Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 118
  2. Heedful, Ardent, & Resolute
     … So what this eventually comes down to is that the Buddha saw that by training the mind you can find true happiness. That means exerting some control over your mind—not like a control freak, wise control—because if your mind doesn’t lie under your control, it can do you a lot of damage. It’s like having an animal in your house … 
  3. You Are Not Redundant
    There’s a phrase in the Maṅgala Sutta, the discourse on blessings, that one of the blessings is when your mind is not shaken by the ways of the world. The ways of the world are what? Material gain, loss; status, loss of status; praise, criticism; pleasure and pain. That’s what the world has to offer. And for a lot of people, that … 
  4. Be Observant
     … When you gain an insight, watch what happens next in the mind, to see how the mind reacts to the insight, what it does with the insight, or what the insight does to the mind. And then watch again, watch again. Don’t jump to conclusions. This is how, bit by bit by bit, you’re going to overcome your delusion, and how you … 
  5. Harmless & Clearheaded
     … My mind is too distracted.” It’s like saying, “I can’t go to the hospital to have my disease treated because I’m too sick.” If you’re sick, you have to do whatever is required to get to the hospital, to get to the doctors so that they can treat your illness. And same with the mind: When the mind is distracted … 
  6. Potentials for Rapture
     … It’s the same with the mind. The mind has lots of potentials right now. It has the potential for the hindrances and it has the potentials for the factors for awakening. All the difference as to which side gets developed lies in the quality the Buddha calls appropriate attention. For instance, there are parts of the body right now that are relatively pleasant … 
  7. Oneness
     … But in the meantime, you’ve got to keep your mind well protected, well energized. This is when the mind enters into fixed penetration in a very strong and solid way. This is the heart of the path. The other factors will come out of this and surround this — or, as the Buddha says, support this. But this oneness of the mind with its … 
  8. Unskillful Habits
     … As you stay here, you get to see a lot of things going on in the mind, a lot of things going on in the body. Yet, while you’re with both the mind and the body, you’re able to step back from both a bit. You can sense the mind as you get grounded in the breath. You get out of your … 
  9. Taking Initiative
     … So what do you have to take with you? What you’ve built into the mind. So keep your focus right here. What you’re doing right now, what you’re training in the mind, is yours. It’s as if you’re packing your bags to go. If you just let your mind wander around with whatever, then you’re just packing junk … 
  10. A Frame for the Day
     … You make up your mind to stay with the breath, to breathe comfortably, and then to stick with that intention. You begin to notice that you begin to give rise to feelings of pleasure—a sense of ease in the body, ease in the mind—all because you made up your mind to focus on a particular topic and to stick with it, and … 
  11. Three Types of Equanimity
     … When you’re meditating, you really are trying to get the mind under your control. You are trying to make a difference. Mindfulness is a governing principle that underlies concentration practice, and it has a task that it keeps in mind: to try to give rise to skillful qualities and try to maintain them. In other words, you don’t just watch them coming … 
  12. The Language of the Heart (2)
     … They’ve understood their minds and hearts in a way that allows them to bring suffering to an end. What this means is that we have to learn how to understand our minds and hearts in that way, too. We can’t say, “Well, now that the Dhamma’s come here, I want Dhamma in line with my language or with my way of … 
  13. Mundane Right View
     … It begins in these good qualities of mind. Generosity and gratitude are happy-making qualities. You don’t have to wait for some faraway future events to gain the rewards. Having a mind that feels generous, having a mind that feels gratitude: Those are spacious mind states here and now. They’re good mind states to be in, good to build on, good sources … 
  14. The Power of Human Effort
     … This is a good way of uplifting the mind—or as the texts say, gladdening the mind. These recollections put you in the right mood to meditate. You think about the kind of person the Buddha was, the person who found this path. You think about how good the Dhamma is, and how noble the example of his noble disciples. Of course, each of … 
  15. Admirable Friendship
     … We practice generosity to train the mind; we practice virtue to train the mind. But sometimes when we do, the focus on the mind is indirect. But when you’re meditating, you’re directly focusing on the mind in and of itself. You start first by focusing on something right next to the mind: the breath in the body, how you sense it right … 
  16. Xtreme Drama
    One of the forest ajaans, talking about the early years of his practice, talked about how his mind would progress, progress, progress, then the whole thing would come crashing down, with nothing left. Then it would start progressing again, and it would crash again. He began to notice there was a cyclical pattern to the ups and downs. He learned to anticipate them—and … 
  17. Free Sources of Energy
     … And holding that perception in mind, holding that way of thinking in mind, will give you energy. So much of the way we suffer comes down to how we talk to ourselves—that element of verbal fabrication. How we talk to ourselves determines what we crave, what we cling. If you do it in ignorance, there’s going to be suffering. If you bring … 
  18. A Room of Your Own
    What you’re doing as you’re meditating is creating a room of your own here inside the body, here in the present moment, a room where you can keep your own diary and not worry about who reads it—in other words, a place where you can inspect your mind in all honesty and not have to engage in denial or in other … 
  19. For Your Good the Good of Others
     … It’s also techniques, strategies for dealing with all the different ways the mind creates suffering. Learn to think strategically as you get the mind to settle down. Then once the mind has settled down, learn how to use that settled-down mind in a strategic way as well. It has lots of uses as you go through the world. It’s not just … 
  20. Appropriate Attention, Appropriate Intention
     … When you can lose interest in the other things that pull you away from developing concentration, then you can really work on that intention to get the mind focused. Then it becomes an issue of learning how to understand your mind: What does your mind like to settle down with? Concentration is not meant to be a process of forcing yourself to stay with … 
  21. Taming the Elephant
     … Again, this comes under directed thought and evaluation, as you learn how to adjust the mind to the breath or the breath to the mind. You all learn how to be together on good terms. So, take an interest in this. This is an important part of the meditation: learning how to listen to the needs of the body. Notice when you’re putting … 
  22. Load next page...