Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 112
  2. Introduction
     … the Buddha concludes by saying all those who become pure in their thoughts and words and deeds have developed purity in just this way. There you are, three very noble qualities: wisdom, compassion, and purity. They all come from taking your desire for happiness very seriously, realizing that happiness is not something that’s just going to float your way. It comes from your … 
  3. The Limits of Old Kamma
     … Let it be longer or shorter, or think of it as becoming longer or shorter. You don’t have to make it be that way or force it to be that way. Just pose that thought in mind: What would longer breathing be like? And you’ll find the body will breathe longer. What would shorter breathing be like? Heavier, lighter, faster, slower? Explore … 
  4. The Wisdom of Tenacity
     … It becomes a positive feedback loop in both senses of the term. In other words, the more you do it, the more energy you have. The more energy you have, the more you can do it. And it’s a good, positive thing. So when you’re thinking about developing wisdom in your practice, don’t overlook the basics: simple things like the Buddha … 
  5. Sensitive to the Breath
     … Observe it and be on good terms with it, so it really can become your friend.
  6. Start with Yourself
     … If you don’t see that there was any harm, then you can take joy in the fact that you’re training the mind well and that you haven’t harmed anybody at all.” This, he said, is how people become pure in their actions. And this is where you have to start. Because it’s only by taking a good honest look at … 
  7. Guardian Meditations
     … What happened to the archers they were supposed to kill? They came in, group by group by group, and the Buddha was able to teach all of them to become stream-enterers. That’s pretty amazing. But whatever other incidents in the Buddha’s life that you find inspiring, you think about them. If your mind is inclined to like to tell stories, tell … 
  8. Significance
     … Ajaan Fuang had said he wanted me to become one hundred percent Thai if I was going to study with him. In other words, being a Westerner was never going to be an excuse that I was couldn’t do this, couldn’t do that. But beyond that, there was a large sense of acceptance. So we can learn from one another’s differences … 
  9. Inner Voice Lessons
     … Instead he said, “You’ve been living like sheep, like dumb animals.” This inner conversation doesn’t become more skillful just by stopping your talking. To improve your inner conversation, you get a lot of help by learning good examples of outer conversation. The first thing to learn as you live together is how to talk to each other in skillful ways — which may … 
  10. The Five Strengths
     … You’ll find that the happiness you want—the happiness that comes from within that’s really solid, really reliable—becomes more and more a reality. As it does, you come to see that you’re not the only one who benefits. The people around you benefit as well. The same as when the body is healthy: You’re not a burden on others … 
  11. Responsible
     … Again, you become a slave to craving. The only way you’re going to get out of that slavery is if you resist. Just say, “No, I’m going to stick with my restraint,” and see what reasons the mind gives, because these are the reasons that can make you willing to give into greed, give into aversion, and give into delusion. They’re … 
  12. The Buddha’s Universal Solvent
     … And when you see so many stories like that, the stories themselves begin to become meaningless. He saw that he was born with a certain name, lived in a certain species or clan, had this experience of pleasure and pain. This was the food he ate. Then he died. That was it: again, and again and again, the same pattern, over and over again … 
  13. The Buddha’s Buffet
     … As Ajaan Lee says, the whole world becomes your home. Then the fourth quality is related to right view. You develop your discernment. The Buddha calls this penetrative insight into arising and passing away, conducive to the end of suffering. Even though you’re delaying the time when you’re going to finally go for the ultimate goal, you do need to have some … 
  14. Therapy for the Mind
     … You don’t like being in the present moment, so you create worlds in the mind, little becomings. It’s like blowing bubbles. You create a little world and then go inside, floating with it as long as it holds together. When it pops, you come back and you blow another one. As a result, things don’t get cleared out in the body … 
  15. Shaping Your Breath, Shaping Your Life
     … In that way, the breathing process becomes more seamless. There are lots of ways of playing around. And it’s not just playing around. You’re learning something important, in the same way that scientists learn when they play around with things. They’re experimenting. The Buddha talks about how you develop your establishing of mindfulness. You make yourself be aware of the origination … 
  16. Rites of Passage
     … Instead, they become your tools. You can use them for good purposes. So this process of gaining seclusion is a process not only of growing up but also of gaining freedom. We look at all the influences rushing around in our minds and we come to realize that we have the ability to choose which ideas are useful and which ones are not, which … 
  17. Creativity & Play
     … When you come to the practice, you already have certain strategies for becoming happy. Our whole sense of self is just that: a strategy. You learn to identify which things are worth looking after, to see that the wellbeing of certain things is more productive of happiness than the wellbeing of other things. Having a sense of self also teaches you to deny yourself … 
  18. Why the Breath
     … He tells us to become more intelligent in how we go about it, more observant. What’s amazing is that through this process we ultimately purify our thoughts, words, and deeds. We purify our mind. That’s important, because our big ignorance lies right here, in what we’re doing to try to gain happiness, how it’s falling short, and how we don … 
  19. Four Noble Questions
     … Otherwise, if you identify the stirring as a mental event, then it becomes a thought. A thought about what? Well, it could be a thought about tomorrow’s meal, it could be about where you’re going next week, it could be about the events of the past few days – all kinds of things. It’s your choice: what kind of label to slap … 
  20. Intelligence of the Heart
     … That’s when the discernment becomes your own. When it’s your own, that’s when it really goes to the heart. Otherwise, it’s just one more game that you play: “So-and-so says this. Well, let’s try that for a little while. So-and-so says that. Let’s try it on for a while.” You’re not fully committed … 
  21. Your Highest Aspiration
     … The simple stress that comes from that craving and clinging becomes more and more apparent. You come to realize that it’s not really necessary. We used to think that to be happy we needed the craving, we needed the clinging. But when you see that you don’t need these things, why would you continue doing them? You drop them. You let them … 
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