Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 11
  2. Off to a Good Start
     … As for alertness, there’s this strange tendency in the mind where we don’t really like to watch ourselves. It’s very easy to go thinking about other things, paying attention to other things and not really being alert to what we’re doing. So, to counteract that tendency, we focus on the breath because it’s very close to the mind. Sometimes … 
  3. What Makes Concentration Right
     … The same with the state of the mind: The mind could be thinking about various things, but you’re looking at the mind as it’s processing things, or looking at the mind as a process. Those are the three big things: body, feelings, mind, in and of themselves. And then right effort is the effort to shape these things skilfully. For example, with … 
  4. Damming & Diverting
    A common image in the teachings of the forest ajaans is that the mind goes flowing out. In other words, greed, aversion, and delusion don’t start from things outside. It’s not the case that we’re just sitting here perfectly fine—passive and placid—and then something comes along and stirs us up. All too often we’re out there looking for … 
  5. Trust in the Power of the Mind
     … That’s because the mind is not just on the receiving end of things. Mano-pubbangama dhamma mano-settha mano-maya: The mind is the forerunner of all experience. The mind is in charge. Things are made by the mind. There’s a good reason why they put that verse at the beginning of the Dhammapada. It’s the power of the mind that … 
  6. Maintaining Goodwill
     … Here comes another car, “Let’s jump into this one.” Every little movement of the mind, you move into it, move along with it. It’s as if the mind is singing and you sing along with it. But when you learn the skill to stay still in the midst of the movements of the mind and the body, that’s when you’ve … 
  7. Imperturbable
    Imperturbable June 18, 2014 Before the mind can settle down, you have to do a little housecleaning, to clean up the mind, clean up the body. Cleaning up the mind is putting it in the right mood with the right attitude so that it’s ready to settle down and not pick up a lot of other issues. After all, you’ve got a … 
  8. A Thread into Awareness
    We focus on the breath to catch the mind. You can’t grab hold of the mind directly; you’ve got to give it something you can get interested in. And so we work with the breath to notice what way of breathing feels good, what way of breathing doesn’t feel so good right now. And sometimes it’s not a matter of … 
  9. The Heightened Mind
     … On the one hand, when the mind is lifted like that, then we start creating better kamma ourselves. And also the mind becomes more impervious to the impact of things outside. One of the ways the Buddha says that you gain freedom, or at least respite from your own past bad karma, is by training the mind so that it’s not overcome by … 
  10. Games the Mind Plays
     … When the mind is empty, anything can come into it: good or bad. It’s like leaving the door of your house open. Anyone can walk in.” You’ve got to have work for the mind to do. You’ve got to have a direction for the mind. This is why we have right view: to remind us that we have a path that … 
  11. Mental Seclusion
     … You can focus your attention fully on the mind. In this way, we develop what the Buddha calls the heightened mind, the mind that’s not a slave to defilements, not a slave to the issues of the world, a mind that can lift itself up above. But to develop that kind of power, we first have to make the mind very small. In … 
  12. Bases for Success
     … Is the mind settling down? If it’s not settling down, where is the problem? Is the problem with the breath or with the mind? Sometimes you direct your thoughts straight at the breath; sometimes you have to focus back on the mind. Then you evaluate what’s going on. Is the mind ready to settle down? If it’s too anxious, what can … 
  13. Fabrication Theory
     … What this means is that if you’re going to train the mind, you have to train the mind not to identify with its thinking. Give it a place like the breath where it can establish itself as its main focal point. And from that focal point, you can watch the movements of the mind, so that you can choose which movements you want … 
  14. Mindreading
     … You give the mind a good place to stay, so that whatever the weight is, it’s not oppressive. You’ve got your nourishment: a state of fullness or rapture you can develop with the concentration. That’s food for the mind. And physically it feels good as well. The mind that’s been wandering around, scattered all over the place, needs to have … 
  15. Sensitive to Stress
     … He doesn’t even define the mind—because your sense of these things will develop as you practice. But how do you develop that sensitivity? First, get the mind into concentration and be willing to stay there. Many people get very impatient. The mind gets quiet for a little bit and they say, “Well, what’s next? When do we get to the insights … 
  16. Things as They’ve Come to Be
     … And in the course of doing that, you learn things both about the breath and about the mind: what kind of sensations the mind likes, what kinds it doesn’t like; how the mind affects the breath, how the breath affects the mind. Right there is a lot of raw material for insight. But in the beginning your purpose is more to settle the … 
  17. Adjusting the Flame
    There are three factors in the path that deal with the topic of right concentration—right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration itself—and all three are necessary to get the mind to settle down. Right effort is generating the desire to get rid of unskillful qualities and to develop skillful ones, and that gets parsed out: If unskillful qualities have not yet arisen … 
  18. Above the World
     … You have to separate the mind from its objects, separate it from its ordinary concerns, and give it time to settle down and be still. Once it’s still, then you can look into it to see what’s really there. This is why we work on this principle of having a part of the mind separate from everything else. Get the mind with … 
  19. The Buddha’s Vipassana
     … When you have a low level of concentration, you’ll be able to see things with a low level of clarity, but that will be enough to enable the mind to get more still. Then, as the mind gets even more still, you see other things with more clarity, which allows you to let them go, and the mind grows even more still. The … 
  20. The World of the Body
     … Try to become sensitive to what feels best for the body, what feels best for the mind right now. As for other thoughts that may come to the mind, you can let them go. Try to stay in the world of the body right here. The mind is used to living in lots of different worlds. You’ve got the world of family, the … 
  21. Shaping the Present
     … Then there’s a set of three that are useful when the mind is sluggish, so that you can give it more energy. And then there are three that are useful when the mind is too energetic, when its energy is frenetic, keeping you from settling down. The three for calming the mind are: calm, concentration, and equanimity. Those are the qualities that you … 
  22. Load next page...