Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 127
  2. Rites of Passage
     … The truth of the matter, though, is that there’s a part of the mind that flourishes when it’s not burdened with sensual attachments. When it’s really secluded from sensual attachments, it blossoms. And part of the practice is learning to appreciate that very still center of the mind, the sense of wellbeing that comes from dropping all those attachments. Even though … 
  3. The Wisdom of Self-regulation
     … But the Buddha wants to take you further than that, to a point where there really is no suffering in the mind—the mind is totally free, totally without limits—and that requires work. We have to learn how to straighten out the mind, all the unskillful habits we have. This process of self-regulation is something that has to be learned. Think about … 
  4. Just Rightness
     … Ideally, you want to bring the mind to a state of concentration that’s balanced. For it to be right concentration, you have to be in a position where you really can observe what’s going on. First, be really focused on the breath and then learn to step back a bit and watch not only the breath, but also the mind as it … 
  5. The End of Uncertainty
     … In this way you learn how to be a connoisseur of your actions, and particularly a connoisseur of actions and events in the mind. A connoisseur of food has to develop a very refined palate; a connoisseur of music, a very refined ear. What you’re trying to do is to develop a refined sensitivity to what’s going on in the mind. This … 
  6. Analysis of Qualities
     … So that’s the main issue we’re working on: ;putting the mind in a position where you can rely on it. As your powers of observation develop, you can apply them to subtler things—not just the breath, but whatever comes up in the mind. You begin to notice certain ways of thinking that you’ve held on to for a long time … 
  7. Bases of Success
     … The complicated part is the mind. You have to bring the right attitudes to this, because you’ll find as you meditate that the mind has many minds, many attitudes, and a lot of those attitudes can get in the way. So you’ve got to bring as many skillful attitudes to this as you can. Otherwise, the meditation is not going to work … 
  8. A New Framework
     … You want to be sensitive to even the slightest little bit of stress or strain the mind is causing itself in the way it focuses on things, in the way it deals with issues. You want to see the movements of the mind and be sensitive to the results you get. The more concentrated you are, the more clearly you can see these things … 
  9. An Auspicious Day
     … The Buddha says not to impose or inflict unnecessary pain on ourselves, but if we see that, by following a certain pleasure, unskilful states arise in the mind, you’ve got to abandon that pleasure. Some pains can lead to unskilful states in the mind, too, so that’s a kind of pain you want to not focus on—or you have to learn … 
  10. Contentment in the Practice
     … But you find, if you allow yourself to settle into it, that it solves a basic problem in the mind: the underlying tension where it’s ready to jump at a moment’s notice, like a cat settled in one spot but coiled up ready to spring. If you could take a picture of the mind, that’s what it would look like: a … 
  11. Treasures Beyond Death
     … As the Buddha said, all skillful qualities of the mind come from being heedful. He never said the mind was inherently good or inherently bad. If you think your mind is inherently good, you tend to get complacent: Any ideas that come up in the meditation have got to be good. That belief can lead you far, far astray. If you believe you’re … 
  12. Training for Dispassion
     … Another quality you bring with you is the fact that the mind is luminous. Sometimes that’s interpreted as meaning that the mind is innately pure, but the Buddha never said that. He says it’s because the mind is luminous that it can be trained—in other words, you can train your own mind because you can watch what’s going on in … 
  13. It’s All about Action
     … What way of breathing right now is going to be most satisfying for the body, most satisfying for the mind? Can you breathe in a way that nourishes all the nerves? Think of the breath energy—and of course thinking of the breath energy here is another kind of action. It’s a perception. Perceive the breath energy coming in and out of the … 
  14. When You Hit a Plateau
     … What does that do for the mind? When you see that it has an effect on the mind, what other perceptions can you change? As you dig around in this area, you’re going to run into some assumptions that you didn’t expect, which is why the really good insights are unexpected. You can’t guarantee an insight meditation technique. When they tell … 
  15. Together but Separate
     … You’ve tested one of the things that might be a cause for why the sense of pain is inflicting the mind. This is where you start taking things apart. You can hear the general answer: The mind is bothered by the pain because you identify with it. But there are so many different ways that we identify with things, and so many different … 
  16. Breath Energies
     … Now is the time to give them some protection, because that way you learn a lot of lessons about the body and the mind—and particularly about the mind—that you can’t learn in books and you can’t learn from what other people tell you. You learn from your own sensitivity inside.
  17. Meaning Through Perfections
     … He saw, by understanding how the mind creates suffering for itself out of its own intentions, how it can change its intentions so that it can develop a path that leads to the end of suffering, reaching the highest happiness possible. That’s what gives meaning to life. So, the question is: What is that path? The path he found on the night of … 
  18. Look after the Source
     … That’s why we try to get the mind with the breath—get it to be centered, get it to be still—because the mind with that sense of well-being inside is much more likely to be wise, generous, virtuous. All the good qualities that we associate with people who are good for the world have to come from here. They say that … 
  19. Abandoning Effluents (1)
     … Effluents, *asava, *are things that flow out of the mind. They could also be translated as fermentations, things that bubble up in the mind and keep flowing back in a flood into samsara, engaging the mind in the process of wandering on, wandering on. It was the ending of those effluents that freed the Buddha. He identified three: the effluent of sensuality, the effluent … 
  20. Things that Arise & Pass Away
     … The whole point of the Buddha’s teaching is that it is possible, through your actions, to find happiness in a way that develops noble qualities in the mind and actually has a good impact on other people. That’s something really amazing. Think of the qualities of the Buddha that we take refuge in: wisdom, compassion, and purity. The Buddha teaches all three … 
  21. Mistakes
     … After all, the mind doesn’t have a hand that can grasp onto things. But it does have intentions, the intentions lead to actions, and we have certain ways of acting that we do over and over and over again. They become habitual. And the Buddha’s pointing out that we do these things in ignorance, and because we’re in ignorance, we cause … 
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