Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 135
  2. Perceptions Around Pain
     … In fact, if it weren’t for our mental actions right now, physical pain would not have an impact on the mind—and there would be no mental pain. That gives you something to think about and something to work with as you meditate. If pain arises while you’re meditating and all you do is complain about it, you’re not really learning … 
  3. Anger
     … We get used to looking at things in the mind in terms of the different kinds of fabrication: bodily fabrication, verbal, mental. Bodily fabrication being the in-and-out breath; verbal being directed thought and evaluation being the way you talk to yourself; and mental fabrication being perceptions—mental labels, acts of recognition, acts of imaging things to yourself—along with feelings. You use … 
  4. An Island in the Flood
     … Or you take feelings in and of themselves, the mind in and of itself, dhammas—mental qualities—in and of themselves, as your frame of reference. But the important thing is you don’t just stop with the frame of reference. You also engage in those other activities: being ardent, alert, and mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. This … 
  5. Now & at Death
    When you try to get the mind in concentration, there are five qualities that can get in the way, five ways of thinking. They’re called hindrances, nīvaraṇa: sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and doubt. But these aren’t just obstacles to concentration. When the Buddha talks about the things you have to watch out for when you’re … 
  6. Occupy Your Space
     … Then you can start cleaning out the mind. When thoughts come into the mind, learn how to not get attached to them, especially the negative ones. You want the positive ones right now: the ones that are encouraging you: “Keep at it… keep at it… you can do it.” The thought that says, “I’ve been doing this for how many years now and … 
  7. Focus on One Thing
     … But if you don’t settle down at all, all you see is yourself wandering around, reacting to this place, reacting to that place, and you don’t have that much time to really see the mind on its own terms. When the mind is settled in, you can see it clearly. So for three months out of a year, the monks are supposed … 
  8. Strong-hearted
     … Remember that, as you’re training the mind, the Pali term citta covers not just the thinking faculty, but also a lot of the qualities that we normally associate with the heart. Unfortunately, in our culture, when we talk about someone who has a good heart, it usually means that they’re kind and gentle. But from the Buddha’s point of view, having … 
  9. What Right Mindfulness Remembers
     … You’re trying to get the mind to settle down. Remember that. As the Buddha said, the practice of right concentration is the heart of the path, and all of the other factors are its requisites or its helping factors. Mindfulness is what helps you to remember what you’ve learned about the path both from what you’ve heard and from what you … 
  10. Take Care
     … Be very careful to notice even the slightest hint that the mind is going to wander off. Catch it and come right back. The more sensitive you are to that potential, the more solid your concentration’s going to be. The more solid your concentration, the more you can see. The two go together. So, as you’re meditating, take care. And even when … 
  11. Little Things
     … And yet it’s precisely the little unskillful things that get in the way of the big results we want, so we have to pay careful attention to them each time the mind pulls away from the desire for peace or the desire for true happiness. It’s a little pull, but over time it adds up to a major habit. The best way … 
  12. Mud Houses
     … Just in getting the mind to right concentration, you begin to see there are these activities that you do. As you go into deeper stages of concentration, you begin to realize that there are more refined versions of them. You can let go of the directed thought and evaluation, and the mind feels less burdened. You can let go of the feeling of pleasure … 
  13. Refreshing
     … All you have to do is prakhawng—shelter it, protect it—and the mind will have a sense of refreshment with the breath. This gives energy to the body, energy to the mind. So make sure that the causes are right, that you’re gentle and patient. Give some space to the body. Stick with the breath, but don’t put too much pressure … 
  14. Bare Attention
     … We’re not trying to revert to some pre-existing state that the mind was in before it started getting subjected to all these nasty conditions that make us suffer. The mind itself actually goes out and is actively looking for conditions, it creates conditions. It’s not an innocent victim. When you understand this point, that gets you on the path to appropriate … 
  15. Generosity First
     … The act of giving also creates a sense of spaciousness in the mind, because the world we live in is created by our actions, and the act of giving creates a spacious world: a world where generosity is an operating principle, a world where people have more than enough, enough to share. And it creates a good feeling in the mind. From there, the … 
  16. Of Past & Future
     … Understand enough to bring the mind to stillness. Understand enough to bring the mind to the present moment, to watch what it’s doing, to do it skillfully, to be mindful, alert, right here. If you find yourself wandering off, try to keep it as short a wander as possible. If the mind is persistent and constantly going back to the past or worrying … 
  17. Just Events
     … If you want to sense what kind of breathing is actually good for the body, what kind of breathing is good for the mind, what kind of thinking is good for the meditation, what kind of thinking is not, you have to have the mind in a non-reactive state in order to make changes and judge them skillfully. “Non-reactive” doesn’t mean … 
  18. Counter-cultural Values
     … Finding a quiet place in the mind, having a place where you can rest and relax: Everybody can understand that there’s a place for that. When the mind is feeling really frazzled, it’s very easy to see that meditation is something you want to learn how to master, that concentration—getting the mind still, finding some seclusion where are you can let … 
  19. Controlling
     … But when the Buddha outlines causes and conditions, say, in dependent co-arising, the primary causes are all in the mind. They’re things that you can change. So if you want to control things in a skillful way, this is where you focus. Develop some skill here. This will affect your sense of who you are, because your sense of who you are … 
  20. Kill Your Anger
     … You have to place warning signs all around, because when the mind is angry, you can’t trust it. Your mind is lying to you. So, if the storm is coming on very strong, hide out for a bit. When you learn to take the anger apart, you can look at the situation a lot more calmly. More of the mind is engaged. You … 
  21. The Dhamma Is in the Method
     … Being unfettered means that the mind is released. And it’s interesting that those two go together. You gain freedom through dispassion. That’s looking for freedom in a place where we ordinarily might not think of looking. But remember the Buddha’s prescription for how you bring about dispassion and free the mind. You look at things as they arise, see what their … 
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