Milarepa was a renowned Tibetan meditation practitioner and Buddhist teacher who lived from 1052 to 1135. He said, “When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, a lion Be like a man who, instead of chasing the stick, faces the thrower. Throws the stick only once at a lion.”

What a wonderful image!

you have a mind like a dog

First, having a dog-like mind. Isn’t it so familiar? Dogs are not very reflective. Most of the time we are not either. A thought comes to our mind and our attention automatically follows it. Like a dog chasing a stick, we chase the thought, pick it up and chew on it.

In meditation, thoughts arise very often, because even though one part of you intends to meditate and quiet the mind, other parts of your brain are scanning your experience to see if there is anything for your good. There is a danger that needs to be dealt with.

See also:

If, as is usually the case, nothing dangerous is happening in your immediate experience, these parts of your brain will connect to memories of things that happened in the past, or look at your future itinerary, and process those things. Will look for what may be. Worry And so, for example, you might overhear an encounter where your feelings were hurt, and you replay the events, often in multiple ways, “workshop” them into different scenarios. Or you might think about something coming up that might be a little scary, and start imagining all the things that could go wrong.

You take more than a simple idea—perhaps a fragment of conversation, or a snapshot image—to a full-on drama.

Buddhism talks about trickor “spread.”

your mind is like a lion

But then there is the lion. Your mind is like a lion when it sees the stick of an idea flying and instead of chasing the stick, it turns towards the thrower. It allows thought to pass through. It assumes that there has been an attempt to subvert it. It is not taken from that effort. It is curious what is this entity that is trying to manipulate it. And so it turns and looks.

stick thrower

Who is throwing the stick? In Buddhist terms we are back to Mara. Mara is a mythological embodiment of distraction. He is the mental trickster who wants us to be distracted and reactive. He wants us to chase the sticks thrown by him. Mara is the part of us that is always trying to unbalance us.

how to do this

Coming face to face with a stick thrower may not be something you’ve ever done. So how do we get started?

This can help you realize the Leo quality of your mind. Think of the fixed eyes of a lion. Its slow growl. Its strength. Its fearlessness. let those qualities fill your mind and your body, Try it now, as you observe the space in your mind. If you’re anything like me, it probably sounds great.

So sometimes when I’ve noticed my mind chasing woods in my meditations, I’ll turn to where the thoughts come from. And I’ll be watching it, waiting to see what happens.

But then I go further, and challenge Mara to woo me.

calling the devil

I’ll say something like “Come on, Mara. Show me what you’ve got. Show me what you’re made of. And then I’ll just watch, like a lion, and see what he comes up with. I am infused with the energy of a lion – a feeling of strength, confidence and courage. I feel this energy in my body as well.

I can remind myself that the sticks or the thoughts are actually illusions. They are not real events that I have to deal with. They are mental constructions.

Usually when a few sticks of Mara pass me by, the dog in me reappears. And so I have to summon the inner lion and face the stick thrower.

And so I say once again, “Well, Mara! Nice idea. Your illusions tricked me then. For a while. So what else do you have?”

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