The question, "what is mind sans thought?" is almost impossible to "answer", and there are no efforts - either well-placed or misplaced - which can lead one to such an experience, yet, that doesn't mean one shouldn't make some attempt - afterall, we were born with a mind, and that mind does occasionally experience some degree of what is called, consciousness.
A 'well-placed' effort is the one of mind studying mind, the mind trying to know itself AS itself, not as the incessant thoughts flowing through it. 'Misplaced' efforts are, humans trying to study the details of those various thoughts - whether the equations and grammars and definitions and apparent meanings, "meet with" some "criteria" previously established by similar aggregations of thoughts. I.e., one thought commenting upon other thoughts. THAT, sirs and sirettes, is NOT mind studying mind. THAT, is thoughts commenting upon thoughts, just like blood trying to understand the pumping of the heart by analyzing the components of blood - red cells, white cells, platelets, etc. do not the heart make. Blood can't 'know Heart', anymore than Thought can 'know Mind'.
It doesn't matter what a person "thinks" is the "cause of the arising" of those thoughts - they come from Life, from elsewhere, but NOT from oneself - so once thoughts are flowing through it, giving it (mind) it's transitory "life of existence", it's already too late to discover what mind is, sans thought.
That is, you can't think about "what is mind?", and then proceed to "answer the question", you can only experience it AS itself. THEN, just like nature abhors a vacuum, mind fills itself with the other 'matter' available to it - activity, and that activity is none other than the aforementioned thoughts - so it: reads books, engages in conversations, watches tv, etc.
The only 'method' to achieve that knowing, is tantamount to Stopping Thought - but NOT for the purpose of knowing something, but for the observations that can be experienced sans thought.
One would NEVER reveal to himself or others, that "I can stop thought for 30 minutes a day." or "I can remember myself 100 times a day." or "I can stay awake 8 hours a day every day." or anything like that. To do so, is to be lying to oneself. A thought that "says that" is lying. That thought disappears and one is back asleep for who knows how long.
Stopping thought is an idea older than old - in fact, pre-human, all there WAS was "stopped thought", in the sense that there was no thought at all. Then, came man, and then came consciousness in man, then came thoughts flowing therein, and the time all this took, was mere moments. Man, consciousness (sans thought), thoughts. The progression now, for us, is the radical acceleration of the process of thinking - which comes from studying mind, NOT studying thoughts flowing through minds, either from long-dead people, or still-living people, or yourself.
There is no such thing as, "better, smarter, more intelligent" thoughts. What there IS (or can be), is "better, smarter, more intelligent" consciousness - which IS another definition of evolution, or more precisely for those who achieve it, REVOLUTION over ordinary, dull-witted, consciousness.
Self-remembering, chanting a single word, watching the breath, meditating on a symbol or word or sound, are ALL just "methods" to stop the ordinary flow of thoughts, to "stop thought". But the Goal, which it is not, or Aim, which it is not, is not the STOPPING, it is the observations that can be made from that newer, expanded view only possible when Mind exists, sans thought.
Very soon after one starts thinking in this way about his inner operations, he discovers that mind (as he knows it in himself) doesn't exist when thoughts are not flowing through it, that is, he is asleep then and NO ONE knows what being asleep means beyond that. When a person is dead unconscious in a darkened room, dreams become for him, a "higher state of mind". When a person is asleep in dreams, then consciousness becomes for him, a "higher state of mind". When a person is conscious, he can SEE what sleep means, but he can not describe it (won't even attempt it), because the descriptions are the contents of that sleep.
Expanding the nervous system - in the head, in the brain, in the highest farthest outreaches of the cortex, into areas which are NOT being fed by blood or electricity now - is the direction of evolution wherein such SEEING "the lower" is possible. Man is way more conscious, in general, than men were 100 years ago, 500, 1000, etc. AND, more importantly for the few who understand that, men in 500, 1000, 2000 years will be way more conscious, in general, than men living today. AND, WAY MORE IMPORTANTLY for the few of the few who understand that, YOU (me, the other guy), can be conscious today the way men of the future will be in their day, and that means something!!!
It's like jumping over your own knees.
It's like seeing into your own eyes.
It's like living in the Future.
This entire ad hoc message was not, "an answer", of course, but a performance piece on the topic: "what is mind sans thought". Each person is left with the possibility of performing his own piece on whatever topics he feels suitable to spend time on. If analyzing previously-received thoughts is suitable to you, then so be it. For some, it's not a suitable expenditure of energy.
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