Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 102
  2. A Greater Happiness
     … And the fourth one is not having seen the true Dhamma, not realizing that there is a deathless element in the mind that’s not touched by aging, illness, or death—the part of the mind that has nothing to fear. So we work on these four issues in the meditation. First, we do it by developing a sense of ease that doesn’t … 
  3. How to Be an Admirable Friend
     … And because our actions come out of the mind, this is where we start. We start with the attitude and we start with the meditation as a way of showing goodwill to ourselves and goodwill to others, of being a friend to ourselves and a friend to others. You get the mind under control. You keep your passion, aversion, and delusion – to some extent … 
  4. Potentials for Refuge
     … We have to remember that those establishings of mindfulness are his instructions on how you get the mind into concentration. So for our internal refuge, we’re trying to get the mind to settle down, to be with the body as a whole. The problem is that as you settle down it’s like sitting in a chair. You find that under the seat … 
  5. Perspectives & Priorities
     … physical solitude, mental solitude, and what the commentaries call solitude from your paraphernalia—in other words, the possessions of the mind, the defilements in the mind, the baggage you carry around inside. The Canon talks about the first two. When you get away from other people, it’s easier to see your issues. When you’re with other people, their issues tend to take … 
  6. The Boundaries of Mindfulness
     … In the same way, as you’re practicing mindfulness, if the mind settles down with any particular theme, remember that. Keep going back to that theme. If you don’t really take note of what the mind likes, what the mind doesn’t like, you’re like the foolish inexperienced cook who doesn’t get a reward from the prince because he’s not … 
  7. When Things Aren’t Going Well
     … The truths are not just truths about something; they’re ways of looking, categories you can apply to anything going on in the mind. You can watch all the crazy thoughts in the mind and, if you do it from the perspective of the four noble truths, knowledge can arise. Learn to find what in the mind you can rely on as a path … 
  8. Inner Wealth
     … They also make it easier for the mind to concentrate: If you don’t have a lot of negative past actions in your background, then there’s less that you have to deny, there’s less that you have to regret—and the mind finds it easier to settle down. Again, you don’t have any wounds that you find yourself suddenly sitting on … 
  9. Observe Yourself in Action
     … How does a becoming form? Even before there’s a sense of I or me doing this in a particular world, there will be events in the mind. When we talk about them, they seem abstract because we’re so used to talking in terms of becoming, but they’re really pretty simple and immediate. There are events in the mind, and you can … 
  10. Inner Wealth Management
     … And it’s good and soothing for the mind. It’s also one of those things that helps the mind get into concentration. If you have ill will for the people around you, that’s going to carry into your meditation and spoil it. So develop goodwill as wealth. Develop concentration as wealth, and regard the problems that come up in concentration as challenges … 
  11. The Wisdom of Restraint
     … But even though the thoughts wouldn’t lead him into trouble, still, thinking even skillful thoughts all the time gets the mind tired. When the mind is tired, it can’t control itself very well. So he realized he would have to exert some more control. Even skillful thoughts, he said, he would have to keep in check as he got the mind to … 
  12. Keep Things Simple
     … They’re very simple questions. “Where’s the stress right now?” And before you get to the stress, ask “Where can the mind settle down?” If the mind hasn’t settled down, if it has no sense of ease, you can’t see anything clearly. So sometimes the only place it can settle down is with an ordinary feeling of okay-ness someplace in … 
  13. Your Desire to Practice
     … Because you begin to realize that events in the mind and events in the body are very closely connected. When you have this all-around vision of the body, you begin to have an all-around vision of the mind. A couple of weeks back, I was up in Canada, and somebody asked me about an experiment. He said that the experiment had proven … 
  14. Where You Set Your Heart
     … When we practice mindfulness in the way the Buddha described it, being very careful about where we do focus the mind and where we don’t focus the mind, of course it’s going to lead the mind to right concentration. The instructions for right mindfulness are just that: instructions on how to get the mind into right concentration. In fact, the Thai translation … 
  15. Centered in the Body
     … Walking meditation is a good opportunity to see how the mind flows out. You’re trying to maintain your center and you notice that it gets a little wobbly. Okay, why is it getting a little wobbly? It’s not so much from the impact of things flowing in. It’s things flowing out. There’s a physical sense that goes with the mind … 
  16. Samvega vs. Dispassion
     … to get the mind quiet so that you can really observe what’s going on, so that you can see, when the mind moves to something: Why is it moving there? We practice concentration together with restraint of the senses, all based on that principle that the Buddha taught to Rahula right from the very beginning, the principle of truthfulness. Why are you going … 
  17. Good Heart, Good Mind
     … You need the discernment to realize that there are things in the mind that are more important than the survival of the body. The survival of your goodness is more important. And your ability to put up with pain: That, too, requires endurance and discernment. Your determination to make sure that your goodwill stays in place. All these things are perfections, which is one … 
  18. Just One Person
     … We’re looking into the mind. First, give the mind a good place to stay so you can look at it well. Try to get to know your breath really well. Settle in. As the Buddha said, “Leap upward,” or “Leap in”—the word can be translated either way—pakkhandati. Leap up at the breath. Leap into the breath. Grow confident in the breath … 
  19. Feel-Good Religion
     … When you’re here, society impinges a lot less on the mind. But the problem is that you don’t yet have mental seclusion. You’re still bringing in with you all the issues of the past week, or the next week, whatever, weighing yourself down with all kinds of companions—and they’re not necessarily good companions. The mind that carries the past … 
  20. Worlds to Watch Out For
     … But a lot of it has to do with our interpretive code, the way the mind reads things. And if you find that your code is getting the mind worked up—it’s creating unskillful habits, unskillful mind states—you can change. This power to change is what the meditation’s all about. In fact, the Buddha’s teachings are all about the power … 
  21. Grounded in the Breath
     … So when you’ve surveyed the mind, surveyed the breath, surveyed the body, try to bring them together in a way that feels good. Stay based here in the breath. When the Buddha talks about the different stages of breath meditation, he talks about the steps dealing with the body, the steps dealing with feelings, the steps dealing with the mind, and then the … 
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