Stopping thought, or quieting the mind, is a practice in Zen[1] and other forms of meditation and yoga[2] referring to the achievement of the mental state of samādhi, where the normal mental chatter slows and then stops[3] for brief or longer periods. This may first occur during zazen and other meditation practices.[4]
Paradoxically, Zen teaches that the attainment of this state is not through the normal method of intent and application of skill or technique.[5] As stated in the Zen poem Xinxin Ming:[6]
When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other
you will never know Oneness.
In other words, the process becomes a combination of proper technique, acceptance, and returning to or focusing on a familiar state rather than a state achieved through pure force of will.
Bodri, W.; Shu-Mei, L. (1998). Twenty-Five Doors to Meditation: A Handbook for Entering Samadhi. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN978-1-60925-235-9.
Harris, J. S. (2019). Zen Beyond Mindfulness: Using Buddhist and Modern Psychology for Transformational Practice. Shambhala. ISBN978-0-8348-4215-1.
Humphreys, C. (1999). A Western Approach to Zen. Theosophical Publishing House. ISBN978-0-8356-0550-2.
Kornfield, Jack, ed. (2024). Teachings of the Buddha. Shambhala. ISBN978-1-64547-284-1.
Patañjali; Miller, Barbara Stoler (1996). Yoga: Discipline of Freedom: The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali. Translated by Barbara Stoler Miller. University of California Press. ISBN978-0-520-20190-3.
Taylor, Eugene (2013). "Asian Interpretations: Transcending the Stream of Consciousness". In Pope, Kenneth S. (ed.). The Stream of Consciousness: Scientific Investigations Into the Flow of Human Experience. Springer US. ISBN978-1-4684-2466-9.
