Question

Could you please talk about the different states of mind? How many are there and is it helpful to know them all?

Answer

If I remember rightly there are sixteen. I can't remember them all off the top of my head. There is the state of mind with greed or without, with hatred or without, with ignorance or without, the concentrated state of mind, the unconcentrated state of mind, the state of mind with nothing superior to it, the free state of mind, etc. It is helpful to know them all, but not necessarily. However, understanding the practice of noting a state of mind is very helpful, whatever it is. Because unless we can get some space in between the states of mind, we'll continue to be affected by them.

So learning how to just note it, is helpful. Say, if we get a depressed state of mind and we note "depressed, depressed". then we are no longer depressed - we become the observer of that state.

No state of mind is permanent according to the teachings. Depression has its causes, but we may not be able to recognize what thoughts are creating that state of mind until we step back from it. We won't be able to see deeper into perhaps what hindrances/wrong views are causing it. So the objective noting of the state of mind, is very helpful. to step back from the state of mind and not think it is going to be permanent.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.