1. What is a Mind Monkey?

心猿 [lit. "heart-/mind-monkey"]
from Chinese xinyuan and Sino-Japanese shin'en
 a Buddhist term meaning unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable.
-from Wikipedia

Many meditation teachers make the mistake of telling their students to empty their minds.

Trying to clear your mind of unwanted thoughts only serves to summon the Mind Monkey. 

The harder you try to silence the Mind Monkey, the louder it gets, as though it is laughing at you!

Curious and destructive by nature, the best way to keep your Mind Monkey from creating chaos is to give it something to do. 

Over time, the human race has learned the effectiveness of using a mantra while meditating to occupy the Mind Monkey.

This does not mean your mind
won’t drift away from your mantra.

The Mind Monkey is always there,
ready to distract you.

However, each time you drift away from your mantra and bring yourself back to it,
you
make your mind stronger.

So, when the Mind Monkey shows up
while you are meditating, just smile
and re-engage with your mantra.

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