Not
knowing that the mind is a mechanical thing that follows the law of
Cause-and-Effect—each thought arising
from the previous one in chain-like succession, coming and going like
the bubbles in a glass of Coke—many
meditators struggle with their thoughts and become exhausted
therefrom, thinking that a mind free of thought is the object of
meditation.
Though
the mind might become still and free of thought, it is not within our
capacity to make it so, because we are the thinker. If we were to sit
down and say to ourselves: "Now I’m going to stop
thinking", that would be just another thought, would it not? By
no act of will can we stop our thoughts coming and going. We shouldn’t
be upset by this, however, shouldn’t despair, as it is natural, and
this is what we can learn from it, so that the conflict with our
thoughts may cease. Thought, like everything else, is Impermanent.
