The value of the willingness to abandon, let go, and renounce
What the Lord Buddha was saying was that the major cause for attaining deep meditation, for reaching these powerful states, is the willingness to abandon, to let go, and to renounce.
It is hard to do this. Many posts to this sub-reddit attest strongly to that fact. How do we give up the hurt others do to us, the responsibilities we have, the cravings we have formed? It seems impossible to start doing these things because it seems impossible to imagine not doing these things. We are unable to see the beginnings, we are unable to see the endings: no journey is possible.
In the way that I teach meditation, I like to begin with the very simple stage of giving up the baggage of past and future and abiding in the present moment. [...]
Abandoning the past means not thinking about your work, your family, your commitments, your responsibilities, your history, the good or bad times you had as a child and so on. You abandon all past experiences by showing no interest in them at all. You let go of every part of your history, even the memory of what happened to you just a moment ago!
In this way, you carry no burden from the past into the present. You do not allow the past to reverberate in your mind. During the time that you meditate you become someone who has no history. In this way, everyone becomes equal, just a meditator. It becomes unimportant how many years you have been meditating, whether you are an old hand or a beginner. You free yourself of these concerns, perceptions and thoughts that limit you and that stop you from developing the peace born of letting go.
As for the future—anticipations, fears, plans and expectations—let all of that go too. The Lord Buddha once said about the future, “Whatever you think it will be, it will always be something different!” The future is known to the wise as uncertain, unknown and unpredictable. It is often complete stupidity to anticipate the future, and always a great waste of your time to think of the future in meditation.
This might sound interesting. What is this the platform for? Where does this journey lead?
It is helpful here to clarify the difference between silent awareness of the present moment and thinking about it. It is through our inner commentary that we sometimes think we know the world. Actually, that inner speech does not know the world at all! It is inner speech that weaves the delusions that cause suffering. It is inner speech that causes us to be angry at those we make our enemies, and to have dangerous attachments to those we make our loved ones. Inner speech causes all of life’s problems. It constructs fear and guilt. It creates anxiety and depression. It builds these illusions as surely as the skillful commentator on TV manipulates an audience to create anger or tears. So if you seek for truth, you should value silent awareness, considering it more important, when meditating, than any thought whatsoever.
Conclusion: Before you try letting go and renouncing what is so pressing, so important, so enmeshing, so captivating, so needed, so wanted, so essential: try letting go of your thoughts about that thing. It is possible that you are fabricating this situation so it is different from what it really is.
https://www.lionsroar.com/cultivate-tranquility-harvest-insight/
I cannot find the direct quote, but one of the things from this sub which sticks with me the most is very simple. I remember (potentially wrongly) that is was a Korean Seon monk with limited English:
Many thoughts, many problems.
Few thoughts, few problems.
No thoughts, no problems.
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from Buddhism https://ift.tt/2OZelLu
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