How to Witness Thoughts in Zen Meditation

Zen meditation is the path of awareness. You are about to learn how to attain witness consciousness, how to be free from desire and how to tell the difference between witnessing a thought versus getting identified with it.

In Zen meditation, you learn to witness thoughts by learning to stop identifying with them.

If a thought arises 'I would really like an ice-cream' and you consider yourself the 'I' in that sentence that wants an ice-cream, that is identification.
With identification, you are in a dream state. You are somewhere else besides here.
If that same thought arises and you just notice it as a thought arising, without being involved in the meaning of the thought, that is witnessing. This is Zen meditation.

The thought arises and disappears and you remain
present and watching.
In this you see the thought that you want an ice-cream arose on its own. You did not want an ice-cream, the desire arose on its own and you either identified with it or you witnessed it.
So if you want to be free from desire, you don't bother trying to stop the desire from arising. That is impossible.

You simply watch it arise and disappear without grabbing hold of it.

So you see, in Zen meditation, as you learn to witness thoughts, you see that thoughts arise and disappear on their own. You are not thinking the thoughts, they happen regardless of you.

In Zen meditation, you discover you are not the mind; you are the witness of the mind. And it is here you experience witness consciousness.
Like walking by a television that is on. You notice the television and you let it go. You don't sit down and watch it. You do not become engrossed in it.
And if you're really present, you don't even bother
looking to see what program is on.
It is there, making noise and you are aware of it. And because you are aware of it, what noise it is making does not affect you.
You remain as awareness and the nature of awareness is bliss.

This is the essence of Zen meditation and how to enter witness consciousness. Learn how you can take your meditations to a whole new level by clicking the link below.