Day 98

Robbers and Thieves

There are two types of distractions or thoughts that come up while we meditate. Both are conceptual activity, and both are a diversion from the states of calm abiding and insight that we cultivate in meditation.

The first is the coarse type, the big storyline: the memories of events which remind us of other events, which bring us to think of things we have to do, or to wonder what sort of person we are, and so on. These are called the robbers of meditation. They are relatively easy to spot, but if we get caught up in them, they bring us a long way from our sought state of equanimity. These are workable; over time, we learn to keep an eye out for the robbers, and although they continue to approach, they don't get a chance to take much away.

The second is more subtle, a little flicker of a thought, that pipes up seemingly out of nowhere and ends just as quickly. The topic of these can be just about anything, but is often related to our immediate situation: the cushion beneath us, the shape of the incense smoke stream, how many breaths, that was a loud noise, and so on. Many such flickers can arise in a very short time, and there is very little we can do to eliminate them. They are more pervasive and resistant than coarse distractions. These are called the thieves of meditation.

For me, the distinction between robbers and thieves has to do with pettiness. I picture a robber as someone who cleans out a house of its valuables, and a thief as a mere pickpocket. The coarse type of distraction described above robs us of our abiding state of mental calm if we are not careful. We even forget that we are meditating. The more subtle, flickering thoughts allow us to maintain our stable mind, all while nabbing less important, even negligible snippets of our attention. We can continue to be present and aware in our meditation while these thoughts pop up and disappear, and if we do, they will not have the opportunity to become coarser, to get promoted to robbers.