think; he has the intention of what he wants and does not have the intention of what he does not want; therefore, he has achieved mental mastery over the ways of thinking. (3) He wins at will, without problems or difficulties, the four jhānas that constitute the higher mind and are pleasant abodes in this very life. (4) With the destruction of the stains, he has realized for himself with the direct knowledge, in this same life, the undaunted liberation of the mind, the liberation by the wisdom and having entered into it,
«I do not approve your statement, Brahmin, nor reject it. But I describe someone who possesses these four qualities as a great man with great wisdom. «
«It is amazing and amazing, Master Gotama, how well it has been declared by Master Gotama. And we consider Master Gotama as someone who possesses these four qualities. (1) Because he is practicing for the well-being and happiness of many people; he is one who has established many people in the noble method, that is, in the goodness of Dhamma, in the salubrity of Dhamma. (2) He thinks whatever he wants to think and does not think what he does not want to think; he has the intention of what he wants and does not have the intention of what he does not want; therefore, he has achieved mental mastery over the ways of thinking. (3) He wins at will, without problems or difficulties, the four jhānas that constitute the higher mind and are pleasant abodes in this very life. (4) With the destruction of the spots,
«Without a doubt, brahmin, your words are intrusive and intrusive.However, I will answer you. (1) In fact, I am practicing for the well-being and happiness of many people; I have established many people in the noble method, that is, in the goodness of Dhamma, in the health of Dhamma. (2) I think what I want to think and I do not believe what I do not want to think; I have the intention of what I want to try and I do not pretend what I do not want to try; thus I have achieved mental mastery over the forms of thought. (3) I gain at will, without problems or difficulties, the four jhānas that constitute the higher mind and are pleasant dwellings in this very life.(4) With the destruction of the stains, I have realized, with direct knowledge, in this very life, the untouched liberation of the mind, the liberation by wisdom and having entered into it,
The one who found out for the love of all beings,
freed from the trap of death;
who revealed the Dhamma, the method,
for the benefit of the devas and humans;
he in whom many people gain confidence
when they see it and listen to it;
the expert on the road and the one who is not the way,
the immaculate one who performed his task;
the Illuminated bearer of his final body
He is called «a great man of great wisdom.»