Search results for: "Feelings"

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  2. Rhythms of the Mind
     … You’ve reached the point where the body feels comfortable enough to stay settled down. You can’t think of any way of improving how the breath is flowing through the body. So don’t try to think of those things. Just be there. Now, you may find as you settle down and just be there, that you’re not quite ready. Okay, go … 
  3. Your Sketches vs. the Buddha’s
     … The thinking and acting get into your breath and affect the way your body feels, which gives them more seeming reality. So one way of dealing with these pictures of reality is to go back and look at your breath. Breathe in a different way. And as you’re breathing in a different way, can you look at the body in a different way … 
  4. Timeless
     … But when you can satisfy some of your hunger with the concentration, then when other things come up and you feel tempted to go, you can begin to see, “Oh, this is why I go, but it’s really not worth it.” That’s when your discernment becomes penetrating, the kind of discernment that can protect you when random things come up in the … 
  5. In the Driver’s Seat
     … It’s the same fine, but the rich person hardly feels it, whereas the poor person may not have enough money to pay the fine and may get thrown into jail. So when you have your mind set on the Dhamma, you become rich; as you develop more and more good qualities, you become richer. So remember, you’re in the driver’s seat … 
  6. Protection Through the Practice
     … When you get good shoes, they don’t feel right. It’s going to take time to get used to the good shoes, i.e., to get used to the attitudes that the Buddha does recommend. But the fact that it’s going to take a long time shouldn’t be an obstacle. It shouldn’t be discouraging. It can be discouraging, but you … 
  7. The Three Perceptions as Tools
     … How do you regard things like gain, honor, and fame? If you use the perception of inconstancy in order to see through these things, to the point where you feel no inclination to go for them at all, then you’re using the perception rightly. Then there’s the perception of stress in what’s inconstant. Here, the test is if the perception makes … 
  8. A Happy Tradition
     … Here’s this deva they feel is undeserving. He outshines them. They’re pretty upset. “Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it astounding?” they say in a sarcastic way. But as the case often happens in the heavens, the more the other devas get upset, the brighter the deva who’s being looked down upon begins to shine. So no matter how much people … 
  9. Taking the Long View
     … His feeling is that given the small amount of time he has to talk to these people, he wants to make sure that the important message gets through. Because what does rebirth teach? It teaches that our actions are important, and that—in deciding what to do—we have to take the long view. And the long view’s not just a month, or … 
  10. A Refuge in Mindfulness
     … like we’re practicing right now, focused on the body in and of itself—in other words, focused on the breath as you’re feeling it right now—the body in and of itself, as opposed to the body in the world. The body in the world is when you’re thinking about whether the body’s up to the work you have to … 
  11. Just This Breath
     … How deep can it go, how good can it feel? How much of your attention can you give to it? Ordinarily, the mind is like a command post where you’re receiving information from all directions about all sorts of different things, and it has a tendency to reserve some attention from what you’re trying to focus on right now in case an … 
  12. Determined to Be Undefeated by Death
     … You do this by breathing in a way that feels good or thinking thoughts of goodwill. Anything comes up in the mind that deals with people who are difficult in your life—family, people at work—just spread thoughts of goodwill to them. May they be happy, remembering that goodwill doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of time with them. Sometimes … 
  13. Victory in Battle
     … That’s how it feels. You’re doing battle with me, me, me, me, me, and the “me” in there keeps complaining, “Why are you doing battle with me? After all, aren’t I you?” But you have to realize, no, you have the choice to identify or not to identify with the unskillful qualities in your mind, and it’s good to see … 
  14. The Wall of Discernment
     … It feels like a mist: little dots of sensations. And in-between those little sensations, there’s space. When you focus on the space, you can get into formless states, which are even more refined than the states that depend on the breath. You keep following this process until you get as far as you can in terms of concentration. It’s because you … 
  15. The Mind Undefined
     … Reading recently about secular Buddhism, I’ve noticed that their basic assumption is that, well, we’re just biological organisms, so how could we know anything deathless? Let’s just content ourselves with what makes us feel good in the present moment. That’s an approach that starts out with what you are, and people who follow it are unwilling to let go of … 
  16. Skillful Fear
     … You have to see danger in ill will, because ill will leads you to do all kinds of unskillful things, even when you feel you’re acting out of justice. If you want to see somebody suffer, the things you do and say and think under the power of that desire will pull you down. That’s something to be afraid of. Think of … 
  17. Training the Whole Mind
     … After all, the big issue is how you relate to yourself, how you relate to the body, how you relate to feelings, perceptions, thought-fabrications, and consciousness. That’s the area where you’re causing yourself suffering, so that’s the area where you’ve got to gain sensitivity and insight. Nobody else can get into your head and straighten these things out for … 
  18. Bowing & Chanting
     … What feels good? You get to choose. What do you want to do with the breath? You get to choose. What do you do to get the best results out of it, so that there’s a sense of fullness, a sense of ease, pleasure, simply through the way you breathe. How do you do that? You get to explore. So, you’re not … 
  19. Mindfulness of Death
     … You engage in skillful mental fabrication, i.e., you choose the right feelings to focus on, to whatever extent you can create a sense of well-being. If not in the body, try to create it in the mind. Focus there. Whatever perceptions are going to be helpful, you focus there. Keep in mind the perception that you’re making some important choices, so … 
  20. Abandoning Effluents (1)
     … This is why, as we meditate, we’re focused on the process of fabrication—the breath coming in and going out, the way we talk to ourselves, the images we hold in mind, the feelings we focus on—because these fabrications are things that we’re doing. In our practice leading up to meditation, we don’t spend all that much time talking about … 
  21. What Is Skillful?
     … You dig down into the causes of dependent co-arising and you find the Buddha talks about fabrication, he talks about perceptions and feelings. He talks about the way you talk to yourself. He talks even about the way you breathe. So you dig down into your intentions and you come back to right where we are, right here, right now: the way you … 
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