Search results for: "Feelings"
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- Clinging & the End of Clinging… There is suffering.” He said something more specific, useful, and insightful: “Suffering is the five clinging-aggregates.” As he pointed out elsewhere, the problem isn’t with the aggregates of form, feeling, perceptions, fabrication, or consciousness. The problem is with the clinging. So, suffering is clinging. When he said that all he taught was suffering and the end of suffering, he was basically saying …
- Unparadoxical Happiness… It’s a happiness that’s not a feeling. It’s simply the happiness there in the unconditioned. That’s what we’re practicing for. Part of our path includes a type of happiness that is conditioned, but it’s a lot less stressful than sensual passion. It’s the happiness, the pleasure and ease, that comes when the mind is concentrated, when it …
- Advice for a New Monk… Notice where you feel the breath. Whichever part of the body that’s easiest to stay focused on and to know, now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out: Try to stay focused right there. If thoughts come into your head, remind yourself that they’re not destroying your breath. The sensations of breathing are still there. Try to maintain …
- The Dhamma Channel… But simply thinking of everything being all connected allows the breath energy to find its level where the mind is still, the brain isn’t using all that much oxygen, and you just don’t feel the need to breathe. To do this requires that you listen very carefully to the breath, and you’re very wary about any movements in the mind that …
- In the Light of Karma… Think of all the other places you could be wandering right now—physically, mentally—and it feels really good to be right here, working on the factor of the mind that shapes everything and putting that in good shape. Once that’s in good shape—in other words, when your intentions are in good shape—then, over time, everything else will fall in line.
- Persistence… the way you breathe, the way you talk to yourself, and the perceptions and feelings you hold in mind. Say anger comes into the mind. How are you breathing? Are you breathing in a way that aggravates the anger? Well, breathe more calmly. Breathe in a way that’s soothing. Breathe in a way that allows you to step back from the anger and …
- Borrowed Wealth… Because your body, your feelings, your perceptions, and thought constructs, even your consciousness, acts of consciousness: They come and they go, and you have to leave them at some point. And the question is, in taking possession of these things and taking care of them, what do you have to show for your effort? Most people go for a life of sensual pleasures: nice …
- A Network of Goodness… The Pali term for gratitude, kataññu, means having a sense of what was done; katavedi means having the feeling that goes along with that sense, wanting to repay, and if nothing else, wanting to carry on the goodness. Whatever goodness we’ve learned from our parents or our teachers, we realize that they had the choice to help us or not. If we have …
- Cosmic Scale, Human Scale… Kant, a member of the old order, talks at the end of one of his books about looking up at the sky and seeing how wonderfully orderly everything is and feeling inspired by that. And then just one generation later, Schleiermacher—under the influence of the new vision of the universe—wrote in his Talks on Religion, “When you look up in the sky …
- A Full Range of Archery Skills… So as you get the mind to settle down, as you notice other things come up, don’t feel too frustrated. You’re giving yourself a chance to dig them out and not follow them. And, as you learn to see through these things, you’ll also see through their rationale: why you fell for them to begin with. That way, things become clearer …
- An Island above the Flood… You’re concerned with how it feels from within, what the Buddha calls the pleasure of form, which is higher than the pleasure of sensuality. When the Buddha teaches renunciation—in other words renouncing sensuality—he’s not going to leave you high and dry with no pleasure at all. He says you have to develop this pleasure, an alternative pleasure, a higher pleasure …
- Leaving Meditation… And as you get more and more used to it, you find you can stay centered here for longer and longer periods of time, until the point where if you’re not there, something feels wrong. You’re off balance. This way, when the time comes to sit down and meditate, you’re right there. There’s not a lot of pushing and pulling …
- A Rare Gift… Often, once you’re more at ease inside, it’s a lot easier to deal with difficult people outside, difficult situations outside, because you don’t feel so threatened, you’re not so caught up. This is why that ability to separate out a little bit is so important. That’s what we’re doing right now: learning how to separate the mind out …
- Making the Dhamma Your Own… You feel them in the body as well: the sense of irritation; the sense of dis-ease. And because they’re in the body, you’re going to be in that mind state too – that’s the normal way of thinking. So it’s important that you learn how to step back and just watch, as if from outside. The breath gives you a …
- Reflecting on the Requisites… As the Buddha asks, “How will those people feel about the jerky? Will they eat it for pleasure and enjoyment?” No, there’ll always be the sense that, “We’ve lost our son.” They’d eat it with sorrow. And the Buddha says, “Try to develop the same association with physical food”—realizing that there’s been a lot of suffering going into bringing …
- Freedom & Security… They’ve done studies about different places that are pleasant to stay, and one study had to do with figuring out where human beings first developed and how it relates to what kind of landscape we feel most comfortable in. Whether it has anything to do with where we first developed, it turns out we do feel most comfortable is living at the edge …
- Ironclad Technique vs. No Technique… But then there are other times when the back feels weak. As Ajaan Lee noted in some of his Dhamma talks, in that case you want to start with another kind of breath: the breath in the soles of the feet going up the legs and then up the spine, or the breath starting at the navel and going up the front of the …
- Pushing the Three Characteristics… the pleasure that comes from getting the mind into the level of form, i.e., the form of the body as we feel it from within while we’re sitting here. How much pleasure can you develop by inhabiting your whole body, as you allow the breath to come in and go out in a comfortable way? That pleasure forms the nourishment for the …
- The Beginnings of Wisdom… It begins with, “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” As for the inconstancy of form, feelings, perceptions, fabrications, and consciousness: That’s a teaching you use within the context of that search for long-term happiness. As you get in the more advanced stages of the practice, you look at the states of concentration that you …
- Expand Your Expectations… Try to observe what kind of breathing feels especially good. Once you’ve observed that, then keep applying that knowledge each time you sit. Right away, try to go right there as fast as you can. Then stay there. There’s a lot more to be learned from the meditation if you can settle down quickly, rather than just gradually gliding down and saying …
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