Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 144
  2. You’re Doing Something Wrong
     … first, to get the mind into a proper, balanced state of rest. Sometimes you get so quiet that you fall asleep, which is not what you want. You want to be alert and still at the same time. You want to develop a quality of mind, an awareness, that fills the whole body. One way to get that full-body awareness is to work … 
  3. Wise about Pain
     … The three qualities the Buddha says should be brought to mindfulness and concentration practice are mindfulness, alertness, and ardency. Mindfulness means keeping something in mind. In this case, you keep in mind the fact that you want to stay with the breath. As for alertness, you’re alert to what you’re doing: Are you staying with the breath? If not, what can you … 
  4. Learning from Determination
     … You learn that you have to develop theh skills of mindfulness, alertness, and ardency: mindful to keep the precept in mind; alert to make sure that your actions actually are in line with the precept; and ardent in your desire to stick with the precepts, even when it’s difficult, even when you’re challenged, even when it goes against your likes and dislikes … 
  5. Interconnectedness
     … If we can do them with more mindfulness, more alertness, we find that gradually we do become more and more skillful. So, as you’re sitting here with your breath, try to be as mindful as possible of what you’re doing. Try to keep your mindfulness as continuous as possible. That strengthens your mindfulness. As for your alertness, try to be as sensitive … 
  6. Surprise Yourself
     … What’s clear is that we’re practicing mindfulness of breathing to get the mind into concentration, and the 16 steps fall into four tetrads. One tetrad deals with the body, one with feelings, one with the mind, and one with dhammas. In other words, they deal with the frames of reference that we use to establish mindfulness. But the question is, do you … 
  7. Nobody’s Servant
     … Otherwise the mind is going to go wander around and sniff at the flowers and look at the mountains outside. You’ve got to keep reminding yourself to stay here, stay here. And as you keep reminding yourself, your potential for mindfulness gets strengthened—because that’s what mindfulness is: a faculty of active memory, reminding yourself of what are the important things to … 
  8. To Make Suffering Crumble
     … For instance, when you’re driving yourself crazy talking about certain things in your mind, focus less on the content of what the mind is saying, and more on the process of how the mind talks to itself, and how it uses perceptions to stab itself, and how it doesn’t really have to—or, how it focuses on certain feelings in the body … 
  9. The Role of Attachment
     … You develop good qualities in the mind. You like them. When you get something good in the mind, you hold on to it both to see how far it can take you and for the sense of well-being that comes with it. If it’s the best thing you know in the mind, hold on to it. Don’t let go of it … 
  10. Learning Right Speech
    There’s a tendency to think of practicing the Dhamma as meaning what you do when you sit here with your eyes closed, trying to get the mind into concentration, trying to develop discernment. But we have to remember that the path to awakening is not a one-fold path or a two-fold path. It’s a noble eightfold path. And each of … 
  11. A Noble Warrior’s Path
     … to train you in skills, to develop your ingenuity, to fire up your fighting spirit, to give you maxims to keep in mind when the going gets tough so that you can approach difficult situations with skill. To keep those words in mind, those instructions in mind, without losing your presence of mind in difficult situations: That’s the function of right mindfulness. But … 
  12. No One Size Fits All
     … You become more and more sensitive to what the mind is doing, what the results are, and what you need to do in response. That’s the basis of insight. That’s the basis of discernment. As you’re trying to get the mind into concentration, the big questions are: “How do you get the mind to settle down? How do you get it … 
  13. For Your Future’s Sake
     … And the fact that you’re able to maintain a precept develops good qualities in the mind. You have to keep the precept in mind. That’s mindfulness. You have to be alert to watch over your actions to make sure they stay in line with the precept. And finally, you have to be ardent in doing this. In other words, there will come … 
  14. Believe in Your Actions
     … There’s the part of the mind that has to be alert but there’s also the part of the mind that has to be ardent. You have to want to do things skillfully and you have to put in the effort to figure out what is skillful in any situation. And be willing to learn from your mistakes. Heedfulness is not easy. It … 
  15. Judging the Dhamma
    One of the first things you notice as you try to get the mind quiet is how unquiet it is. Or as Ajaan Lee once said, a lot of the practice is getting to know your defilements. All these thoughts that come into the mind and pull you away from the practice: There are lots of them. And getting to know them doesn’t … 
  16. The Wisdom of Merit
     … When you do this, you develop mindfulness and alertness. Mindfulness is keeping your promise to yourself in mind. Alertness is actually looking at what you’re doing. These are good qualities to bring to the meditation, things you want to hold onto as you develop concentration. And you realize that in developing concentration, just the fact that you hold onto your object doesn’t … 
  17. Self-Control
     … This is one of the reasons why we practice concentration, to make the mind strong. And we develop discernment to figure out what our real battles are. You’re sitting here with the breath, and nothing outside is happening at all, but you find the mind wandering out of control. If that’s the way your mind is, how can you trust it not … 
  18. Practice in Dying Skillfully
     … There’ll be distraction and pain—the same problems we deal with as we’re meditating, sitting here trying to get the mind with the breath. First you find yourself fighting off distractions and if you don’t get the distractions out of the way in time, then the pain comes, especially if you sit for long periods of time or if you’re … 
  19. A Mind Larger than the World
     … But if you can maintain goodwill in situations where you’re totally overpowered, that means your mind is larger than the situation. That’s a lot of what Dhamma practice in daily life is: making your mind larger than the situation; thinking about what would be for the true happiness of everybody all around. That’s the first aspect of a good determination: discernment … 
  20. Wise about Happiness
    When Ajaan Lee analyses the qualities that you bring into mindfulness practice—and by extension to concentration practice—he singles out ardency as the wisdom factor. Which is interesting. It’s the factor that has to do with effort, the effort you put into being mindful, into gaining concentration, trying to see into your defilements. Ardency is what does this. And ardency is wisdom … 
  21. The Wheel of Dhamma
     … You hear descriptions of the awakened mind and you think, “Okay, it’s equanimous and patient. I’ll will be equanimous and patient, and not try to strive, not to strive for anything, because the awakened mind doesn’t strive.” But the reason the awakened mind doesn’t strive is because it’s already arrived at where it wants to go. As long as … 
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