Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 122
  2. The Skill of Patience
     … I don’t have to make them into anything that makes any sense at all.” They’re just random chatter in the background of the mind. Keep it in the background. With some thinking, you can simply say No and it goes away. With other thinking, the more you say No to it, the more it flares up—the part of the mind that … 
  3. Listening to the Body
     … You don’t know how many times the mind has walked over to Palomar and back before you’ve even taken a step. In this way, it wears itself out. The right way is that the body takes one step and the mind takes one step with it. Then the body takes a step, you’re with that next step. That way, the mind … 
  4. Honest & Observant
     … When you’re being generous, watch the mind to see what its motivation is, to see the parts of the mind that would argue against being generous, that would want to hold on to something even after you’d given it away. Then see if you can train them to think more skillfully. You begin to see the power of your actions to shape … 
  5. Use Your Imagination
     … It’s not the case there’s just one way that things will work in the mind, because the mind doesn’t have just one set of defilements. It has lots of different defilements. Greed, aversion, and delusion can come in 108 different forms, and maybe 108 is too small a number. If you want to just memorize a few principles and hope that … 
  6. Strong Through Mindfulness
     … It’s an image that sticks in the mind. And it’s meant to stick in the mind. Ajaan Lee tells a story about a mother monkey who ends up dying out of concern for her baby monkey. I’ve known people complain about that image—but it’s one that sticks in the mind. In this case, the point that Ajaan Lee is … 
  7. A World of Limitations
     … Some of the things you want actually get in the way of training the mind. So it’s up to you to decide: Does this training of the mind really have top priority in your life? And to what extent are you willing to sacrifice other things for the sake of training the mind? The Buddha has a teaching on making vows, determining what … 
  8. Appreciating Dispassion
     … You rest a little bit when you sleep, but even then there’s part of the mind still working. When you go unconscious, there’s part of the mind still working. It’s so habitual, so constant, that you tend not to notice it. So when you do concentration, one of the purposes is to peel away the layers of fabrication so that you … 
  9. Imagine Your Breath
     … Also, when you have a sensation of blockage, is it really in the spot where the mind tells you it is? One thing I’ve found helpful is to ask yourself, if the mind says that this particular knot of tension is in the front: What if it’s an extension of a knot of tension that’s actually in the back? Hold that … 
  10. For the Good of the World
     … It’s based on the realization that when people have passed over, the only way you can get in touch with them is through the power of the mind, what Ajaan Lee calls the current of the mind. And the best thing you can do for them is to send them a current of peace, a current of goodwill, hoping that they find a … 
  11. New Feeding Habits
     … You give the mind something good to hold on to instead of the unskillful qualities it’s been following. So these two strengths—mindfulness and concentration—are like food for the mind. They strengthen the mind. You get a good place to stay, like with the breath. You breathe in a way that feels really good. Again, you’re free to do this. All … 
  12. Choices that Matter
     … So learn to appreciate the fact that you can make choices, and the choices do make a difference—so that when the mind begins to settle down, you can choose to try to maintain that sense of stillness. There’ll be some frustration as the mind slips away, but don’t give in to the frustration. Just keep coming back, coming back, coming back … 
  13. Audacious & Undaunted
     … The third knowledge, which he gained when looking there, was what ended the effluents, in other words, the outflows of the mind that keep the mind going in this process of death and rebirth and re-death and rebirth. He saw that if he understood things in terms of four noble truths and followed the duties appropriate to each of those truths, he could … 
  14. The Desire for Things to Be Different
     … You get the mind to the point where there’s just pleasure in the body, equanimity in the mind. Then you find that even the need to breathe in and breathe out feels oppressive. Your sensitivities have been heightened at that point, so you allow the body just to be there. Because your awareness fills the body, breath energy fills the body, and the … 
  15. Our Sense of Self
     … that strange process of finding that simply being able to talk about things can often help solve a problem in the mind. What you’re doing as you’re talking is that you’re learning how to articulate what’s going on in the mind. Once it’s articulated, then it’s a lot easier to deal with. All too often, we have these … 
  16. The Karma of Perception
     … It’s also one of the elements most responsive to the image you hold in your mind, and it’s also a good mirror for the mind itself. This practice in perception is useful both for the sake of getting the mind into concentration and also for dealing with other issues as you go through life. You get more and more sensitive to how … 
  17. The Power of Perception
     … Normally, the mind is fragmented with all sorts of perceptions, ideas, and intentions, and they can affect the mind for good or bad. The problem in many cases is that it’s all pretty random. We stick with one perception for a while then drop it to move off to something else, and then something else. It’s like throwing a stick up in … 
  18. Preparing for Death
     … Whereas with the mind in concentration, even though there is a lot of pleasure, it doesn’t require that you turn a blind eye to what you did to get the pleasure. In fact, you can see it even more clearly. So concentration helps to get over that craving for human sensuality. As for fear of losing the body, when the mind really settles … 
  19. Equanimity in Action, Equanimity at Rest
    Equanimity—the ability to keep the mind on an even keel in the face of pleasant and unpleasant things, to accept what has to be accepted—is an attitude we’re supposed to develop immeasurably: in other words, for all beings without exceptions. But it has a different meaning based pm whether we’re talking about equanimity in action or equanimity at rest. At … 
  20. Five Reflections
     … What is it in the mind that wants to keep on taking birth? Look into that. Use the noble eightfold path, starting with the right view and on through right concentration, to figure out how you can get the mind not to want to keep on taking birth again. So we’re not here just to accept aging, illness, death, and separation. We’re … 
  21. Skillful Effort
     … Because after all, what are you doing as you get the mind concentrated? You’re pushing against the three characteristics. In other words, you’re taking things that are inconstant and trying to make them constant. You want the mind to stay still. You take things that are stressful—this body here has lots of stress—but you’re learning how to make it … 
  22. Load next page...