Search results for: "Feelings"

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  2. Overwhelmed by Freedom
     … Part of us is afraid we’ll feel bored with nothing to do but focusing on the breath; nothing to do but sitting and then walking, and then sitting and walking. And part of the fear comes from the sense that we don’t know how to measure progress. The mind has this tendency to go up and down, it seems to make some … 
  3. Judicious vs. Judgmental
     … Our concentration practice gives us a comfortable center in our awareness where we can rest, where we feel less threatened by things. When we feel less threatened and less oppressed, we have the resilience to be more patient, to look into what’s going on in the mind, and to develop the proper attitudes toward what is skillful and what isn’t. This is … 
  4. Friends with the Breath
     … And sometimes you have to compete in ways that you don’t feel particularly proud of. But as you’re meditating, you’re developing nothing but good qualities: mindfulness, alertness, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, concentration, discernment. These are all good qualities; they feel good. And even if you don’t get all the way to the goal, the path is a good path to be … 
  5. Everybody Suffers
     … The feeling that overcomes you when you think about these things is samvega. It’s different from grief. Grief is personal. Samvega is impersonal, universal. And it’s interesting that in his later teachings, when the Buddha talks about overcoming grief, the way out of grief is through samvega. You look at the happiness that you gain out of the objects of the senses … 
  6. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … If you’re willing to watch the breath, get to know it, play with it a bit, try to see what kind of breathing feels good, it gives you an anchor in the present moment so that the mind isn’t running out after all kinds of things. It’s got a basic sense of well-being right here. In the beginning, the well … 
  7. Motivation
     … One of the more unusual passages in the Canon is where the Buddha talks about three governing principles in the practice when you feel tempted to slack off. The first two relate to the themes we’ve already discussed. One is the dangers of slacking off, realizing that here you’ve come, you’ve learned of a path that leads to true freedom, and … 
  8. To the Far Shore
     … your thoughts, your feelings, your perceptions, the things that you cling to. Yet you find that if you put them together in the right way, as you are when you’re getting the mind in concentration—you focus on the breath to create a feeling of ease, you use the perception of the breath filling the body, the ease filling the body, you think … 
  9. Getting Back on Your Feet
     … If you feel discouraged by the fact that you’ve got a relearn those old things, look at it as an opportunity to get a more solid foundation this time around. Maybe there were some things in your old foundation that weren’t good. It’s like the advantage of having a house blown down and realizing, “Oh, the original foundation wasn’t good … 
  10. Not Crushed by the World
     … As you breathe in, breathe out, where do you feel it? What way of breathing is comfortable? Focus on that. When you find something comfortable, see if you can maintain that sense of comfort. Then, as you maintain it, think of it spreading. You can create a sense of well-being here. This is one of the most important parts of the Buddha’s … 
  11. The Second Noble Truth
     … form, feeling, perceptions, mental fabrications, and consciousness at the senses. We try to grab onto these things, to pull ourselves to safety, to find some place to rest, because as the Buddha said, it’s only when there’s peace, when there’s a sense of resting, that the mind has any real happiness. And yet, this is all that the river can grow … 
  12. The Truth of Transcendence
     … That point has to be repeated over and over again, because for some reason there are people who don’t like the idea, whether it’s because it makes them feel inferior or that there’s a demand placed on them: “There’s somebody out there who’s attained freedom, whereas I haven’t attained freedom and therefore there’s something wrong with me … 
  13. Using Perceptions
     … That pulled all of her thoughts into that line so that she could be anchored in the body and have a sense of feeling solidly here. As she said, if she imagined only one spot, it was hard not to think around that spot. It was as if she had one hand full, but the other hand was free to grasp whatever came by … 
  14. Victory over Death
     … As long as we don’t feel confident in ourselves, we keep those things covered up. But with the sense of confidence coming from doing what’s good, we can look and see: How can we make the mind better? So as you build on your confidence, as you build on your goodwill, things inside begin to open up and you can work with … 
  15. Lessons of Right Resolve
     … Although you may find it natural to feel goodwill for some people, there are a lot of people out there for whom it’s very hard to feel goodwill. And with them, you’ve got to work. You’ve got to remind yourself what goodwill means—it means a desire for happiness. And where does happiness come from? It comes from actions. So if … 
  16. The Constancy of the Body
     … The feelings of solidity, warmth, a sense of energy that make up our sense of the body: Those are always there as long as we’re alive. So try to learn from this friend. Even when you run away from the breath, the breath is still there, you can always come back to it. Then you find that you can stick with it, and … 
  17. An End to Suffering
     … The best way to do that is to give the mind a place where it can stay and just watch and not feel compelled to give in to these things. That’s why we work on the mindfulness, that’s why we work on the concentration—being aware of the breath, being aware of the body, just in and of itself sitting right here … 
  18. A Healthy Ego
     … This is why we have to find an object of meditation that’s pleasing to the mind—something we feel comfortable with, something we find interesting. The breath is the standard one, because the breath is the function in the body that you can work with most directly to create a sense of ease and well-being through the way you breathe, through the … 
  19. For the Good of the World
     … Sometimes that thought can give you an extra incentive to be more careful with your meditation, to put in more effort than you might feel inclined to. We can all get sloppy, thinking, “Well, it’s just me and I’m perfectly content with a sloppy meditation tonight so I can get over with it and get on to something else.” But what does … 
  20. Staying, Moving, & Neither
     … An crucial part of that skill lies in learning to distinguish the breath energy from the other properties of the body—and from the feelings it creates—and to work primarily with the breath. Now, the breath is subtle. Sometimes we feel that we suck it into little sacks in the body and then squeeze it back out. Well, that’s air. That’s … 
  21. Investment Strategies
     … Sometimes the pains are so great that the people standing around thinking—hoping—that this time I’m going to die.” Ratthapala asks, “Can you ask those people to share out your pain, so that you will feel it less, or do you have to bear it alone?” The king says “No, even with all my power as king and all my wealth as … 
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