Search results for: "Feelings"

  1. Page 146
  2. Keeping Your Values Alive
     … So the practice is a matter of learning how to develop these forms of right resolve and, at the same time, not feel taxed, overburdened, or strung out by trying to do the skillful thing. One of the whole purposes of right concentration is to give you strength. The Buddha’s image is of the food in a fortress. The soldiers in the fortress … 
  3. Healing Awareness
    One of the distinctive features of Ajaan Lee’s instructions on breath meditation is his emphasis on breathing in a way that feels really comfortable and nourishing throughout the body. Of course, this is nothing new. In the Buddha’s meditation instructions, he talks about training yourself to be aware of the whole body as you breathe in and breathe out, how to calm … 
  4. Past Intentions, Present Intentions
     … When you focus on that, then the mind begins to settle down and feel at ease in the way you want it to. But whether it happens quickly or slowly is not the issue. The issue is simply that you focus at the right point and ask yourself the right questions. Why is the mind upset right now? Is it past stuff coming in … 
  5. Fighting Spirit
     … So if you feel any discomfort from the breath, think of different ways of breathing in. Even if you’re not sure that the discomfort is actually coming from the breath, think about different ways of breathing to test it; and think about different ways of perceiving the breath to test that as well. Then look at what the Buddha calls verbal fabrication – the … 
  6. Loving Yourself Wisely
     … Self-esteem comes from the fact that you love yourself and you want to behave in a way that you feel you’re worthy of that love. And this is why we have that reflection that we’re the owners of our actions, because our actions are basically what make us. Our actions make us, just as we make our actions. Think of the … 
  7. Observing the Mind at the Breath
     … You’ve got the body; you’ve got the feelings; you’ve got the mind; you’ve got the mental qualities that you’re trying either to develop or to drop away. The mental qualities are for use when you notice that the mind is a little bit out of balance—it’s not staying with the breath—and you try to figure out … 
  8. Your Own Karma
     … It’s well-nourished with that sense of ease, rapture, refreshment—enough so that it doesn’t feel threatened by the idea of looking in at your own stupidity. Because that’s a lot of what insight is all about: seeing the foolish ways you’ve been dealing with things in the past, foolish ways you’re dealing with things right now. And see … 
  9. Dedicating Merit
     … They have to be in a position where they can receive it and then feel some appreciation for the goodness you’ve sent in their direction. That becomes their good kamma. The hungry ghosts tend to be sensitive to this, which is why they’re in a position where they can receive this. When I first met Ajaan Fuang, it was shortly after my … 
  10. The Same for Everyone
     … You feel compassion for them, you’d like to share this knowledge with them, but if they don’t want it, you just have to say, “Well, that’s up to them, maybe somebody else is their teacher, maybe somebody else can show them the way.” And that makes life easier for everyone concerned.
  11. Over-informed
     … So he learned by feeling his way, and being very clear about what he was doing, very clear about the results, and very demanding in his judgment: Could it be possible that there would be something with no stress at all? So he found his way without anticipation. There was a desire, but he was also exploring. As we practice, it’s good that … 
  12. The Buddha’s Safe Space
     … At the very least, having a sense of well-being, a sense of comfort, and—at least in one part of the body—a sense of stability and feeling at home here in the body, enables you to deal with things coming up in the mind that you’d rather not see, but they’re going to have to be dealt with. The dealing … 
  13. Staying Normal
     … But the sense of Sariputta himself feeling deprived or hurt by the Buddha’s passing: That had gone. As it turned out, the Buddha was not the first to pass away. Sariputta passed away before the Buddha. In the Chinese account, the Buddha gets really upset, but you wonder why they have that version. In the original version, Ananda is the one who’s … 
  14. Concentration Work
     … the one who wants to create happiness and feels that it has the means to do that. There’s self as the consumer: the “you” who wants to benefit from the work of the producer. And there’s the reflective self: You might call it the director who watches over the other two, making sure that the producer’s not lazy, making sure that … 
  15. Your True Responsibility
     … About a week later, I was beginning to feel bad about being a monk: I felt that I was being selfish and just looking out after myself. That night Ajaan Fuang gave a Dhamma talk about how when you come into this world you come alone. You’re responsible for your own birth, you’re responsible for your own actions, and you’re going … 
  16. Healthy Conceit
     … When you’ve slipped off, how can you come back as quickly as possible? One important rule of thumb is that no matter how fascinating the thought that you’ve gotten distracted into, don’t feel that you have to tie up the loose ends before you leave it. Leave it unfinished—because these things never really finish. It’s like those movies that … 
  17. Elephant Training
     … It feels like the whole body’s made out of metal. Well, remind yourself that even in metal, there’s lots of space between the atoms. Think of that space penetrating throughout all those solid sensations. As you tune in to the space, your experience of the body is going to change, lighten up. What this means is that as you learn the ins … 
  18. Compassionate Duties
     … Then he says you should feel shame over that mistake. That’s a loaded word in English. But it’s good to remember there are two types of shame: There’s the shame that’s opposite of pride, which is not what the Buddha’s recommending here. After all, he does have you develop a sense of confidence that, yes, you can do this … 
  19. The Ivory Intersection
     … This is why we work with the body in and of itself; feelings, mind states, mental qualities, in and of themselves: looking at these things as events in the present moment, learning how to be ardent about it. In other words, not just being here, but also learning how to develop what’s skillful—and then trying to fend off the floodwaters. If you … 
  20. Cut, Cut, Cut
     … There’s some bodily fabrication, which is the breath itself; there’s a little bit of internal discussion, which is verbal fabrication; and there are some mental fabrications, which are the feelings and the perceptions—the labels you put on things. Those are all here. But they’re all here around something really simple. It’s when you keep things simple that you see … 
  21. Wisdom as a Tool
     … Ajaan Maha Boowa was feeling really abandoned after Ajaan Mun’s death, and then he remembered a piece of advice that Ajaan Mun had given him many times: When something comes up in your meditation that you’re not sure about, just watch it. Stay with a sense of the knower, or just bare awareness. Don’t jump to any conclusions. Just watch to … 
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