Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 109
  2. When Things Aren’t Going Well
     … You can’t let negativity take over your mind. It’ll have lots of things to complain about—“This is not the right place to practice; these are not good people to practice with,” on and on and on—diverting your attention from the real problem, which is that you’re not paying careful attention to what the mind is doing. The mind is … 
  3. The Brahmaviharas Are Not Enough
     … Set your mind on those. Then, if the person can set his mind on the Brahma realms, union with Brahma, then he’s to be told, “Even that has a sense of self-identity. There’s still going to be suffering; it’s still fettered. Set yourself on abandoning self-identity – the way you define yourself. It’s only then that you gain true … 
  4. Selecting from the Teachings
    Allow the mind to settle down with the breathing. Think of yourself as gathering the mind in from all the places it’s been roosting in the course of the day, like a big flock of birds. It’s been thinking about this, thinking about that, all over the place. Now all the birds are going to come down on the same telephone pole … 
  5. Ups & Downs
     … getting the mind into stillness, into concentration, and in using your discernment to let go of your defilements. In both cases, you’ve got to learn how to develop a certain stamina, learn how to keep the mind on an even keel, and not be either excited by things going up or upset by things going down. Remind yourself: This is normal. This is … 
  6. Turn Off the Automatic Pilot
    Turn Off the Automatic Pilot December 5, 2011 The part of the mind that keeps shaping experience is something that lies very deep. And it’s something we often don’t pay attention to. We’re more interested in the effects outside—so interested in things outside that we lose touch with where they come from. The part of the mind that shapes things … 
  7. Sensitive in Seven Ways
     … What are your weaknesses when you sit down to meditate? Where are the places your mind tends to go that it shouldn’t go? Are you lacking in mindfulness? Are you lacking in alertness? Is the problem with the mind, or more with the body and the breath? Learn how to read yourself. Then try to compensate for your weaknesses by taking advantage of … 
  8. Standing Outside Your Thoughts
     … The fifth approach is, as the Buddha says, to crush your mind with your mind. In other words, if the other approaches don’t work, you just make up your mind, “I’m not going to think that thought,” and then you bear down. Put the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, grit your teeth, and just tell yourself, “I … 
  9. Healthy Conceit
     … Exactly what happens when the mind is distracted? Where does it go? You might think that a lapse in mindfulness would be impossible to see because, of course, there’s no mindfulness in that moment. But remember, you’ve got different committee members and some of them are watching you. So take advantage of that fact. There’s somebody observing the meditator here, and … 
  10. Building a Home for the Mind
    The texts often talk about concentration as being a home for the mind—*vihāra-dhamma: *the place where the mind can settle in. Before you can settle in, though, you have to build a house. As Ajaan Lee said, the work in building this house is in the directed thought and evaluation. You find a topic that you like to think about, and then … 
  11. All for the Sake of Freedom
     … And where do our actions come from? They come from the mind. So we’re going to train the mind. The emphasis on suffering is meant to keep reminding us that there’s work to be done. We’re here meditating because there are things that need to be done in the mind. If we don’t do them, the mind’s just going … 
  12. Desires Have Their Reasons
     … Well, here’s a desire to settle down, just be very still, so you can see these movements of the mind. The ajaans talk about them a lot. Luang Puu Dune talks about how the mind goes flowing out. That’s the cause of suffering. Ajaan Lee identifies these outflows with the effluents. There’s a desire that arises in the mind and then … 
  13. Conviction & Focus
     … To do that, you have to be mindful. And when you develop right mindfulness, you get your mind into concentration, and that gets your discernment even sharper. So all of the strengths in both lists can be traced back to conviction that the Buddha was right. We may not know yet, but it’s a good working hypotheses that even old people can accomplish … 
  14. The Gift of Goodwill
     … So, taking care of your mind is a gift not only to yourself but also to the people around you. They talk of the famous ajaans dying extremely peacefully, not burdening anyone else with their suffering because they’ve learned how not to suffer from whatever can happen to the body, whatever happens to the mind. So as you train the mind, it’s … 
  15. Focus on the Doing
    When you focus on your breath, it may seem a strange thing to do with your mind. After all, the mind is for thinking, and you could spend the whole hour thinking all kinds of thoughts. But the question is: What you get out of it? Occasionally you get some use out of your thoughts. Thoughts aren’t all bad, but there is a … 
  16. A Self Rightly Directed
     … You begin to see the varieties of things that can arise in the mind, skillful and unskillful, and you learn how to direct the mind in a skillful direction. That’s what it means to direct yourself rightly. So when thoughts come up in the mind that get in the way of the practice, you have to remember: They’re not the direction you … 
  17. Heedful of What’s Precious
     … In the case of the Triple Gem, being protective of these jewels means trying to develop their qualities in your mind. As the Buddha said, the qualities that led to his awakening were ardency, heedfulness, and resolution. You want to protect these qualities as jewels in your mind. The Dhamma means not only knowledge of what the Buddha taught but also the practice of … 
  18. Take the Buddha Seriously
     … It’s just an event in the mind, and I have the choice of going with it or not”: That’s when you can gain that inner victory. So we’re sitting here meditating. Lots of different voices can keep coming up in the mind right now, so you want to get some practice in saying No to the unskillful ones. Of course, this … 
  19. Location, Location
     … That effort is directed here at getting the mind into concentration. As you give the mind a location, you give your craving a location. You’re going to stay here with the breath and you’re going to watch over it to make sure it doesn’t move. And, of course, it will move, but you want to be alert to its movements. You … 
  20. Watching Over Time
     … And when he uses the word mindfulness alone, he means both mindfulness and alertness. In other words, keep in mind the question, “Okay, what’s just right here?” Then look to see what is just right. Have a sense of where your mind is leaning, in one direction or another, and apply the appropriate quality to bring it back into alignment. But sometimes this … 
  21. Attahi Attano Natho
     … No one else can focus your mind on the breath. I can stay here and keep repeating over and over again, “Stay with the breath, stay with the breath,” but that doesn’t focus your mind on the breath. It gives you an idea of maybe what to do, but it’s up to you to exercise your mindfulness and alertness, and to make … 
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