Search results for: "Thought"

  1. Page 117
  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. Humility & Confidence
     … We want happiness and yet so many of our actions, so many of our thoughts, our words and deeds create suffering. Stress. Dis-ease. Why is that? What is it about our minds that we don’t know? That should be the most interesting question you can ask yourself. And here you’ve got the opportunity to learn, to explore, to figure out the … 
  15. Beyond Likes & Dislikes
     … It’s only when we begin to realize that the more we keep creating these trains of thought that we love to follow backwards and forwards, the more we create suffering for ourselves. That’s when we begin to wonder: Maybe there’s a way out; maybe there’s something better. The Buddha has a teaching on what’s called transcendent dependent co-arising … 
  16. The Safety of Jhana
     … You’ve got your old karma and then you’ve got consciousness, focused in on whatever old karma presents in terms of form, feeling, perceptions, thought fabrications, or consciousness itself. Instead of delighting in the idea of making something new out of these things, you can simply see them as they arise and pass away. That’s how you go beyond the dichotomy between … 
  17. Mindfulness of Death
     … So if the breath is hard to focus on, try to think thoughts of goodwill as best you can. The fact that these tendencies, these habits, are right next to the breath makes them very present. Then there’s verbal fabrication. The Buddha doesn’t mention verbal fabrication in his sixteen steps, but the examples he gives of telling yourself to breathe in and … 
  18. Breath Energies
     … Sometimes you identify with your thoughts, sometimes with the way you label things. There are lots of different selves that you keep making over time. When you start seeing them as processes, and can see that they’re not always necessary—and often are troublemakers—you learn to pare down the different ways that you create a sense of self. You learn to use … 
  19. Protecting the Mind from Itself
     … When you keep looking at your thoughts, your words, and your deeds in this way, then you become more and more observant about what’s skillful and what’s not. You can fill in the blank spaces that are not covered by the Buddha’s broad principles. And you get very attentive to your intentions—because as the Buddha said, that’s where the … 
  20. Mange in the Mind
     … Just that thought should make you want to explore. You could spend your life going to the other side of the mountain, but the question is, does the other side of the mountain cause you suffering? Is the end of suffering going to be found on the other side of the mountain? Well, no, you’re just the bear that goes over the mountain … 
  21. True to the Breath
     … So when a thought arises in the mind, you don’t have to complete it. You don’t have to explore it. You can see that there’s a little stirring in the mind, but leave it just on the level of stirring. You stay with the breath. Try to make the breath as comfortable as possible. This is one of the most important … 
  22. Load next page...