Yogi: As long as there’s much thinking, it’s hard to practice meditation smoothly.

Sayadaw: This is the samatha practice. We’re not trying to think all the time. We use right thinking and awareness together; not thinking all the time.

Whether we practice samatha or vipassana – whether we concentrate or are aware – the mind has already thought of how to do. The mind cannot do anything if it doesn’t already have an idea how to do.

At the subtle level, a lot of thinking is happening naturally in the mind. You cannot stop the thinking.

Whatever we do, we have an idea – if we have no idea, we cannot do anything. Even when we focus, we have an idea how to focus, the way to concentrate and onto which object. There’s already thinking in the mind.

When you don’t see that the mind is always thinking at the subtle level, you’ll say that it’s hard to practice meditation when there’s much thinking.

If you cannot think, you’re like a zombie.