Search results for: "Feeling"

  1. Page 128
  2. Potentials for Refuge
     … You wouldn’t feel the body at all. We tend to have the perception that we first experience the solid parts of the body and then we pull the breath in. We use the solid parts to pull the breath in. We’ve got to change that perception. What you’ve got here is one big ball of breath energies, and at the moment … 
  3. Character
     … And you don’t say that you’ll do only what feels good to you already. You learn how to want to do the things you have to do to get good results. And thinking in the terms of the perfections is helpful that way. You can think of your duties as an opportunity to develop your endurance, to develop your truthfulness, your determination … 
  4. The Power of Intention
     … the way we breathe, the way we talk to ourselves, the perceptions and feelings we have. So let’s do that well. As the Buddha said, create a path. The central factor in the path is right concentration, so work on this, because it’s right here where things will become apparent. You use your intentions to create the concentration, and then once the … 
  5. A Well-stocked Memory
     … Usually it’s defined as being mindful of the body in and of itself, feelings, mind, mental qualities—in other words, the four frames of reference for establishing mindfulness, in and of themselves,—ardent, alert, and mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. This is the practice leading up to right concentration. Then in that context, there’s the next … 
  6. Practice in Dying Well
     … You also have to keep one eye on the mind, to make sure it doesn’t wander off and to make sure it feels at ease with the breath. The Buddha taught about how the suffering that weighs the mind down is the unnecessary suffering we add to things. How are you going to know that? By watching the mind and seeing what you … 
  7. The Analytical Mind
     … If you’re feeling lazy, you can remind yourself that death can come at any time. Wherever there’s birth—and we’ve all been born—death is going to come and we don’t know when. It could come tonight. Are you ready to go? What would you like to do on your last night? You’d like to meditate, to get your … 
  8. A Healthy Body Image
     … Maybe not so quickly that you feel an immediate sense of danger around it, but it’s quick enough. No one ever ages too slowly. It’s always a surprise, that this is what the body does as it gets old: the things you used to be able to depend on, it doesn’t do for you anymore. And the fact that the body … 
  9. Little Things
     … So pay close attention to each breath, to how the process of each breath feels in different parts of the body. As you develop your sensitivity, working through whatever tension you detect, you move from where it’s really tense to where it’s less and less tense, until things are so calm that you can detect even the slightest bit of tension. Work … 
  10. Ready for the Truth
     … If you’re feeling discouraged in your practice, remind yourself of the generosity you’ve practiced in the past, the virtue you’ve been maintaining. That can lift your spirits. If you’re concerned about issues in the world, remind yourself: Those don’t take you anywhere outside of the world. They don’t help you. The time you spend worrying about the world … 
  11. Equanimity when You Care
     … He feels equanimous because he doesn’t care about her anymore. But when the Buddha talks about developing equanimity in your meditation, it’s actually for cases where you care a lot. There are five different ways you can characterize it. First, there’s the equanimity of a doctor, which is the equanimity that’s one of the brahmavihāras. You start with goodwill and … 
  12. Choosing a Teacher
     … But if you feel that the teacher is compassionate, the teacher has your true well-being in mind, that’s a lot of the relationship right there. So you’re looking for someone who’s knowledgeable, truthful, and compassionate. Learn to ask the right questions, so that you can overcome some of your bewilderment and see who is actually truthful, knowledgeable, compassionate. As the … 
  13. The Flood of Views
     … Then once their opinion is challenged, it’s hard to let go because they feel they’re giving in to other people. This is why seclusion is such an important part of the practice: physical seclusion, getting away from other people; mental seclusion, getting some distance between yourself and your cravings. In other words, an idea comes up in the mind and you can … 
  14. Learn from the Ants
     … form, feeling, perception, mental fabrications, and consciousness. Once you read the definitions, you realize that these are things you do, and you’re doing them all the time. How the mind functions, how the mind works: That’s a constant. If it works certain ways, it’s going to cause suffering. If it works in other ways, it’s going to lead to the … 
  15. Karma Storms
     … Some of the members may be totally out of control, the whole meeting of the committee may be in chaos, but try to find one member of the committee that you can identify with, that you feel safe identifying with, and see what you can do with that member. The Buddha’s advice is when you try to direct your mind to the topic … 
  16. Truth in Action
     … Particularly any stress you feel in the mind: It’s a result of what you’re doing right now. So learn how to look at your actions. And learn how to notice your mistakes, admit your mistakes, and not get all flustered by them. The judgment here isn’t the kind of final judgment that some judge is going to place on you, to … 
  17. Sensitivity & Skill
     … Start out by noticing some spot in the body that’s especially sensitive to how the breathing feels. Try to protect it as you breathe in so that there’s no tensing up in that spot as you breathe in, as you breathe out, or between the breaths. You don’t have to mark the spot between the breaths by squeezing it. Just leave … 
  18. Integrity — In Memory of Luang Loong
     … This is why people feel a lot of affection for him. So you look at his life and turn around and look at your life and see in what ways you can develop more perfections. Maybe the word perfection is not a good one. The word parami can be translated in one way as coming from param, the things that take you to the … 
  19. Discernment in Concentration
     … That’s feeling. There’s the perception that holds you with the breath, the image of the breath that you have in mind that helps you stay with the breath: That’s perception. You’re thinking about the breath and adjusting the breath, evaluating how to make the breath comfortable and, once it’s comfortable, evaluating how to keep it comfortable, and then when … 
  20. Four Mountains Moving In
     … But if death comes while we’re acting in unskillful ways, thinking in unskillful ways, allowing unskillful feelings and concerns to take over, then we’ve added a lot of unnecessary pain for ourselves—and for the people around us. This is why we meditate; this is why we look inside, realizing that there are good things inside, good potentials inside, waiting for us … 
  21. How to Be Self-Centered
     … Why do you let yourself get worked up about it? What’s the problem? Why are you feeling offended by that other person? That’s what you’ve got to look into. Now, this doesn’t mean you don’t care about other people. It’s just that you’ve got to develop the brahmaviharas, all four of them, both toward other people and … 
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