Search results for: "Thought"
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- The Door of the Cage (2)… doesn’t occur to you. As you see things arising, the idea of non-existence doesn’t occur to you. And the same, of course, would apply to concepts of self: thoughts of their existence or non-existence hold no interest. There’s only one duty at that point, and that’s to let go. That’s how you focus on your actions, your …
- The Anatomy of the Present… The large river represents a mind that is developing thoughts of unlimited good will, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. It’s developed in virtue and developed in discernment. And it’s trained so as to not be overcome easily by either pleasure or pain. When your mind has these qualities, it’s like the large river, so that whatever past karma you’ve done …
- Question Your Actions… There may be a habitual thought that goes through the mind when, say, the possibility of anger comes up. Another part of the mind says, “Yes, let’s go with it.” What is that? That’s something you want to uncover. So we meditate to understand what we’re doing while we’re meditating—to get more sensitive to the mind, the different processes …
- Noble Priorities… form, feeling, perceptions, thought constructs, consciousness. The clinging is the big problem. That’s the suffering. What causes it? The three kinds of craving, which are things that you do. You could attack those three kinds of craving by doing other things—in other words, following the path, starting with right view all the way through right concentration under the headings of virtue, concentration …
- Samvega Transformed… Ajaan Suwat said when he was young, first studying with Ajaan Funn, sometimes the thought would come to him, “What will I do if anything happens to Ajaan Funn? I’d be totally lost.” But by the time Ajaan Funn did pass away, Ajaan Suwat was much more solid in his practice, and he was able to experience Ajaan Funn’s death with equanimity …
- The Center of Your Life… So you’ve got to look for yourself to see what your habitual thoughts, habitual words, habitual deeds actually do, actually create. Are they creating the happiness you want? This is why these desires can be trained, because they’re all based on the desire for happiness, simply that they’re misguided. If you can work through all the issues about why they’re …
- Strength of Body, Strength of Mind… I should meditate.” That thought comes from heedfulness: The realization that you don’t know how much time you have, you don’t know whether your energy tomorrow is going to be good or not, but you do have enough energy now to practice, so you should put it into the practice, rather than be overly concerned with the body. This is a matter …
- Asking the Right Questions… Your directed thought and evaluation are verbal fabrication. The feelings of pleasure and the perceptions you hold in mind about the breath: Those are mental fabrications. The questions about discernment concern how to view fabrications in a way that gives rise to dispassion. Of course, this doesn’t mean just trying to drop them immediately as soon as you close your eyes. First you …
- Vows… So keep these thoughts in mind as you make your vow and as you try to keep your vow for the next three months. Begin with discernment in choosing the right vow, learning how to read yourself to see what would be a good vow to take. And then use discernment in figuring out how to maintain that vow, how to stay true to …
- Alertness: What Are You Doing?… What you’re doing right now is the directed thought and evaluation. You use those mental activities to shape the breath, to shape your experience of the breath. If you shape it well, then there’s going to be a sense of ease and well-being, a sense of rapture. The mind can settle down. You’re doing something good here. Now there are …
- Learning from Determination… Fabricating thoughts is something you do. Consciousness: You may not be aware that you’re doing it, but there is an intentional element in being conscious. You’re not going to find it until you get really well along the path. But without that intentional element, you wouldn’t have consciousness of the senses at all. You wouldn’t have consciousness of the present …
- To Make Suffering Crumble… Try to break things down into manageable bits, and try to see the usefulness of the Buddha’s analysis—form, feelings, perceptions, thought constructs or fabrications, consciousness—particularly when you can see the physical pain or the mental pain as a process like this, and that helps give you some distance from it. For instance, when you’re driving yourself crazy talking about certain …
- Training Heart & Mind… This is why, when the Buddha taught his son at the very beginning, he said to look at all your actions done with the body, your words, and your thoughts. Before you do them, ask yourself: What kind of intention do you have? What do you expect to come about as a result of that action? If you expect any harm, don’t do …
- Oozing Bodies, Oozing Minds… So try to compare the two, the sense of well-being that comes from the stillness, and then the charge you get out of creating those narratives, fabricating those thoughts about the body and about how you might get somebody else to lie down next your body, or whatever. Just keep comparing those two, and try to see them in an objective way: Which …
- The Right Attitude to the Body… But to gain that particular sense of ease and refreshment, the mind has to let go of thoughts of sensuality, i.e., all the narratives and resolves you have for sensual pleasure out of the body. So the problem is not with the body, it’s with your attitude toward it, your relationship to it. So you’ve got to create a new relationship …
- Mindfulness over Time… Blot out any little motions that would lead to thoughts in that area, because that tends to be an area that the mind uses a lot while it’s thinking. As you get on conservation mode like this, you find that you can build up some energy. Then you can get back to your usual mode of meditation, if you have to. That’s …
- A World of Limitations… So he found ways to entertain himself and to keep himself going, simply with the thought, “Well, at least I’m developing endurance, and that’s a perfection.” When you can keep a good humor about whatever’s coming up, that’s a part of calm. So you don’t get upset about lack of progress or actual regressions, even when you see your …
- For Your Future’s Sake… As in the verse where he says, “Put aside thoughts of the past, concerns of the future, and focus on what you can experience right here, right now”: The reason he says to do that is because there are duties to be done right now, because death could come at any time, and you have to prepare. That’s aimed at the future. You …
- Complexities of Karma… Be generous, be virtuous, develop thoughts of goodwill in your mind, and then try to develop as much concentration and mindfulness as you can, ultimately leading to discernment—a discernment that sees when the mind moves in certain ways, it creates suffering, and you don’t have to move that way anymore. When it moves in other ways, it creates the path to the …
- Taking Apart Suffering… a little thought here, a little physical sensation there, and they get glommed together. That might be a good translation for sankhara: glomming. We take things that are actually individual events and we perceive them as one, as part of a larger pattern, mass, or larger identity. Then other things get attracted to glom on some more. It’s like the way they create …
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