Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Gladdening
    We’re here to train the mind. But we have to remember that when the Buddha talks about training the mind, he uses the word* “citta,”* which covers both what we think of the mind and what we think of as the heart. So we’re training to have a good heart as well as a good mind. The heart comes in our daily … 
  3. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … Wherever there’s a disturbance in the mind, wherever the mind is not still, take that as an example of the first noble truth, the truth of stress. If the mind is full of disturbances, it’s going to be pretty muddy. It’s not going to be clear. This is one of the reasons why we try to make the mind as still … 
  4. Circumspection
     … We create these little worlds in the mind. But in order to create them, there has to be an element of blanking out, where one part of the mind lies to another part of the mind, closing things off for a second. It’s like when you go to a play, a traditional play, where between the scenes they lower the curtain. The curtain … 
  5. Things Don’t Have to Be This Way
     … And he can teach this message because the mind has a lot of power. There are a lot of powers in the mind that we abuse, or that we never really develop. But he’s saying that if you train the mind in the right direction, you can use its powers to solve the big problem in life. This is what we’re doing … 
  6. The Mind When Trained Brings Happiness
     … You want the mind to settle down and have a sense of well-being right here. When the mind has been trained in these qualities, you can use them in all kinds of activities. You don’t need mindfulness only when you meditate. You don’t need alertness only when you meditate. These qualities are useful whatever you’re going to do. When the … 
  7. The Joy of Curiosity
     … The first steps are basically just trying to figure out how to get the mind to settle down. How can we get it quiet and how can we get it to stay with one thing? The commentator has to do some directed thought and evaluation to figure things out. If the mind is not settling down, why? Is it the breath? Is it the … 
  8. Gradually Sudden
     … Yet, when the mind begins to slow down, and you begin to see the steps by which the mind goes through its processes of creating thoughts and then dropping them, it all begins to make sense. Not in the sense that you agree with what the mind has been doing, but you can understand how the mind has been operating under ignorance. If you … 
  9. The Interactive Present
     … And sometimes there are instructions like that in meditation books — but often the mind doesn’t fall in line with them. Ideally you should be able to let the mind settle down and grow calm and then deal with difficult issues, but sometimes before you can settle down you’ve got to deal with some difficulties first. It’s not only the case that … 
  10. A Mirror for the Mind
    A Mirror for the Mind January 21, 2012 There’s a passage in one of Ajaan Lee’s talks where he says that the breath is like a mirror for the mind. This is why we look so intently at the breath, because it’s going to teach us some very important lessons about the mind. In particular, it’ll show us how to … 
  11. Shelter Through Restraint
     … You’ve got to protect your concentration, because the mind is used to looking for happiness in lots of ways. It likes variety. That’s because the happiness it’s used to is not satisfactory. It satisfies some things, but then there are other parts of the mind that are not satisfied. So you keep looking for different pleasures, and the mind keeps looking … 
  12. The Time & Place to Let Go
     … When the body feels better, the mind has a chance to settle down and have some rest, to gather its strength. And for the time being, you don’t have to think about any other responsibilities at all. This is your major responsibility: allowing the body and the mind to heal. An important part of training the mind is having a good sense of … 
  13. You’ll Wish You’d Meditated More
     … getting the mind into concentration and then seeing where there is still something that’s eating away at the mind, even in the concentration. Or when you leave concentration, what is it that leads the mind to get involved in things outside? One way of developing insight is, as you leave concentration, just try to notice: What is the first thing the mind’s … 
  14. Fabricating Around Pain
     … The whole purpose of concentration is first to get a sense of well-being and this state of all around awareness, because you want to see the mind from all around. That way, you can make the body, the whole body, your mirror for looking at the mind. If something comes up in the body and the mind has a response, you’ll notice … 
  15. Attachment to the Body
     … The mind will have an influence on how the breathing goes in the body, and oftentimes the way you breathe will be a reflection of what’s going on in the mind. Sometimes it’s your early warning signal. A little something has arisen in the mind, it’s not yet clear in your awareness, but it already has an impact on the breath … 
  16. Doing the Practice
     … But we have the potential to find true happiness through our actions, and particularly the actions of the mind, because the mind is what lies behind everything we say and think and do. We have to train the mind so that it’s skilled in giving the orders, so that it can see what’s the skillful action in any particular set of circumstances … 
  17. Curious About the Process
     … That’s when you realize you’ve learned something about the mind, its processes. And what could be more interesting? How the mind lies to itself, how it has many layers of conversation inside, and yet it thinks it’s a unified mind: How does that happen? And how does it happen that there are different voices in the mind that don’t really … 
  18. The Fortress
     … You’re developing the mind—all kinds of good qualities in the mind. And these are things you want to protect. Ajaan Mun used to say that the good qualities in the mind can’t be distinguished from the mind. If they could be distinguished, somebody would separate them out and steal them, or somebody might try to sell them. But because they’re … 
  19. A Path of Skills
     … But the mind is dark. It’s obscured. It’s only when you’re doing something really skillful with the mind that it’s easy to observe it. So getting the mind into a good state of concentration is an important skill you need to master. The Buddha put it at the heart of the path. We start with the right view. Notice that … 
  20. Put Some Heart into Your Practice
     … But also just the happiness that comes from realizing you haven’t caused any harm helps get the mind into concentration. When the mind is settled down and you want to see the mind in action, it’s best when you’re trying to do something good and you have been doing good things. The mind when it’s virtuous, the heart when it … 
  21. Identifying Weeds
     … It’s the same with the mind. There are certain qualities in the mind that are like weeds. We’re trying to develop good qualities in the mind—like mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment—yet there are qualities that stand in the way. You’ve probably heard of what they’re called: the hindrances. These are the things that stand in the way of our … 
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