Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 149
  2. Feeding on Ardency
     … This is why the mind is able to observe itself. A lot of times consciousness feeds on junk food. As we all know, the Buddha said it’s because of our feeding habits that we suffer. But you can’t just stop feeding—it’d be deadly. Think of the food of intention. One sure-fire way of putting someone into a deep depression … 
  3. A Noble Choice
     … You work hard to develop good qualities in the mind— generosity and virtue—but then their rewards erode those qualities. You get lazy, you get a sense of entitlement, you stop creating the causes for your heavenly pleasures, and then you fall. And you fall hard. Very few heavenly beings, the Buddha said, return to the human realm or to the heavenly realm. Many … 
  4. Sensitive in Seven Ways
     … It’s in the actual quality of the mind. When the Buddha talks about being generous, when he talks about having goodwill, it’s not just in the words. You want to see what those words are for—the qualities inside your own mind that they’re pointing at. They’re giving you pointers in where and how you can develop yourself. Having a … 
  5. If These Walls Could Talk
     … If things aren’t good enough in the mind, what can you do to make them better? Because you do have that power. Now, all of this assumes that other principle: practicing the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma. The Buddha talks about the fact that we’re training the mind in virtue, concentration, discernment, or what he calls heightened virtue, heightened mind, heightened … 
  6. Determination
     … As long as the mind still has desire, it’s going to keep on being reborn again and again. The problem is our desires are so random: As the Buddha once said, the mind is so variegated it’s even more variegated than the animal kingdom. It’s capable of taking on all kinds of identities, having desires for all kinds of things. So … 
  7. Who Are You Trying to Please?
     … To get past the disturbances of the perception of wilderness, you bring the mind to concentration. The mind is totally with, say, the breath, or any of the formless states. You can drop the concerns of being in the wilderness. When you’ve settled down, it’s just you and the breath. Or as the Buddha recommends in that particular sutta, you hold on … 
  8. On the Surface of Things
     … A little thought will appear in the mind and immediately disappear. Things will come together in the mind and they seem to form a block. But they’re very much like the songs of the thrush, where a thrush will sing a series of notes, and it sounds to us as if it’s singing a blast of about five or six notes all … 
  9. Urgency & Contentment
     … All kinds of dangers face the mind. Remember: You’re born with a body. That body is open to all kinds of things happening to it. What are you going to do if you suddenly find your body in a really bad situation? You’ve got this mind. And again, lots of things can happen to you. As long as there’s attachment, the … 
  10. Right Fear
     … At the same time, when you follow the precepts in difficult situations, they give you the sense of integrity that makes it easy for the mind to settle down. If you can train yourself to be consistent in making what you see as the skillful choice at any given time, the mind has a lot less remorse, a lot less self-recrimination afterwards. Even … 
  11. Examine Your Happiness
     … The teaching is basically about training the mind to end stress and find true happiness, but of these terms, only “training” is defined. In the case of happiness and stress, he gives examples but he doesn’t provide a formal definition. And I think part of the reason is that he wants you to take a close look at where you search for your … 
  12. The Need for Agency
     … As you’re sitting here right now, there are some things appearing in the mind caused by what you’re doing right now; other things appearing in the mind are a result of past actions. So, there are some things that are happening in the mind that you don’t take responsibility for right now because they come from past actions and can’t … 
  13. Hold on to Right View
    We’re here focusing on the present moment, watching the breath in the present moment, watching the mind in the present moment. What’s the theory behind that? Why are we doing this? After all, there’s not much here, while there are so many other issues out in the world right now. Why are we focusing here? It’s because the choices you … 
  14. Twigs & Branches
     … As the issue of how to make the breath stay with the mind and how to make the mind stay with the breath gets more resolved, then you can use your powers of evaluation to look at other things. You contemplate anything that you might be holding onto that’s getting in the way of the concentration—such as thoughts that ensnare the mind … 
  15. Putting out the Flame
     … That’s the recipe for getting the mind into right concentration, but it’s also the recipe for learning how to see things in a way that goes beyond concentration. We’re trying to take apart this craving for further becoming, so we look at these events in the mind, events in the body, that we would ordinarily use to create our narratives, create … 
  16. Non-Reactive Judgment
     … That’s the equanimity of training the mind to be like earth, but you can’t stop there. To make the mind solid enough so that when it looks at something, it’s not tempted to go for it, it has to have an inner sense of well-being. This is the type of equanimity the Buddha recommends. It requires either the well-being … 
  17. Limitations
     … Again, think of the committee of the mind. You don’t have to identify with every voice that comes up in the mind. You don’t have to identify with every feeling that goes through the body. Ajaan Lee’s picture of what’s going on inside you is even more radical than the image of the committee of the mind. He says that … 
  18. Dharma Medicine
     … This way, you learn the power of perception and you get practice in how to practice medicine for the mind, because it’s only through hands-on experience in learning how to direct the mind in new ways like this that you can finally get the mind to the place where it doesn’t need any more medicine. At that point, the Buddha says … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. Values of the Noble Ones
     … Of course, that’s not the mindfulness the Buddha taught. His mindfulness is designed to provide you with the tools you need to recognize: When something skillful has come into the mind, you try to encourage it. And how you encourage it: You remember that. When unskillful things come into the mind, how do you abandon them? You try to remember that. You keep … 
  21. Patience
    The nature of the mind is purposeful. As the Buddha says, we engage in different activities that he classes under the aggregates, and each of those aggregates — whether it’s form, feeling, perception, thought constructs, or consciousness — is something we fabricate for the sake of something else. In other words, we have means and we have goals. The goals are either directly or indirectly … 
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