Failed Buddhist

Shut up the chatty self-referencing mind, and hear the symphony of your whole being.

Are thoughts not part of your whole being? One could argue that they are an integral part of the human experience.

One could, but I don't think that's what Euvie meant. (Feel free to correct me @euvieivanova) If you shut up the chatty self-referencing mind, there is still occasionally chatty mind. It just isn't the only player in the orchestra who gets to be on stage.

Fair enough. It seems to me like a lot of people in the Zen and some Hindu traditions have something against thoughts in general, and self-referential thoughts in particular.

I find the Dzogchen perspective more helpful, in that it doesn't see thought as any more of a problem than any other phenomena. As long as it is seen for what it is without identification, there's no aversion necessary.

There isn't even any need to "quiet" thoughts, if they're seen as thoughts, as emptiness, rather than self.

I'm with the Zen guys on this. Come to think of it, I'm probably a crypto Zen Buddhist in more ways than one. Not, mind, because thoughts are so dangerous. They're mostly just annoying and distracting. #NotAllThoughts, though.

Aren't they mostly just annoying if you're unaware of the fact that they're empty phenomena? If I see thoughts as they are, why would they be any more annoying than an itch, or any other sensation?