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    Welcome to Buddhism Now e-2

    I would like to begin by emphasising that judging mind has nothing to dowith what we might call discerning mind. Compulsiveness is at the heart, atthe core of, judging mind; and this compulsive quality is a big hindrance tothe act of understanding.

    On the other hand, the discerning mind, especially when it reaches a certainstage of development, is characterised by receptivity; it is characterisedbasically by humility, supported by humility. It seems to me that humilitymay be the highest form of nonjudgemental intelligence. Perhaps this is whyT.S. Eliot says, I think it was in the Four Quartets, Humility is endless.

    So, discerning mind has something to do with humility. In a sense,discerning mind is an empty mind, whereas judging mind, on the contrary,

    is clogged up with opinions and attachment to those opinions. I think wecould say that judging mind is a mind which always already knows; all thetime it already knows. So there is something solid, something hard, in the

    judging mind. In the discerning mind, however, there is something soft andfree, light and owing.

    Judging mind, then, is obviously the opposite of true mindfulness, which isnonjudging attention. And it is also, obviously, the opposite of the four BrahmaViharas loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Inother words, the judging mind is the opposite of the forgiving mind. This iswhy judging mind is a crucial area, I think, for study and practice.

    What is the judging mind in traditional terms? It is a manifestation ofthe three main intoxicants attachment, aversion, and ignorance; it is amanifestation through words plus an emotional charge mental words oractual words. And we should remember that, in the teaching of the Buddha,whenever attachment, aversion, or ignorance manifest themselves, there iswhat is called anusaya a seed for further attachment, for further aversion,and for further ignorance. An act of attachment or an act of aversion doesnt

    Judging Mind Versus Discerning MindCorrado Pensa

    Corrado Pensa teaches

    vipassana retreatsin Europe and in the

    USA. He is cofounder

    and guiding teacher

    of the Association

    for Mindfulness

    Meditation in

    Rome, a professor

    of Eastern religions

    at the University of

    Rome and a former

    psychotherapist.

    Click here to view some

    of Corrados talks

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    From theBuddhist

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    end there without any consequences, it is also a seed for further attachmentand aversion. Of course, the same is true of generosity it is a seed forfurther generosity. This is the law of karma.

    Judgements acts of attachment, acts of aversion, therefore, are alsoseeds for further attachment and aversion. This means, basically, that

    judging mind is suffering, and judging mind is a cause for further suffering.The invaluable benet of the practice is that it can show us, usually in a

    very gradual way, this distinct quality of suffering which is connected withjudging mind.

    Gradually, we start perceiving in a very distinct way the cutting character,the separation and the suffering which is conveyed by the judging mind.Usually it takes time because judging mind is a very strong addiction, andyou dont step out so easily when you have a powerful addiction; we becomedependent on the judging mind. Each of us can think of situations where,maybe by virtue of mindfulness, we realise that we have to choose which

    judgements to use. And, if we cant use our favourite ones, then anythinggoes, provided we can issue judgements this is addiction.

    And, since it has to do with the fundamental intoxicants, it is a very deepaddiction. Thats why it takes patience, trust and perseverance in the practicefor the judging mind to gradually stand out as a powerful form of sufferingwhich we have been passionately cultivating lets face it!

    The organic development of the practice, of the insight which is generatedby the practice, is indispensable, otherwise we may easily fall into somesort of moralist attitude, like the judging mind, and we become even morestuck. Judging mind is something to be understood and transcended; itsnot something to be judged. It seems obvious, but its not. We keep fallinginto this trap again and again. But its through the falling that we learn.

    Now, discerning mind and judging mind can look the same from theoutside. I may think that a particular person, for instance, is rather false,is not a truthful person. Is this discerning mind or judging mind? Whatsthe difference between the two minds? We may have the same statement,but in the judging mind, the same statement is accompanied by aversion.The discerning mind, on the other hand, is equanimous. They say the samething, but discerning mind says it from a peaceful place, from a nonreactiveplace, and judging mind says it from a reactive place.

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    Judging mind is very xed, rigid, whereas discerning mind has exibility;it has the capacity for intuition, which means, in this example, the capacityto see beyond the falseness to see, for instance, the confusion and thesuffering which is behind that falseness. If the vision is xed, it is rigid; we

    just keep hammering away at how false that person is, full stop. No furtherdevelopment takes place.

    The sterility of the judging mind stands opposite the creativity of the

    discerning mind. There is one opinion in the judging mind, and there isstrong identication with this opinion. So, judging mind is paralysed. Thediscerning mind, on the other hand, is non-identied, and so is free to move,free to see into things, and free to drop this or that opinion when appropriate;it is the opposite of rigidity.

    What tends to happen with judging mind, because of the rigidity, becauseof the strong identication with any opinion, is that we select the informationabout a person, and we tend to be receptive only to that information whichconrms our judgement. We are not in touch, therefore, with that person; weare in touch only with our judgement of that person. It is very alienating; it

    is dukkha. And yet we can be completely unaware of this happening. Thatswhy we need retreats, for instance. Special, sometimes painful devices mayenable us to see this thing which we cant see, so to speak, with the nakedeye.

    Judging mind loves comparing. And there is a whole variety of comparingthat is possible. Some of us are specialists in comparing with the past; someof us specialise in comparing with what could have been; some of us are goodat all varieties of comparison. This, again, has consequences separation,barriers, alienation. You know, I think that the greatest contradiction isthat we ardently want peace, warmth, and unity, and yet equally ardentlywork for conict, suffering, separation and alienation. This is the greatestcontradiction and, once again, is another aspect of dukkha. The Buddhasimply said: I teach only one thing dukkha and the end ofdukkha.

    When you have rigidity and we are talking about the judging mind whathappens is that you dont see change, or you have a very hard time seeingchange. That picture we have, say, of ourselves or of another person, isa changeless picture, and it is because of this strong identication, thisstrong attachment, which is typical of the judging mind. So, we dont see

    Amida Buddha

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    the owing nature of things; we dont see the complexity impermanenceimplies complexity; we dont see the intertwining of positive and negativesides in ourselves, in other people. We get xated on one or two images, andwe dont see the ow, the complexity.

    Moreover, if we are in the grips of a judging mind, we do not see theconditional aspect of things what in this tradition is called nonself, anatta.For example, if, or so it seems, someone has some hostility towards us,

    and if we are in the grips of the judging mind, we tend to experience thathostility as a free choice of the other person you know, a deliberate, free,cruel, choice completely free of the other person.

    The Buddhist-poet Shantideva of the eighth century says somethinginteresting. He says, If someone hits you with a stick, you dont get angryat the stick, because the stick was moved by that person. Now, that personwas moved as well. So why do you get angry at the person?

    In the same way as the stick is moved by the person, then, the person ismoved by a whole set of conditions, and our reaction is equally moved bya number of conditions. If we are stuck in the judging mind, we do not see

    this great law of conditionality we dont see the owing nature of things,and lets keep in mind the example of hostility we dont see the obvioussuffering in which the hostility is rooted. That is because we tend to see it asthe happy, free choice of the other person. We are blind, therefore, becauseof the judging mind; we are blind to what, in the Buddhas teaching, arecalled the three fundamental marks of existence, which is no small thing,and this is not a small consequence of cultivating judging mind.

    There is another angle from which we can see this. The Buddha talked aboutunwise attention, ayoniso-manasikara. Suppose we have a special dislike forsomeone, and suppose that person appears. Our attention may become

    extremely sharp because we are eager to see all the inappropriate thingsthat this person is about to do or say. Now, this is unwise attention. This isstrong, very sharp attention, but it is unwise because it just creates suffering.

    Judging mind is rooted in ayoniso-manasikara, in unwise attention.On the other hand, discerning mind is rooted in yoniso-manasikara, in

    wise attention. Wise attention, very simply let us stay with the sameexample is the capacity to see the same thing, to look at and contemplate

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    the same scene, and yet to see the suffering which is created by that kindof unwise attention which leads to attachment and aversion.

    I dont think that judging mind necessarily only produces negative judge-ments; sometimes a judgement can be positive. Again, however, it will berigid; aversion will be waiting just around the corner. A positive judgementdoesnt want to be questioned; not even a little bit. Maybe its a positive

    judgement about ourselves, about someone else, or about a situation, but

    it is very frail. If someone questions it, the judging mind wont accept it.This is because of rigidity. Aversion is implicit; it is there in the backgroundeven if it is not in the foreground.

    In a way, the judgements of the judging mind are like marks carvedin stone this is a famous Hindu metaphor. Whereas the judgements ofthe discerning mind are like marks in sand or water. In other words, inthe discerning mind there is a depth of understanding, nothing is clungto, nothing is wrapped up and kept in a drawer. The difference between

    judging mind and discerning mind is the difference between being aprisoner and being free by various degrees, of course.

    There is also a subtle aspect I would like to mention regarding judgingmind. This is mental gossip. It is subtle and insidious; and it can becomepretty heavy. A retreat is a wonderful place to get in touch with this.

    I was here once on a long retreat, and I remember that after sittingfor weeks with my back to the window, for some reason I changed tofacing the window. For some reason, I felt a kind of relief at being in thisnew position. So I investigated this relief, and the reason for it becamevery clear. For weeks I had been watching my fellow yogis standing inline, taking food, eating, and sitting a very innocent movie but my com-ments were heavy. You know, comparing, or commenting to myself, Heshelping himself for the second time. . . for the third time! Or, Hes changedhis socks, and so on. But now, facing the window, I was free of many ofmy comments. It was a big relief! There was just the sky and that beautifultree.

    The commentaries can go on, maybe in the background and notdramatically, but they can increase the heaviness, the rigidity, the congestionof the judging mind, and there is lack of space.

    There was another moment I think it was in 1976; it was the rst Photo: Paul Heatley. Just click on the above photograph to send itas an ePostcard.

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    three-month course at IMS and I remember sitting under a maple tree be-seeching my mind to leave me alone. There had been hours of judgements,an eruption of them, one after the other. That was dramatic. Mental gossipis less dramatic, but also to be examined and investigated.

    Now, how do we work with the judging mind? I would say that ourentire practice converges into working with it, in direct and indirect ways.In the Anguttara-Nikaya, the Buddha says that the mental intoxicants,

    the kilesas attachment, aversion, and ignorance are overcome andabandoned, not by virtue of speech, or by virtue of action, but by seeingand understanding them. The Pali texts emphasise this seeing andunderstanding them. We can accomplish great things, noble actions, butthat doesnt solve the issue. The solution, and solution is akin to liberation,comes from the seeing and understanding, repeatedly.

    More specically I would say that we need a certain steadiness as a basis,mind steadiness, which comes from good work with the body, breath, bodilysensations; something in which we can feel anchored. And then our practicemay be vipassana, but also metta, loving kindness, compassion. It can be

    a specic practice, or it can be something which grows without words inthe practice of mindfulness. Krishnamurti used to talk about affectionateobservation. Once we have a certain mental stability, and have developedsome capacity for affectionate observation, then we are equipped to workwith the judging mind.

    I see two great advantages in working with the judging mind. The rst oneis that we can work with the intoxicants, with attachment and aversion, ina very tangible way. There are these statements, these words, judgements,and we can look at them. Often, they are shouted in our minds, and maybenot only in our minds. This is a very practical access for attending to thefundamental work, with the causes of suffering. We can do this, once we havethat basis mentioned before. Otherwise we may easily fall into moralising,into judging, judging.

    And the other reason I nd the work with the judging mind to be veryimportant, is that we can see how we have built up our egos, the I-mine.Constant judging solidies ego, solidies the other person I think this, Ithink that, This is so, This is not so . . .

    Working on the judging mind is not easy, but it is a very practical access

    And then ourpractice may

    be vipassana,but also metta,

    loving kindness,

    compassion. It

    can be a specific

    practice, or it can

    be something which

    grows without wordsin the practice of

    mindfulness.

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    to the fundamental work. And, of course, it is also the access to developingdiscerning mind. We get to a more discerning mind through the gradualdissolving of the judging mind. The two things are closely connected.

    What is it that is helpful? Well, personally, I nd that feeling the presenceor absence within us of the judging mind, is the rst thing. I also nd that acombination of mindfulness of the judging mind plus loving kindness, metta,

    practice is very helpful. When judgements start arising, if we are mindful, wecan replace them with a metta phrase. At the beginning it may feel articial,but as time goes by, it doesnt feel articial any more. We then begin towonder how we could have indulged so much in the opposite, and we nd,sometimes, that replacing judging with metta is a deeply natural thing todo. Finally, we begin to honour our real nature, and the opposite becomesarticial.

    Perceiving the power of separation caused by the judging mind is alsovery helpful. In other words, the judging mind creates more inner solitude.It could be characterised as cold and ego-oriented. Now, the great transition

    is from an ego-oriented way of looking at things, judging mind, to a moredharmicway of looking at things, by which I mean a warmer and moreimpersonal way of looking at things.

    Warm and impersonal yes! We usually say cold and impersonal. Wemay say, This is my fear, because of what this and that person said.

    This is my anger,because of what this person did to me, etc. But we canalso say, suffering, full stop. We frequently miss the truth when we startproliferating around our fear or our anger; we miss the truth, and the truthis suffering. And its not particularly ours. From the moment we realisethat this is suffering, and suffering doesnt belong to us, its a common

    feature, its not special then something warmer arises in us. This is whywarmer andimpersonal is quite an accurate thing to say. So, do we wantto cultivate something which is cold and ego-oriented, or do we want tocultivate something which is warm and impersonal? As Aldous Huxley wouldsay, The choice is always ours.

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