Search results for: "Thought"

  1. Page 115
  2. The Bowl of Oil
     … It’s good to keep these thoughts in mind because we’re going to be having a busy weekend this weekend, with people coming to make merit for Songkran. It’s not specifically a Buddhist holiday, but it’s become Buddhist here in the West, as people take it as an opportunity to practice generosity. That’s something for which we should have some … 
  3. Pain
     … And then there’s the discernment to not get caught up on the pain, not get caught up in all the painful thoughts going through the mind about what you’re going to have to leave or to give up. Learn how to give those things up with grace so that they don’t pull you around. This way, you can use pain as … 
  4. A Refuge from Aging, Illness, & Death
     … He asks the king, “When you were young, were you strong?” The king said, “Yes, I thought I had the strength of two people.” “How about now?” “Oh, no, now I’m 80 years old, and sometimes I intend to put my foot in one place and it goes someplace else.” So aging is the main inconstancy teaching. The world has no shelter; there … 
  5. A Happy Tradition
     … In a lot of cases in the Canon, people from very low positions in society, who thought very little of themselves, found that they, too, could practice; they, too, could gain awakening. There’s one story of a leper who was taught by the Buddha. Soon after he was taught, he gained the Dhamma eye and then he died. He was reborn as a … 
  6. Nurturing Patient Endurance
     … Don’t allow any thoughts to come in that would squeeze it up, tighten it up. After a while, the sense of fullness there will begin to grow, and then you have something good to spread around. As you do this, you have to talk to yourself, one, to remind yourself that you’ve got to be patient and persevering, but that, two, the … 
  7. The Buddha’s Program
     … So what are the Buddha’s feeding instructions? He has you feed on generosity; feed on virtue; feed on meditation; thoughts of goodwill; and then the meditation of getting the mind to settle down with the breath, to gain discernment. All these instructions are the assumptions that you use to feed well—and feed in a way that takes you to a point where … 
  8. On Your Own Two Feet
     … And the reliable things actually made it worse, “Because this worked out, and that came true, then gee, everything that must come up in the mind in meditation must be true.” That’s what they thought. And they ended up getting further and further away from reality. This is why the Buddha said that heedfulness is the most important quality, pne, to develop skillfulness … 
  9. Dealing with Limitations
     … You can’t change back.” So the animals thought for two days about what tools they might want, and then one by one asked for their boons. The badgers, for instance, asked to turn their skin into shields and their forearms into garden forks. And so on down the line. Some of the embryos wanted wings, some wanted tails. Whatever tools they asked for … 
  10. Unchanged by Loss
     … The thought of someone you’ve lost or some thing that you’ve lost? Reflect on impermanence and inconstancy: These things are all made to be lost. Think of Ajaan Chah’s analogy: to think of the cup as already broken. This doesn’t mean that you treat it casually. You actually take very good care of it. But part of the mind has … 
  11. What’s Getting in the Way
     … This is why it’s good to open your mind to possibilities that you might not have thought of before and to use the Buddha’s measuring stick. Even when he talks about something as simple as concentration: What would it be like to have the mind settle down so that it gains a sense of rapture, a sense of ease? Don’t keep … 
  12. Good Eating
     … You start out with thoughts of goodwill and spread them to all beings. It feels good to be able to wish that, realizing that there is a level of the mind where your happiness doesn’t have to interfere with anybody else’s happiness. You’re looking for happiness inside, and you wish that all other beings can find happiness inside, too. When you … 
  13. Doing Nothing
     … Mindfulness turns into directed thought, alertness turns into evaluation, and ardency becomes singleness of preoccupation. You really stick with your object and you learn how to stick with it skillfully so that it gives rise to a sense of rapture. This is where you get energy in your practice. That sense of rapture is your food. Ajaan Fuang compared it to the lubricant for … 
  14. Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity
     … It’s not that by spreading thoughts of goodwill to others we say, “May you be happy simply as you are, whatever you’re doing.” If people are doing unskillful things, we hope that they can change their ways. If we’re able to help in that endeavor, we’re happy to help. This counteracts the ill will we sometimes feel when we see … 
  15. Your Quiet Corner
     … There’ll be distractions in terms of thoughts of past and future, sometimes strange feelings coming up in the body, but try to have a sense of at least having one spot in your awareness where you can take a stance. That’s your quiet corner. As for the rest of what’s going on in the body and in the mind, there are … 
  16. Food for the Mind
     … In other words, whatever thoughts that come along that might blow the mind away from that spot, you try to protect yourself right there. And you realize that, of course, if the mind needs nourishment, it’s weak. That’s why you start out with something small. You can’t tackle something really big all at once. So as you focus on that one … 
  17. Self-Starting
     … When you’re getting discouraged, what are they going to think if they read yours? You’d be embarrassed for them to see your thoughts. But you also realize that most people who can read minds—and the kind of people you’d want to look good in the eyes of—also have compassion. They have compassion for you in holding you to a … 
  18. Your Judgments Matter
     … Students who lived with him said that he would see things from angles that they had never thought of before. And, of course, living with somebody like that made them more alert and circumspect, too. This is especially important as the mind settles down and you get focused. Sometimes you just see things from one angle. The more intense your concentration, the more one … 
  19. Feelings Not of the Flesh
     … One of the things you’re going to learn how to discern is how not to fall for the thoughts that come wandering through the mind, telling you that “You’ve had enough just sitting here doing nothing but breathe. Think about this, think about that.” Or, “This is getting boring.” We’re not here for entertainment. We’re here for the sake of … 
  20. Skillful Fear
     … And it’s for your own good that you spread thoughts of goodwill in their direction. You may think the bandits don’t deserve goodwill, but deserving is not part of the equation. Remember the Buddha compares goodwill with wealth. It’s wealth that you can create totally from within. And there’s no need for there to be any limit on it. It … 
  21. At Normalcy
     … your thoughts, your words, your deeds. It’s like being a potter. You want your mind to be very still and upright, not influenced by its moods, if you’re going to throw a good pot. If your mind leans in any direction, your hands are going to lean, too, and the pot will get ruined. So as you meditate, it’s important that … 
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