Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 147
  2. “My Way”
     … When the Buddha talks about the mind being luminous, he’s not saying that it’s necessarily good, just that you have this quality of being able to see things, observe things going on inside. In particular, the Buddha asks you to focus that power of observation on your actions—your thoughts, your words, and your deeds—to see where they’re coming from … 
  3. Balanced Breathing
     … Well, there are other things you can’t be careless about, too, starting with the little defilements in the mind, because they can grow into big defilements. You can’t be careless about little lapses of mindfulness, because they can grow into huge lapses. So try to be meticulous as you look after the breath. Take very seriously whatever sense of comfort you can … 
  4. Renunciation
     … It comes down to the factors of the first jhana, the thinking and evaluating that go into getting the mind to settle down with a sense of well-being, a sense of fullness and ease that comes from seclusion: secluding yourself from all your sensual thoughts. You find that there are certain parts of the mind that really thrive when they can put those … 
  5. The Karma of Ideas
     … We tend to forget that it also applies to the mind. In fact, though, it applies primarily to the mind. Our ideas are instances of karma as well. The things you focus on, the things you choose to think about, the questions you choose to ask, the perceptions you choose to hold in your mind: These are actions as well. They all fall into … 
  6. Potentials for Good
     … Ajaan Lee talks how we have lots of potentials in us—in our bodies, in our minds—and yet for the most part, we don’t use them, don’t get the best use out of them, because our minds are not focused. When you can bring the mind to a focus on the pleasant parts, and focus in a way that encourages them … 
  7. The Source of Goodness
     … It’s important to keep this story in mind as you take the practice out into your normal daily life. As you develop the qualities we’re working on—mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment, tranquility and insight—you find you become a steadier person. Your mind has a good grounding and a good home. You’re not so open to influences from outside, especially negative … 
  8. You Can’t Relax Your Way to Awakening
     … There are some unskillful states of mind that cause suffering which, when you watch them, just go away on their own. They wither away in front of your sustained awareness. The fact that they’ve been causing suffering in the mind is simply because you haven’t been paying them any attention. When you pay them attention, you see, “I don’t really want … 
  9. Full Attention
     … Feynman wrote a letter back saying, “Look, isn’t physics part of humanity? Isn’t it part of the human mind, human psyche, the human desire to want to understand things?” In other words, the uncontrolled desires we have are part of our human mind, but the desire to get them under control is also part of our human mind—the part that sees … 
  10. Resources for Endurance
     … We sit to get the mind quiet, bring the mind to concentration, gain insight. If everything depended just on the quality of the intention, that’d be all you’d have to do, just hold on to that good intention. But the question is, does it work? A lot of times, other things need to be brought in as well. You check the results … 
  11. Taking Responsibility
     … How can I get the mind to be more still? How can the mind be focused? How can it be settled down? These are useful questions to ask for the purpose of gaining tranquility. For the purpose of insight the questions are: How should fabrications be regarded? How should they be analyzed? You get some answers but then again you have to take those … 
  12. Skillfully Shaping Your Life
     … The mind can be very proactive, and we really do shape the way we experience things. This is why training of the mind is so worthwhile. If the amount of pleasure and pain we felt in the world were entirely out of our hands, then there wouldn’t be much point in training the mind. But we do shape things. You can sit here … 
  13. Looking after Yourself with Ease
     … Our minds are like vacuum cleaners. All too often we go through life sucking up nothing but the dirt. So when a word is fired in your direction, step aside a little bit. Watch it go past. See if you can hold that perception in mind And also hold in mind the Buddha’s comments that the nature of human speech is there’s … 
  14. A Happiness Without Boundaries
     … And although it may take energy on your part to be generous in this way, your mind benefits. It becomes a much more expansive mind. It doesn’t have that narrow, fearful quality that it has if you’re just concerned about what you’re going to gain, being afraid that other people will take away what you’ve got. You realize that you … 
  15. Universal Truths
     … Let the talk be in the background — because the Dhamma is found inside the mind. The Dhamma in words is just pointers. As you listen to the talk, remind yourself that the words are pointing inside your mind. If you’re inside your mind paying attention to what you’re doing, you’re already at the right place. You don’t need the talk … 
  16. Admirable Friendship
     … So we’re here to look, as the Buddha said, at the craving in our minds. The craving and the ignorance: Those are the main causes. We try to develop qualities of mind that can develop a sense of dispassion for the craving, that can cut through the ignorance with knowledge. That’s how suffering can be brought to an end. All of this … 
  17. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … It’s when you can do that that the mind is well trained. And, as the Buddha said, it’s the well trained mind that brings happiness.
  18. Perceptions Around Pain
     … It’s even better when you start noticing what the mind is doing. You can make up your mind that you’ll be equanimous in the face of the pain, that you won’t react. The effort put into being non-reactive* is* a type of proactivity, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done to understand the pain. You want … 
  19. The Sublime Attitudes
    The Sublime Attitudes July, 2003 The Buddha’s teachings on skillful qualities of mind come in clusters: five this, seven that. Even the one quality that’s always appropriate — mindfulness — is always taught in the context of clusters. To begin with, it’s paired with alertness: Mindfulness means keeping something in mind, as when we keep reminding ourselves to stay with the breath as … 
  20. Tools of Perception
     … One of them is jam, which means to remember, but it also means to fix something in your mind. In the dictionary of the Raja Pandit Sathan, which is like the Académie Française of Thailand, the definition of jam is kamnot: You fix something in the mind. You label it. You identify it, saying that this is this and that’s that. That act … 
  21. Calming the Breath
     … You’ve got a full-body framework for your mind to focus on, and it’s easeful. It feels good. The mind is a lot more likely to stay and to develop a sense of rapture, a sense of fullness. As you breathe in and breathe out, nothing’s being forced; nothing’s being pushed. It feels really good. At the same time, you … 
  22. Load next page...