Search results for: "Thought"

  1. Page 120
  2. Solid Inside
     … It’s simply because you’re not observant, you’re not watching the mind carefully enough to see where it’s picking up a thought that’s unnecessary. One way of developing this attitude of compassion is to look at the breath. Where in the body does the breathing feel uncomfortable? Think of the breath not just as air coming in and out of … 
  3. No-Tech Meditation
     … When you get to the fourth jhana, the breath energy gets more full in the body because of the steadiness of your focus, undisturbed by thoughts about the world. You get to the point where even the in-and-out breathing stops. You could pursue this through the formless jhanas, and get to the point where mental fabrications—perceptions and feelings— stop as well … 
  4. A Matter of Life & Death
     … So when any difficulty comes up related to pain in the meditation, ask yourself, “What am I doing that’s taking this physical pain and turning it into mental pain?” When situations outside are difficult, ask yourself, “What am I doing that’s taking that tangle outside and using it to tangle up my own mind?” It’s your perceptions, your thought constructs: These … 
  5. The Gatekeeper Doesn’t Just Note
     … But if you compare the drawbacks with a false allure—in other words, with what you thought is the reason you went for things, but it really wasn’t the reason—you don’t get to the root of the problem. You might get discouraged: With all this analysis and everything, nothing seems to be clearing up the mind. Well, that’s because the … 
  6. Comfort Dhamma
     … If you learn to use these tools of analysis—taking things apart in terms of where’s the feeling, where’s the perception, where’s the thought construct, what’s the bodily element in all these things, and sort them out—you begin to realize that there’s not that much there that’s really worth holding onto. When you see things in that … 
  7. Riding an Elephant to Catch Grasshoppers
     … I now have the time to think about this, the time to think about that, and stash away all my thoughts.” When you have whole days to practice, it’s all too easy to fill them up with little things, and the fact that they’re filled up doesn’t mean that they’re of high value. The fact that the mind can be … 
  8. Noble Ardency
     … You just want to ask yourself, “Is this good?” And if it’s good, “Okay, we’re going to stay here.” Then you fight off any other thoughts at the moment. Just stay still with the breath until you really settle in and have a sense of being nourished by the breath, nourished by the concentration. Then you can ask yourself, “Is this really … 
  9. The Desire for Truth
     … This, the Buddha said, is how all people who purify their thoughts, words, and deeds go about doing it. So it’s in purifying your deeds that you learn about them. Then you look at the ideas that made you want to act in that particular way, to see which ideas are skillful, and which ones are not. This gives you an idea of … 
  10. Steps in Concentration
     … And as you do, the mindfulness turns into directed thought, and the ardency and the alertness turn into evaluation, as you try to make it really good and get the most out of being with the breath. This is where mindfulness begins to shade into concentration. What kind of breathing is good? When you get a comfortable sensation from the breath that you can … 
  11. Rottweilers in the House
     … your physical actions, your words, and your thoughts. Ajaan Lee makes the comparison: It’s like having a house, and restraint means knowing when to open the windows and doors, and when to keep them closed. On the one hand, there are dangers outside: potential thieves, things that could come into your house and steal away your goodness. You’ve got to watch out … 
  12. Drowsiness
     … The thought occurred to him: “Who’s looking after whom here?” He said that to me once, and I realized that it was a message: If I was going to be looking after him, he didn’t want me lying there asleep when he needed someone at night. So there’d be nights when I sat up all night, just in case he needed … 
  13. Death World
     … So you have to ask yourself, “What kind of action would be skillful in a case like this?” It’s not the first thought that often comes to us. When you look around at the world, it’s hard to say, “It’s a wonderful world, everything’s fine, therefore I’m going to be good.” You have to realize that, ok, even though … 
  14. Images for Right Effort
     … You can take this as an opportunity to indulge in some sexual fantasies or some resentment about certain political figures, but what would that accomplish? You have to see that thoughts like that would be a waste of your time right now. You’ve got skills you need to develop in your mind. Do you want to die with hindrances like that, pulling you … 
  15. Mindful All Day Long
     … You’ll let thoughts come into the mind and say, “Give the mind a little time to roam around before it gets back to work.” Well, that tendency to roam around is then going to come and infect your meditation when you’re sitting with your eyes closed. So you want the day to help the meditation, and the meditation to help the day … 
  16. Trust in Heedfulness
     … Rather, it’s learning how to sort out inside you which perceptions and which thought constructs are actually more trustworthy than others. And you can test them, if you get really clear on what you’re doing and what the results of your actions are—in other words, if you’re really alert. Those instructions that the Buddha gave to Rahula—even though he … 
  17. Where Your Mind Gravitates
     … Make sure it stays there for a while, and when it feels solid enough again, then you can entertain some of your other thoughts again. It’s in this way that you get more and more sensitive to the mind in a way that’s really useful, because building on the step of being sensitive to the mind, the Buddha says then you gladden … 
  18. Forgiveness
     … You have thoughts of goodwill for all beings. What does that mean in a case like this? It doesn’t mean that you’re going to like or love the other person. A lack of animosity simply means you’re not going to try to get back at the other person. But you do hope that the other person wises up. If that person … 
  19. Lift Up Your Mind
     … But the word accompanied by is not there in the Pali formula related to *pleasure and rapture. *Instead, they’re said to be accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. The pleasure and the rapture are the things that you really get absorbed in. You have to hold on to the breath as your main object, but the absorption comes with the sense of rapture … 
  20. The Right Place to Look
     … That’s a scary thought. The mind is doing things, and you hardly even know what you’re doing, but you’re still going to have to pay for it down the line if it’s done unskillfully. So you want to become really sensitive to what you’re doing right now, starting with the subtleties of the breath or the subtleties of whatever … 
  21. Body as Path
     … Directed thought and evaluation are the fabrications. And of course there’s consciousness. They’re all here together. You’re taking all the aggregates and you’re using to make them a path. Once you’ve done it, then you try to maintain it. Keep the path going inside. Think of your body as a path. How the mind relates to the body is … 
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