Adam . .:
Ian thank you, but there is at least a slight difference between being able to stop monkey mind on command and only thinking thoughts you want to think.
Yes, the mind will continue to speculate –
if you let it – after a period of time after you have stopped the monkey mind. The question remains: Are
you willing to let it continue? If so, then that is what you will experience. Your
will to think the thoughts you want to think is also in play. It is your choice!
Adam . .:
Beyond being capable of using pure intention to silence monkey mind completely, have you reached a stage where monkey mind, including its subtle forms beyond verbal fabrication, doesn't arise to begin with?
Pretty much, yes. Not completely, but pretty much. Whenever I wish to speculate about something, it is usually an intentional activity. I focus on the subject matter and begin to contemplate it.
Adam . .:
I have experienced near-total silence for a maximum of about 10 minutes, complete mastery for a short period, and it is the sort of thing which I'd like to make permanent.
There are no "permanent" conditions in the existential realms. One should have learned that from the teaching on the Three Characteristics. What is it about the teaching of
anicca did you
not GET?
The best that one can do is to catch it as it arises and quash it! Or let go of it; release one's attachment or attention to it. Anything better than that is not possible. And you wouldn't want it to be possible, because in many cases this activity acts as a self-preservation mechanism, alerting one to dangers.
Adam . .:
Actually he claims no thoughts except for in the morning and when his blood sugar is low, also he says that it requires 'mostly no effort' or something like that. Also he still has emotional feelings and takes this as a suitable endpoint for his practice.
I think I define "thought" slightly differently than he does because I would also include subtle movements of attention and objectifications and other such things, with my definition of thought which includes any mental fabrication/objectification ending thought would necessitate the end of emotion.
That ending of emotion can only come as a result of liberation (
vimutta) of mind "without remainder," which occurs if it occurs at all, as I understand it, at the demise of the body. So, unless you are ready to experience that eventuality, I wouldn't look for it in this lifetime. As long as a person remains in a human body, emotions will arise. The only question that remains is: How will you handle them when they arise? This is where mindfulness (
sati) comes in, and is the reason that Gotama brought up this subject so often in the discourses. Mindfulness, in the teaching of the Dhamma, is indispensable!
Something to further consider: Ven. Analayo, in his book
Satipattana, The Direct Path to Realization, has written:
"The qualification 'liberated' (
vimutta) frequently occurs in the discourses in relation to full awakening. Understood in this way, the 'liberated' mind parallels the more frequent usage of the expression 'unsurpassable mind' and also the mind that is forever 'without lust,' 'without anger,' and 'without delusion,' all these referring to the mind of an arahant. The commentaries, moreover, relate the qualification 'liberated' to temporary freedom from defilements during insight meditation. Elsewhere in the discourses the qualification of being 'liberated' occurs also in relation to the development of concentration, as 'freedom of the mind' (
cetovimutti). Thus the expression 'liberated mind' can be taken to refer to
experiences of mental freedom in relation to both calm and insight.
"The theme underlying the contemplation of these four higher states of mind is the ability to monitor the more advanced stages of one's meditative development. In this way, within the scope of contemplation of the mind,
sati can range from recognition of the presence of lust or anger to awareness of the most lofty and sublime types of mental experience,
each time with the same basic task of calmly noticing what is taking place." [Emphasis mine.]