Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. Pleasure on the Middle Way
     … It’s a pleasure that has a good impact on the mind, it comes from good activities in the mind, and it leads to good results in the mind. Learn how to open yourself up to the possibility that simply sitting here and breathing can be really satisfying, for the sensitive parts of the body, and then it will go deep into the mind … 
  3. The Graduated Discourse
     … Your mind is playing tricks on you, holding out rewards and saying, “Okay, you work for this and things will get really nice.” But then you get attached to the nice things and you start misbehaving and you create a lot of bad karma and you fall back down again. The mind’s been doing this to itself over and over and over again … 
  4. A Greater Happiness
     … And the fourth one is not having seen the true Dhamma, not realizing that there is a deathless element in the mind that’s not touched by aging, illness, or death—the part of the mind that has nothing to fear. So we work on these four issues in the meditation. First, we do it by developing a sense of ease that doesn’t … 
  5. Renunciate Grief
     … Household sorrow is when you get things through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind that you don’t like. As for equanimity, it’s when the mind is equanimous in the face of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, and ideas. As for renunciate emotions, renunciate sorrow is when you realize there is a goal but you haven’t reached it … 
  6. Potentials for Refuge
     … He recommended that they do that by developing the establishings of mindfulness. We have to remember that those establishings of mindfulness are his instructions on how you get the mind into concentration. So for our internal refuge, we’re trying to get the mind to settle down, to be with the body as a whole. The problem is that as you settle down it … 
  7. Skills to Make a Difference
     … And often, you’ll misuse some of the skills or some of the powers of the mind—because the mind is very powerful. It shapes your life. The fact that you’re engaged in the world depends on the mind. You’re not simply sitting here on the receiving end of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, or ideas. The mind actively goes out … 
  8. Don’t Be Burdensome
     … It’s the happiness of a dispassionate mind. But that’s not a mind that’s gotten very dull and blasé and negative. It’s a mind that’s grown up, basically. It’s realized that the sorts of pleasures we look for ordinarily are not really worth it. There must be something better. So we have to develop good qualities in mind. This … 
  9. The Brahmaviharas on the Path
     … In other passages, he talks about developing virtue and then, once you’ve got your virtue, you develop mindfulness and contentment; and from mindfulness and contentment, you work on the hindrances, develop concentration, and finally develop discernment—which makes it sound like you have to perfect one step before you can get to the next. But you have to remember that the point in … 
  10. Asalha Puja
    Try to drop all sensual thoughts, all unskillful qualities in the mind: vivicc’eva kāmehi, vivicca akusalehi dhammehi. Think about and evaluate the breath so that there’s a sense of ease and well-being in the way you breathe. This is how you get the mind into concentration. Concentration is part of the path. When you practice the path, that’s called paying … 
  11. Painful Thinking
     … How are the two connected? To see this, you have to make the mind very still. And you have to put the mind in a position where it feels confident that it’s not going to be overwhelmed by the pain, or that it’s not going to really suffer from the pain as it sits and watches. That’s why we practice concentration … 
  12. Comfortable with Yourself
     … See what really feels good for the body right now—and feels really good for the mind as well. Some types of breathing maybe relaxing for the body but just they’re a little bit too slow and blurred for the mind to focus on. So, make adjustments for that, too. This is a very immediate way of showing goodwill for yourself. There’s … 
  13. Compunction
     … In this case, you train the mind to be with one object and you look after the conversation that’s going on in the mind. Whatever it’s saying that might pull you away from the breath, learn how to put that aside. Whatever complaints it has, this is where you can use the term, “I don’t care. I don’t care about … 
  14. Cross-questioning
     … He wants you to question the ideas you have, to question what’s going on in your mind. The process in both cases is called the same thing: cross-questioning, patipuccha. It’s also applied to times when you look at your mind, you say, “Where’s the stress? Is this constant? Is this inconstant? Is it stressful? Is it not? Is it self … 
  15. The Freedom to Give
     … Because when you give a gift that doesn’t harm yourself, doesn’t harm other people, it is food for the mind, food for other good qualities in the mind. This is why, when you look at the history of Buddhism across the centuries, you see that when people misunderstand the idea of generosity, the Dharma gets twisted as well. There is a series … 
  16. Noble Contentment, Noble Discontent
     … This is one of the areas where you’re encouraged to develop, as much as you can, the conditions for allowing the mind to settle down so that it does have a good, solid place to stay. Then you apply the same principles to the mind. What in the mind can you change? What can you not change yet? Any unskillful qualities that come … 
  17. A Snare of Death Laid Out
     … It’s good to have that image in mind when you see something attractive, especially as the mind is approaching death: Beauty is hiding fangs. After all, at death there’s an inclination to want to go for whatever pleasure there may be, because you’re surrounded by pain at that moment. The physical pains in the body, the mental pains of having to … 
  18. How Completion is Found
     … The intention is to get the mind to settle down. And in the course of working on that intention, you’re going to gain understanding of the mind as well. If the mind wanders off, you have to understand how to bring it back—and how to bring it back in such a way that it likes to stay. That requires understanding. You can … 
  19. Outside the Box
     … You’ve got a mind that’s mindful and alert. It may not be perfectly mindful or perfectly alert, but you’ve got the seeds of those qualities. You realize that you’re suffering and you’re looking for a way out. That’s enough.” The ajaans have an interesting combination of strong faith in the Buddha and very curious inquisitive minds. They didn … 
  20. Vows
     … In other words, you really stick to your vow and don’t suddenly change your mind in mid-course. The only good reason for changing your mind would be if you find that you’re doing serious damage to yourself. Then you might want to reconsider the situation. Otherwise, if it’s just an inconvenience, or a hardship, you stick with your determination no … 
  21. Cleaning up Your Personal Environment
     … You can stop and look through those and clean those out, realizing that your past is now just a thought in your mind. Its influence in your mind is made up of the thoughts that are still there in the mind, but you’re in a position now where you can sort through them and decide which influences from the past will continue to … 
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