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I would like to begin by emphasising that judging mind has nothing to do
with what we might call discerning mind. Compulsiveness is at the heart, at
the core of, judging mind; and this compulsive quality is a big hindrance to
the act of understanding.
On the other hand, the discerning mind, especially when it reaches a certain
stage of development, is characterised by receptivity; it is characterised
basically by humility, supported by humility. It seems to me that humility
may be the highest form of nonjudgemental intelligence. Perhaps this is why
T.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 we
could say that judging mind is a mind which always already knows; all the
time it already knows. So there is something solid, something hard, in the
judging mind. In the discerning mind, however, there is something soft and
free, light and fowing.
Judging mind, then, is obviously the opposite of true mindfulness, which is
nonjudging attention. And it is also, obviously, the opposite of the four Brahma
Viharas loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. In
other words, the judging mind is the opposite of the forgiving mind. This is
why judging mind is a crucial area, I think, for study and practice.
What is the judging mind in traditional terms? It is a manifestation of
the three main intoxicants attachment, aversion, and ignorance; it is a
manifestation through words plus an emotional charge mental words or
actual words. And we should remember that, in the teaching of the Buddha,
whenever attachment, aversion, or ignorance manifest themselves, there is
what 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 Mind
Corrado Pensa
Corrado Pensa teaches
vipassana retreats
in 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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end there without any consequences, it is also a seed for further attachment
and aversion. Of course, the same is true of generosity it is a seed for
further generosity. This is the law of karma.
Judgements acts of attachment, acts of aversion, therefore, are also
seeds for further attachment and aversion. This means, basically, that
judging mind is suffering, and judging mind is a cause for further suffering.
The invaluable beneft of the practice is that it can show us, usually in a
very gradual way, this distinct quality of suffering which is connected with
judging 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, and
you dont step out so easily when you have a powerful addiction; we become
dependent 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 anything
goes, provided we can issue judgements this is addiction.
And, since it has to do with the fundamental intoxicants, it is a very deep
addiction. Thats why it takes patience, trust and perseverance in the practice
for the judging mind to gradually stand out as a powerful form of suffering
which we have been passionately cultivating lets face it!
The organic development of the practice, of the insight which is generated
by the practice, is indispensable, otherwise we may easily fall into some
sort of moralist attitude, like the judging mind, and we become even more
stuck. Judging mind is something to be understood and transcended; its
not something to be judged. It seems obvious, but its not. We keep falling
into this trap again and again. But its through the falling that we learn.
Now, discerning mind and judging mind can look the same from the
outside. I may think that a particular person, for instance, is rather false,
is not a truthful person. Is this discerning mind or judging mind? Whats
the 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 same
thing, but discerning mind says it from a peaceful place, from a nonreactive
place, and judging mind says it from a reactive place.
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Judging mind is very fxed, rigid, whereas discerning mind has fexibility;
it has the capacity for intuition, which means, in this example, the capacity
to see beyond the falseness to see, for instance, the confusion and the
suffering which is behind that falseness. If the vision is fxed, it is rigid; we
just keep hammering away at how false that person is, full stop. No further
development 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 is
strong identifcation with this opinion. So, judging mind is paralysed. The
discerning mind, on the other hand, is non-identifed, 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, because
of the strong identifcation with any opinion, is that we select the information
about a person, and we tend to be receptive only to that information which
confrms our judgement. We are not in touch, therefore, with that person; we
are 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. Thats
why we need retreats, for instance. Special, sometimes painful devices may
enable us to see this thing which we cant see, so to speak, with the naked
eye.
Judging mind loves comparing. And there is a whole variety of comparing
that is possible. Some of us are specialists in comparing with the past; some
of us specialise in comparing with what could have been; some of us are good
at all varieties of comparison. This, again, has consequences separation,
barriers, alienation. You know, I think that the greatest contradiction is
that we ardently want peace, warmth, and unity, and yet equally ardently
work for confict, suffering, separation and alienation. This is the greatest
contradiction and, once again, is another aspect of dukkha. The Buddha
simply said: I teach only one thing dukkha and the end of dukkha.
When you have rigidity and we are talking about the judging mind what
happens is that you dont see change, or you have a very hard time seeing
change. That picture we have, say, of ourselves or of another person, is
a changeless picture, and it is because of this strong identifcation, this
strong attachment, which is typical of the judging mind. So, we dont see
Amida Buddha
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the fowing nature of things; we dont see the complexity impermanence
implies complexity; we dont see the intertwining of positive and negative
sides in ourselves, in other people. We get fxated on one or two images, and
we dont see the fow, the complexity.
Moreover, if we are in the grips of a judging mind, we do not see the
conditional 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 that
hostility 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 something
interesting. He says, If someone hits you with a stick, you dont get angry
at the stick, because the stick was moved by that person. Now, that person
was 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 is
moved by a whole set of conditions, and our reaction is equally moved by
a number of conditions. If we are stuck in the judging mind, we do not see
this great law of conditionality we dont see the fowing nature of things,
and lets keep in mind the example of hostility we dont see the obvious
suffering in which the hostility is rooted. That is because we tend to see it as
the happy, free choice of the other person. We are blind, therefore, because
of the judging mind; we are blind to what, in the Buddhas teaching, are
called 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 about
unwise attention, ayoniso-manasikara. Suppose we have a special dislike for
someone, and suppose that person appears. Our attention may become
extremely sharp because we are eager to see all the inappropriate things
that this person is about to do or say. Now, this is unwise attention. This is
strong, 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 same
example 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 kind
of 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 be
rigid; aversion will be waiting just around the corner. A positive judgement
doesnt 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 background
even if it is not in the foreground.
In a way, the judgements of the judging mind are like marks carved
in stone this is a famous Hindu metaphor. Whereas the judgements of
the discerning mind are like marks in sand or water. In other words, in
the discerning mind there is a depth of understanding, nothing is clung
to, nothing is wrapped up and kept in a drawer. The difference between
judging mind and discerning mind is the difference between being a
prisoner and being free by various degrees, of course.
There is also a subtle aspect I would like to mention regarding judging
mind. This is mental gossip. It is subtle and insidious; and it can become
pretty 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 sitting
for weeks with my back to the window, for some reason I changed to
facing the window. For some reason, I felt a kind of relief at being in this
new position. So I investigated this relief, and the reason for it became
very clear. For weeks I had been watching my fellow yogis standing in
line, taking food, eating, and sitting a very innocent movie but my com-
ments were heavy. You know, comparing, or commenting to myself, Hes
helping himself for the second time. . . for the third time! Or, Hes changed
his socks, and so on. But now, facing the window, I was free of many of
my comments. It was a big relief! There was just the sky and that beautiful
tree.
The commentaries can go on, maybe in the background and not
dramatically, but they can increase the heaviness, the rigidity, the congestion
of the judging mind, and there is lack of space.
There was another moment I think it was in 1976; it was the frst
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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 gossip
is less dramatic, but also to be examined and investigated.
Now, how do we work with the judging mind? I would say that our
entire 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 and
abandoned, not by virtue of speech, or by virtue of action, but by seeing
and understanding them. The Pali texts emphasise this seeing and
understanding them. We can accomplish great things, noble actions, but
that doesnt solve the issue. The solution, and solution is akin to liberation,
comes from the seeing and understanding, repeatedly.
More specifcally I would say that we need a certain steadiness as a basis,
mind steadiness, which comes from good work with the body, breath, bodily
sensations; something in which we can feel anchored. And then our practice
may be vipassana, but also metta, loving kindness, compassion. It can be
a specifc practice, or it can be something which grows without words in
the practice of mindfulness. Krishnamurti used to talk about affectionate
observation. Once we have a certain mental stability, and have developed
some capacity for affectionate observation, then we are equipped to work
with the judging mind.
I see two great advantages in working with the judging mind. The frst one
is that we can work with the intoxicants, with attachment and aversion, in
a very tangible way. There are these statements, these words, judgements,
and we can look at them. Often, they are shouted in our minds, and maybe
not only in our minds. This is a very practical access for attending to the
fundamental work, with the causes of suffering. We can do this, once we have
that basis mentioned before. Otherwise we may easily fall into moralising,
into judging, judging.
And the other reason I fnd the work with the judging mind to be very
important, is that we can see how we have built up our egos, the I-mine.
Constant judging solidifes ego, solidifes the other person I think this, I
think 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 our
practice may
be vipassana,
but also metta,
loving kindness,
compassion. It
can be a specific
practice, or it can
be something which
grows without words
in the practice of
mindfulness.
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to the fundamental work. And, of course, it is also the access to developing
discerning mind. We get to a more discerning mind through the gradual
dissolving of the judging mind. The two things are closely connected.
What is it that is helpful? Well, personally, I fnd that feeling the presence
or absence within us of the judging mind, is the frst thing. I also fnd that a
combination of mindfulness of the judging mind plus loving kindness, metta,
practice is very helpful. When judgements start arising, if we are mindful, we
can replace them with a metta phrase. At the beginning it may feel artifcial,
but as time goes by, it doesnt feel artifcial any more. We then begin to
wonder how we could have indulged so much in the opposite, and we fnd,
sometimes, that replacing judging with metta is a deeply natural thing to
do. Finally, we begin to honour our real nature, and the opposite becomes
artifcial.
Perceiving the power of separation caused by the judging mind is also
very 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 more
dharmic way of looking at things, by which I mean a warmer and more
impersonal way of looking at things.
Warm and impersonal yes! We usually say cold and impersonal. We
may 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 can
also say, suffering, full stop. We frequently miss the truth when we start
proliferating around our fear or our anger; we miss the truth, and the truth
is suffering. And its not particularly ours. From the moment we realise
that this is suffering, and suffering doesnt belong to us, its a common
feature, its not special then something warmer arises in us. This is why
warmer and impersonal is quite an accurate thing to say. So, do we want
to cultivate something which is cold and ego-oriented, or do we want to
cultivate something which is warm and impersonal? As Aldous Huxley would
say, The choice is always ours.
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