Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 158
  2. In the Light of Karma
     … The mind gets still for a while, you have a chance to come out here, and they come up. I remember my first year back in Thailand. All of a sudden, issues from grade school, high school, college, family issues, all kinds of things started coming up. Things I’d forgotten for years. But when the mind is still, they can come bubbling up … 
  3. Anger
     … But then as you go through the day, you begin to notice that you’re using these same three things to create states of becoming in the mind, and a state of anger is a very particular kind of becoming. It gives you a sense of freedom from certain constraints. Things you would never in your right mind think of doing or saying, you … 
  4. Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Space
     … In terms of concentration, there’s that nice passage where the Buddha gives instructions to Rahula, even before Rahula starts doing breath meditation, saying, “Make your mind like earth,” he says. Earth doesn’t get disturbed by nice things or unpleasant things. You can throw garbage on earth, and earth doesn’t react. This is a good image to hold in mind when you … 
  5. Goal Orientation
     … Finally, he read the leader’s mind back to the leader. He had been reading his mind all along, but finally he announced, “This is what you’ve been thinking, and it’s stupid.” This scared the leader. Because they were fire-worshipping ascetics, he used the image of fire. Fire, for them, was something that was all-pervasive, and something they thought they … 
  6. The Larger View
     … Even before you’ve carried it out, you’ve set the mind in the right direction. When you look at the larger picture, you’ll see that there are lots of stories of how people have turned themselves around, done unexpected things. Fact is often a lot stranger than fiction because the mind can change very quickly. As the Buddha said, the mind can … 
  7. sBeyond Acceptance
    You’re free to choose what you want to do with your mind during this hour. You have that power of choice. The question is, how to make the best use of it? You can focus on the breath and you can breathe in ways that feel good, or you can breathe in ways that don’t feel good. So you ask yourself, “Why … 
  8. Freedom from Beliefs
     … freedom from suffering, freedom from all the limitations we place on ourselves, whether those limitations are dressed up as the bad side of the mind or the good side of the mind. You’ve got to watch out for them, especially the ones that seem good. You’ve got to learn how to question them. What attitudes do you have to put aside immediately … 
  9. The Buddha’s Program
     … The mind has its little inner agreements. And here again, you might ask yourself, who you’re agreeing with when you follow a particular program. Is it still Daffy Duck? Can’t you agree with somebody better? The Buddha gives you ways to think, ways to breathe, perceptions to hold in mind. Try to drill them into yourself, so that they’re present in … 
  10. Self Power, Other Power
     … If you mistreat him when he’s small, he’s going to remember that.” That principle applies to little tiny defilements in the mind. But it also applies to the good things in the mind as well. Whatever amount of concentration, whatever amount of mindfulness you’re able to muster: If you look after them, they’ll grow. And just because they’re not … 
  11. The Meaning of the Body
     … And it’s a great dissolver for the narratives the mind spins for itself. Once the mind spins its narratives, it snares itself, like a spider caught in its own web. Someone once said that the universe isn’t made out of atoms, it’s made out of stories. That may not be true of the physical universe, but the universe of our lives … 
  12. Tap, Tap, Tap
     … This breath comes in, that breath goes out, but the mind has run down to the end of the hour, come back again, back to the end of the hour, come back again, many times. No wonder it gets tired. It hasn’t seen what it’s doing. Remember: The focus here is, “What are you doing right now?” After all, the defilements are … 
  13. Volunteer Spirit
     … And many times the ajaans will say, “When you’re here practicing the Dhamma, remember you’re here to patipat your own mind, you’re looking after the needs of your mind.” Your mind needs training, your mind needs to find the source of true happiness if you want to be happy. So you’re not here under any obligation. You’re not being … 
  14. Potentials
     … There are potentials in the mind, like the potential for sensuality. It may lie latent, but it doesn’t take much to provoke it. And the fact that we have these potentials, both good and bad, is what allows us to practice. You probably know the passage where the Buddha says that you look at form, feeling, perception, fabrication and consciousness, and you ask … 
  15. Breath Energies
    An emotion is a thought that has an impact not only on the mind but also on the body. And it has that impact through the breath. Not only the in-and-out breath, but also the breath energies moving throughout the different parts of the body: along the blood vessels, along the nerves. It’s strange that some people don’t even think … 
  16. The Power is in Your Hands
     … And two, you have to recognize the extent to which it’s coming out of the mind. This is why the Buddha chose the word “origination.” Throughout the Canon, he uses this word primarily to talk about things caused by factors coming from within the mind. His analysis, of course, points us right here: The craving that causes suffering is not somebody else’s … 
  17. The Skill of Patience
     … Now, part of your mind may say, “Well, I’d like to see them suffer a little bit first, so that they could have a taste of what they’ve done to others.” But then you can ask yourself, “Is that a part of the mind that you really want to encourage?” Then you start thinking: “If they’re going to be happy through … 
  18. The Armored Car
     … And the driver is mindfulness. As the Buddha says, it’s a protective driver. You drive in such a way that you keep the vehicle safe. Mindfulness, of course, is the ability to keep things in mind. And what we keep in mind is the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. We start with the fact that there was a Buddha. He found this … 
  19. Self-Starting
     … Realize that there are people in the world who can read minds. When you’re getting discouraged, what are they going to think if they read yours? You’d be embarrassed for them to see your thoughts. But you also realize that most people who can read minds—and the kind of people you’d want to look good in the eyes of—also … 
  20. Interdependence & Death
     … Then turn around and look at your mind. If it starts wondering about next week’s work or tomorrow’s work, just tell yourself, “Okay, suppose I were already dead. It wouldn’t matter. What would matter at that point?” The qualities you build into the mind—or the qualities that strengthen the mind’s good side and also allow you to abandon the … 
  21. Empathetic Joy
     … Cast your mind out. Think of some examples and ask yourself, “Why would you not be happy for their happiness?” At some point, you’ll come around to the quality of resentment in the mind. If you’re sitting here breathing easily, and the mind is beginning to settle down, you can ask yourself, “Why would you want to engage in resentment? Someone else … 
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