Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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