Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 110
  2. Learning from Labor
     … There will come a point, though, where the mind begins incline to something that doesn’t have to be created. You see that in order to maintain this concentration, it takes work. The work gets subtler, that’s true, but wouldn’t it be even better not to have to do anything at all? What would that be like? The mind can incline to … 
  3. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … But the Buddha says, no, comprehend it as clinging-aggregates, which is not the first thought that usually comes to our mind. But ask yourself, “Where’s the clinging? What are you feeding on here? Is it a form? Is it an image you’re holding in mind? Is it a feeling? Is it a perception? Is it a fabrication? Is it just the … 
  4. Unfabricated Happiness
     … Those feelings are going to have an impact on the mind. The way you talk to yourself, the perceptions you hold in mind as you identify this as this and that as that, what you want out of this and want out of that: Try to get sensitive to all these things, to see where they’re placing unnecessary stress on the mind. The … 
  5. Bring the Right Attitude
     … No matter how many other compelling thoughts come into your mind, you just let them pass. You’re going to stay with this one object. This is called having the right intention. Then there’s the right object. Adjust the breath so that the mind can stay with it easily. You don’t want it to be so light that you can’t keep … 
  6. The Power of Choice
     … Just pay very careful attention to what you’re doing right now and to the effect that it’s having on your mind. This is one of the reasons why we meditate: to train the mind to realize how important it is where it chooses to focus its attention. As for things right now that are not useful to focus your attention on, you … 
  7. Friends Inside & Out
     … training the mind, getting a handle on what we’re doing right now that’s causing suffering and how we may put an end to it. Not all craving is bad. But you have to remember craving is not one person in your mind. You have lots of cravings in the mind—lots of different voices, lots of different attitudes. And that ability to … 
  8. Skills for Dying Well
     … And as you’re sitting here meditating, it may not seem all that serious that your mind is wandering off, but when you die you don’t want your mind wandering around aimlessly at all. You want to keep it focused and on target. You want to keep it, as they say, “with the program.” In other words, you want to keep it in … 
  9. Prepare to Die
     … You can get your mind into really good shape. You can develop qualities of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment: These things really will hold you in good stead. A lot of the techniques we’re practicing as we meditate will come in useful as we get sick, and especially useful at death. Even this technique of focusing the mind on one thing and learning how … 
  10. Wisdom Requires Integrity
    Allow your mind to settle in with the breath. This means finding a place in the body where it’s congenial to stay focused and a way of breathing that’s congenial to settle on. What feels good for the body right now? Nobody else can tell you. You have to notice for yourself. And you have lots of choices. You can try long … 
  11. Ask Yourself the Buddha’s Question
     … At the same time, you’re exercising a really important function in the mind, this ability to pose questions and then look for yourself to get the answers. This part of concentration is called directed thought and evaluation. The Pali terms are vitakka and vicāra, and they basically constitute your mind’s conversation with itself. You want to train them so that they engage … 
  12. Breath Meditation: The First Tetrad
     … Along the way to awakening, as the Buddha points out, you can use the breath to develop many levels of concentration that provide a comfortable dwelling place for the mind in the present moment. The body also benefits if you focus on the breath in the way that he recommends. So it’s good both for body and for mind. Stop and think. Is … 
  13. Centered
     … This is an ideal state of mind for observing what’s going on in the mind. Thoughts can arise and pass away, you see them arising and passing away, but you’re not shaken by them. And you’re not arising and passing away along with them. They have their ups and downs, but you stay still, here in the middle. And so the … 
  14. Breathing Skillfully
     … If your mind wanders away, just bring it back. Remind yourself that all the important things you’re going to learn about are right here, where the mind and the body meet at the breath. After all, it’s right here that you’re creating whatever suffering weighs down the mind. If you don’t create suffering here, nothing else weighs down the mind … 
  15. Meditation Prep
     … He’s simply telling him to replace various levels of aversion in the mind—irritation, resentment, ill will, or the desire to harm—with more positive emotions. If you notice ill will coming up in the mind, try counteracting it with goodwill. Don’t just allow the mind to stay stuck with its ill will. You do what you can to foster an attitude … 
  16. Not Swept Away
     … We develop that observer by being mindful. You focus on the breath as the breath comes in, the breath goes out. Whatever the breath is going to do, you be aware of it. Keep in mind that this is where you want to be. It’s not that you’re here to get the breath. You’re after the mind, and you’re going … 
  17. The View from the Mountaintop
     … See what answers come up in the mind, what kinds of insight arise. There’s no guarantee that everything that comes up in a still mind is going to be the truth, but you’re in a much better position because when the mind is still like this, it’s like opening all your drawers, or having access to all the drawers where you … 
  18. Victory
     … We bring the mind to the present moment with the breath so that we can gain some strength from the breath and gain strength from getting the mind to settle down and be still. So gather your thoughts in right now. If you’re going to think about anything, think about the breath. Think about the mind being with the breath. Then pay attention … 
  19. Name & Form
     … Those are the two principles that you always have to keep in mind when you’re listening to any of the Buddha’s teachings. When you read about mindfulness, how does mindfulness relate to kamma? How does it relate to causality? When you read about goodwill, how does it relate to kamma and causality? It’s only when you see these things in the … 
  20. Change Your Perceptions
     … So we work to overcome sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and uncertainty or doubt, to bring the mind into concentration. And we get the mind into concentration by changing our perceptions. When the mind is in concentration, then you can apply the four noble truths. Ask the questions of the four noble truths: “Where is the suffering right now … 
  21. Choosing Sides
     … Do you want to stay with the breath? Or do you want to take this time to wander around in the world of your mind and pick flowers and gaze at the sky with no concern for where you’re going? Or do you want to put it to work to develop good, strong powers of concentration and good, strong powers of mindfulness? Mindfulness … 
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