Yogi: Whenever I practice, I’m always disturbed by the thinking mind.

Sayadaw: When you practice vipassana meditation, there’s no disturbing object. Why do you say that thoughts disturb you?

This is already wrong idea and wrong attitude because you don’t have the right information.

The thinking process doesn’t disturb you; it is the storyline, the concept that disturbs.

We call something that can think the mind - this is the definition of the mind. So, thinking is not disturbing; thinking is the mind. We’re learning about the mind process, not the storyline.

When thinking arises and if we pay attention to the storyline, who and what are happening, then agitation arises. That is why you say thinking disturbs you – the mind is paying more attention to the concept.

We’re not interested in the concept; we’re interested in the process of mind, that thinking mind is happening.

A clearer example is when we’re aware of hearing, we’re not paying attention to the sound, we’re aware that hearing process is happening. Don’t pay attention to the sound because if you do, it is easy for liking and disliking to arise as we’re easily drawn to the concept.

The object of defilement is a concept, but the object of vipassana-wisdom is nature.