Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Dhamma Is a Quality of the Heart
     … Here we are, training the mind to find true happiness, but happiness is not a word that he defined. Mind is not a word that he defined, probably because as you go through the practice, your appreciation of happiness is going to change. Your appreciation of the mind is going to change. So it’s good not to have them nailed down too tightly … 
  3. Contemplation of the Body
     … I also saw what it’s like to be old and not to have trained the mind. The mind at a time like that is totally out of control because as the body gets weaker, your energy falls. The thoughts that come barging into the mind can take total control if you haven’t developed the ability to counter them. Then there are all … 
  4. Questioning Your Way to Certainty
     … You find yourself wondering, is this really the right meditation for me? Is the Dhamma really right? Did the Buddha know what he was talking about? Those thoughts can really get in the way of the mind settling down. But it’s interesting to note that the Buddha’s solution for uncertainty is not just to ramp up your conviction, saying, “I believe, I … 
  5. Intelligence of the Heart
     … When the mind can’t settle down with the breath, you look for other things to put the mind in the right mood. As the Buddha said, try an inspiring theme. You can think about goodwill in an inspiring way. Think about the fact that, as you’re practicing here, you’re observing the precepts, you’re living a harmless way, so your way … 
  6. Your Highest Aspiration
     … So we develop concentration to be able to look at the mind in this way because the duty with regard to stress is to comprehend it. It takes a lot of mental strength to look at the stress and suffering that are oppressing the mind. And concentration provides that strength. We bring the mind to a state of oneness, a state of unification, with … 
  7. Taking a Stance
     … Because when we meditate, we’re going against a lot of the currents of the mind. You make up your mind you’re going to stay right here. When you begin to notice things in the mind that are pushing you to go away—your old habits, your old desires—you can make up your mind whether you’re going to go with them … 
  8. Empathetic Joy
    Empathetic Joy August 20, 2013 We chant the phrases for the brahmaviharas or sublime attitudes every night before we meditate because they’re attitudes that really are conducive to getting the mind to settle down with a sense of well-being. You have no ill-will for anyone, no desire to see anybody suffer. You don’t resent anyone’s happiness; and as for … 
  9. Trust in Heedfulness
     … It’s because we’re heedful of the dangers that we arouse the energy needed to develop skill in the mind. We see that we’re suffering, that we’re surrounded by suffering, and a lot of suffering lies ahead of us if we’re not careful. It’s through being careful, through being heedful, through not being complacent, that we can do something … 
  10. In Control
     … The suffering that really weighs down on the mind isn’t what comes from outside, it’s what comes from within-side. It comes from within you. So learn how to take claim of at least this part of what’s in you, so that the mind can have a safe place, a position of strength, where you can be in control.
  11. Will Meditation Make You Grim & Dull?
     … But we should be wary, because there are parts of the mind that will get inflamed by some of the things we may see or hear. And the parts of the mind that want to get inflamed are actually looking for something to get lustful about or greedy about or angry about. You’ve got to keep those in check, because if you don … 
  12. Freedom, Conditioned & Not
     … But then he began to realize that you can think skillful thoughts all day long, and although there may not be any bad karmic consequences, it is tiring to the mind. So it’s even more skillful to get the mind into concentration. When you’re in the various levels of concentration, getting the mind deeper and deeper into absorption, the level of skill … 
  13. Appreciating Merit
     … That makes the mind even more generous, even more inclined to think of others. In fact, this practice of dedicating merit lies at the basis of goodwill—the idea that you’d like to spread your happiness around. But first it has to start simply with appreciating the happiness that comes from a harmless action. You want to hold that in mind. Often when … 
  14. When You Care
    We come to meditate because we realize the mind has power. It’s the agent that shapes our lives. It’s not just on the receiving end of outside influences. It has influences coming from within. We want to make sure those are good. There are a lot of qualities that we bring to this. We bring the discernment that realizes that our actions … 
  15. A Meditative Life
     … So keep watch on what comes out of the mind and what comes in. For lay people, this means being careful about the friends you associate with, the magazines you read, the TV you watch, the music you listen to. Be very careful about how you look at these things, how you listen to these things. After a while you find that this is … 
  16. First Principles
     … All phenomena have the mind as their forerunner. We tend to regard the elements in the body or the material side of the body as something that’s already there, and then the mind moves in afterwards, deals with it afterwards. But if you learn to be more consciously proactive in how you approach your body, you begin to realize that the mind has … 
  17. Right & Right
     … Or to be more accurate, given that we’re living here in the mind with the defilements, we’re in the trenches and we’ve got defilements right there in the trenches with us. So you’ve got to learn how to deal with them in a way that they don’t kill you there in the trenches. So always keep this in mind … 
  18. Asalha Puja
     … When you look at these things directly, you begin to see that some feelings, for example, are skillful and some are not—in other words, pursuing a particular feeling would be skillful if it nurtures the good qualities of the mind. Some pleasures, when you pursue them, are good for the mind; some pleasures are bad. Some pains when you pursue them are bad … 
  19. Steering the Raft
     … Get the mind into concentration. As the Buddha said, as you go from level to level in the concentration, different levels of fabrication fall away. They fall still. The chatter in the mind that you need to get yourself into right concentration can take you to a point where you don’t need to chatter anymore. You can develop a perception of the breath … 
  20. Refuge in the Dhamma
     … You see the mind state as an activity. There’s a feeling going into it, a way of breathing that goes into it, perceptions, fabrications, consciousness. Seeing things in those terms helps pull you out. So there’s the alertness to see what you’re doing, and the mindfulness to remind yourself, “Okay, this is a mind state.” That puts it in a framework … 
  21. Not-self, Not No Self
     … I’m not going to take that on as my thought.” After all, thoughts will appear in the mind. Sometimes it seems like the mind is a random thought-generator. It comes up with all kinds of things, some of which are relevant, some of which are not. You have to realize, you have the choice: You can identify with some of the thoughts … 
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