Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Free Not to Suffer
     … And, fortunately, that’s the suffering that weighs the mind down. Without the craving, there would be no more cause for suffering in the mind no matter how things change outside. So we have to look directly at how craving arises in the mind. Only then can we put an end to it. This is why when we meditate we’re looking at the … 
  3. Breath Meditation: Four Sets of Tools
     … You notice things about the mind you didn’t notice before. And working at the breath is the ideal task to pursue so you can actually see the mind in action. So once you get the mind right here, just stay right here: mindful, alert, ardent. And the things you need to know to unburden the mind will reveal themselves as you keep at … 
  4. Mental Stirrings
    Everything you really need to know about the mind keeps happening in the present moment. Many times, when a thought comes into the mind, we want to trace it back, “Where did this come from?” And psychotherapy really encourages that: If you want to understand the thoughts, the urges, the neuroses in your mind, they say, you’ve got to remember back to when … 
  5. Why Train the Mind
    Why Train the Mind October 17, 2011 We practice meditation because we want a happiness that’s reliable and harmless: harmless both to ourselves and to other people around us. We want to find a happiness that doesn’t depend on the ups and downs of life. Otherwise, it’s as if we’re riding a roller coaster. Some people get a thrill out … 
  6. The Good Fight
     … In the same way, the mind has to be fed. This is why try to create a sense of well-being through the concentration. We’re taming our hunger, sensitizing ourselves to a higher aspiration than just to go around feeding off things outside. You can feed the mind with pleasure. You can feed the mind with rapture. Simply sitting here breathing, you can … 
  7. Looking in Three Directions
     … As you’re working with the breath right here and the mind begins to settle down, you’re developing insight on many levels. Simply the act of fending off distractions is an important source of insights right there. In the beginning, the distractions are gross. You sit here, and the mind begins to settle down a little bit. And you suddenly realize the mind … 
  8. Working Hypotheses
    There are a lot of ways in which the Buddha compares the activities of the mind to fire. Greed, aversion, are delusion are fires that burn away in the mind, and as we chanted just now, they set fire to our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and to the things we know through the senses. It’s almost as if our minds … 
  9. Hunting & Foraging
     … Ajaan Suwat would talk about having a sense of confidence, a sense of pleasure being here: “You’re here to do a good thing, training the mind, nourishing the mind.” So if you come with the right mood, you establish one of the necessary steps in gaining insight into the mind. Of course, one of the first things you’ll see is how quickly … 
  10. Totally Secure
     … And watch out for when the mind starts leaving the breath, starts fabricating other thoughts, other worlds, fabricating the past, fabricating the future. This is one of the things the mind is really good at, fabrication. The Pali word is *sankhara. *The problem with this fabrication is that it creates a lot of suffering for the mind. This is not to say that sankhara … 
  11. Respect for Emptiness
     … Those little moments of stillness in the mind: We tend to ignore them, we don’t pay them much attention. We’re so much more interested in running after things, getting the mind all stirred up, yet ignoring those little moments of stillness between what basically come down to moments of disturbance in the mind. We see the disturbance as interesting and the stillness … 
  12. Sit with It
     … You don’t have all the time in the world to develop the mind, so when the mind is getting lazy, it’s good to think about the fact that death could come at any time. Would you like to have it come after a day when you’ve been lazy? Well, no. When you start getting discouraged, you can think about the different … 
  13. Purifying Gold
    The Buddha gave several discourses where he compared training the mind, getting the mind into concentration, to refining gold. In the first step, you have to wash the gold. The gold has gravel, little bits of grit, and then tinier bits of grit. So first you have to get the really gross stuff out. That, the Buddha said, means getting rid of any misbehavior … 
  14. Mastering Causality
     … There’s an active side to the mind that goes out and shapes them, adds a little here, takes away a little bit there. You’re getting sensitive to that aspect of the mind, to what you’re doing right now. That’s a large part of the insight you need to gain in the meditation. Most of us are like a man who … 
  15. Little Decisions
     … to get the mind well rested to do its work. You’re trying to develop the ability to see that when there’s anything impinging on the mind that’s causing any stress, anything that’s darkening the mind, anything that’s less than skillful in the mind, you have to be determined that one way or another you’re going to deal with … 
  16. Technique & Attitudes
     … You need some insight into the workings of the mind before the mind will really settle down. At the same time, insight requires concentration. The more still the mind becomes, the better you’re able to judge how your tactics are working. This is the test for everything as you meditate: How is it working? What kind of results are you getting? The more … 
  17. The Fool & the Wise Person
     … getting the mind to settle down and be still so that you can see these movements, even the slightest ones. And look into the parts of the mind that you don’t like to look into: Where is the dishonesty in your own mind? What are the games that the mind plays with itself? Often we would rather look everywhere but there, but those … 
  18. Standing Where the Buddha Stood
     … Get the mind really well centered, and then you can watch these things as they affect the mind. You can see where they come from, where they go. You can see their allure, you can see their drawbacks. All the things you’re supposed to see are best seen right here. When you divide things up in the mind before you hit this spot … 
  19. Fighting Attitude
    The fourth frame of reference for meditation, or the fourth foundation of mindfulness is dhammas, which can mean objects of the mind or mental qualities. And it’s interesting that of the various foundations of mindfulness, as described in the Satipatthana Sutta, this is the one that recommends the most active interaction with what’s going on in the mind. For example, if hindrances … 
  20. Eeeels
     … We learn to be connoisseurs of the mind, expert observers of the mind. Which means we have to watch and compare. Try to get very, very precise in noticing the movements of the mind. It’s only then that you can begin to trust your powers of judgment, your powers of perception. So in your quest to get the mind still, don’t go … 
  21. Ugly Body, Happy Mind
    Ugly Body, Happy Mind March 20, 2023 Gladdening the mind is an important part of meditation. It’s listed as one of the steps in breath meditation, and there are many places where the Buddha talks about how creating a sense of gladness, a sense of well-being, is an important prelude to getting the mind to settle down. He also talks about two … 
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