Search results for: "Feelings"

  1. Page 111
  2. Don’t Be Afraid of Mistakes
     … This is not written in the instructions, but these are things that you can learn by noticing how the breath energy goes around your body, what feels good, what doesn’t feel good. And you may find that you’ve been breathing for a long time in a way that has an adverse effect on the body. Well, that doesn’t mean that that … 
  3. Happily on the Path
     … The stages of right concentration are defined by their feeling tone. The first one is pleasure and rapture born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. The pleasure gets more intense in the second and third jhanas. Then finally, when you’ve had enough of that pleasure, that’s when you develop equanimity in the fourth jhana. That equanimity comes when there’s … 
  4. The Rivers of Karma
     … As for the questions of why there’s pain and whether it’s just or how frustrated you may feel about it, you’ve got to learn how to put those aside as well. In other words, as you’re sitting here meditating putting aside random thoughts, you’re getting practice for a skill you’re really going to need as aging, illness, and … 
  5. The Buddha’s Good News
     … But it’s not about being sensitive to what you just happen to feel or what your emotions tell you. You’re learning to be sensitive to what you’re doing and the connection between what you’re doing and the level of ease or pain, suffering or pleasure that you may feel as a result of what you’re doing. From there you … 
  6. Values
     … focusing on the breath, finding a spot in the body where you can stay centered, and then working from there to let the breath energy feel good throughout the body, so that it’s all connected together, noticing what kind of breathing then can maintain a sense of connectedness and comfort in the body. That’s pretty much the technique. But there’s also … 
  7. Goodwill All Around
     … They are meant to bring up the issue, is there anybody out there whom you don’t feel goodwill for? And if so, why? Then you have to think about it, you have to reflect on it until you realize there’s no reason that you would benefit in any way from their suffering. So this provides the context. Then from goodwill there are … 
  8. All Winners, No Losers
     … There are some particular relationships that can get pretty nasty this way, where you focus on the feeling that you can’t find happiness until you’ve gotten back at this person. This animosity contains not a small touch of revenge. And, of course, this feeling doesn’t lead to any genuine happiness. So one of the purposes of our practice is to get … 
  9. Take Nothing for Granted
     … As the Buddha said, we fabricate our experience for the sake of having form, feelings, perceptions, fabrications, consciousness, and then we use those things for the sake of happiness. So we have to remember why we’re here. Keep that in the background, and then set your mind on doing what needs to be done to reach to that goal of happiness, of real … 
  10. Inner Refuge
     … Its back feet are on the leaf and its front feet are feeling out off the edge of the leaf to see, “Maybe there’s something else out there.” As soon as another leaf comes by, blown by the wind or whatever, it latches on and jumps up to the other leaf. So be prepared for that to happen and see what you can … 
  11. Secluded from Sensuality
     … You’re going to be breathing in certain ways, trying to induce certain mind states, certain feelings, certain states of awareness, by the way you breathe. But to prepare the mind for that activity, you have to make it as impassive as possible so that when anything undesirable comes up in your meditation, you don’t get excited about it, you don’t get … 
  12. The Joy of the Battle
     … One good way of dealing with it is to ask yourself, “When it comes on, what are the feelings in the body that send messages up saying, ‘Hey, hey, hey, you’re sleepy. Time to rest. Time to zone out’: What physical sensations tell you that?” The same with anger, the same with worry: When you’re worried about something, what part of the … 
  13. Discernment All Along
     … If it feels tight or tense, what ways can you think of the breathing to relax some of that tension? After all, as the Buddha said, you want to learn how to breathe in and out sensitive to rapture, breathe in and out sensitive to pleasure. Where are you going to find these things? By being really sensitive to how the breath comes in … 
  14. How to Be an Admirable Friend
     … Either we’re not going to feel good about it, or else we’re going to go into denial about the fact that our happiness is causing suffering – neither of which is a healthy attitude. So we wish well to all beings. And we don’t just stop with the wish. We should actually embody these qualities in our actions. And because our actions … 
  15. Solid in the Face of Death
     … The choice is up to you, because you’re looking for a place where the mind can stay and feel engaged. You’re also looking for an antidote. Sometimes with sleepiness, just repeating the word *buddho-buddho-buddho rapid-fire *helps keep you awake. Or if your mind is drifting and complacent, you can think about death. It’s something we don’t like … 
  16. The Blood You’ve Shed
     … But he didn’t stop there with just the narratives, trying to figure out, “How can I settle that issue, how can I settle that score?” The sheer multitude of all those stories, all those narratives, was enough to induce a huge feeling of dismay and dispassion. From there, he went on to the question: Was this true only of him, or was it … 
  17. The Joy of Growing
     … Think in any way that helps you feel confident that you’re doing something good here and that you’re capable of doing it. But that attitude has to be confirmed as you get the mind to settle down. This is why Ajaan Lee’s instructions are so helpful. He talks about the breath energy in the body and ways you can manipulate the … 
  18. Actor & Experiencer
     … It’s in this way that the meditation becomes a skill, and it’s also the way you develop the proper attitude toward feelings of pleasure in the meditation. We often think of pleasure as an end in and of itself, but the Buddha’s attitude is that pleasure can be a means. Or better: Certain pleasures can be means, certain pleasures are just … 
  19. Generating Good Energy
     … You start with the in-and-out breath, figuring out what rhythm of breathing feels good. If things aren’t so good, is it because the breath is too short, too shallow? Too long, too deep? Too heavy? Too light? You work at improving it and trying to figure out what’s the problem. Sometimes the problem’s with the physical elements in the … 
  20. Accepting Yourself
     … They prey on our insecurities, trying to make us feel that we lack this, lack that, so that we’ll buy whatever they’re trying to sell. So most people, when they come to the practice, come with this problem of self-image. This is why we get a lot of teachings on learning how to accept yourself or how you should realize that … 
  21. Change Your Habits
     … You feel a lot better. When you’re tired, what way of breathing gives you energy? When you’re feeling tense, what kind of breathing relaxes you? This is something you can learn by watching the breath. It’s not just in, out, in, out, in, out. There are qualities to the breath, qualities to its ins and outs. And those qualities have an … 
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