Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 163
  2. Honesty
     … This is why so much of our training focuses on the mind, because your actions come out of your mind. Your intentions shape what you do and determine the results of your actions. A lot of the practice is a question of skill in how to act in such a way that avoids suffering, and then finally cuts through the causes of suffering. That … 
  3. Dignity in the Face of Hardship
     … The choice to train the mind so that it keeps its processes of fabrication headed in the right direction is something that we can always do. We can always fabricate a comfortable breath. We can fabricate our inner conversation around the breath. We can fabricate the perceptions that we bring to the meditation. When we learn these skills in the meditation, we can apply … 
  4. A Cocoon of Energy
     … It’s good to get the mind used to that perception so that you don’t feel cast adrift. The more steadily you can hold on to this perception, the better. This way, you learn how to replace your preconceived notions with the Buddha’s perceptions. Now, some people may complain that his perceptions are also preconceived notions. And it’s true, but they … 
  5. Strength from Within
     … Ajaan Lee, when he was giving a Dhamma talk to one of his students who was on her deathbed, reminded her that strength of the body and strength of the mind keep us going, but ultimately we have to depend on strength of the mind. When he talked about conviction, he said it really comes down to the precepts. If you really are convinced … 
  6. Bigger than the World
     … Meanwhile, allow the mind some time to be in this other zone, the zone where you’re not in a world, where you’re not in your self. You’re here with events in and of themselves, right here, present in the body. The Thai ajaans talk a lot about this. They say, “When you’re sitting here like this, are you a woman … 
  7. In Your Right Mind at Death
     … That requires that you’ve had at least a glimpse of the deathless, so that you know there is something in the mind that’s outside of space and time. Death goes only as far as space and time. There’s something in the mind that death can’t touch. When you’ve seen that, as the Buddha says, there’s no fear about … 
  8. Cornered
     … You can either direct yourself to places that will be conducive to the practice, or you can deal with what’s coming up in the mind right then and there, and gain release. That’s possible, too. But it all depends on how you learn to fabricate your experience here in the present moment while the body is still strong. So what have you … 
  9. Making a Refuge
     … Those are especially good because given all the other things that are sloshing around in the back of the mind, it’s good to have some Dhamma passages that teach you heedfulness sloshing around there as well. Then there’s the quality of being compliant, in which you take instruction well. Even though you may not 100 percent agree with it, you give it … 
  10. The Buddha’s Narrative
     … developing mindfulness, alertness, concentration, ardency, and all the skillful qualities of the mind. He was able to bring his mind to good solid concentration. Then he started asking questions: Was this his only life or were there other lives? In other words, is life preceded by nothing or is it preceded by other lives, is it followed by other lives? He remembered back many … 
  11. Self-Healing
     … So these are the things you need to use to get the mind to settle down: Focus on the breath. Talk to yourself about the breath until you figure out what kind of breathing is most comfortable. And then you create feelings and use perceptions: an image of the breath flowing through the body, say. You can ask yourself, “Where does the breath come … 
  12. A Friend to the World, A Friend to Yourself
     … If another part of the mind says, “I can’t put up with goodness all the time, I need to have some time to relax,” this is what meditation is for. In fact, all the forms of strength that the Buddha talks about are there for giving your goodness the power it needs so that you don’t have to be taking goodness from … 
  13. In Line with the Dhamma
     … There’s a voice in the mind that says, “You won’t be able to do this. Don’t even try.” All too often we listen to that voice. It’s a very stubborn voice. It would rather be miserable in its own way than put out the extra effort required to find true happiness. So if you find that voice inside, recognize it … 
  14. Metta
     … So we’re not just trying to browbeat the mind into having metta by repeating phrases over and over again. We have to think about it and what it means. In terms of the image of the committee of the mind, there are lots of committee members who have their ideas about what’s good about ill will, and you’ve got to learn … 
  15. How to Change
     … So as the Buddha’s teaching you, he’s noticing that the way you talk to yourself, the way you breathe, the way you hold different feelings and perceptions in the mind is causing you to suffer, and he wants you to change. He’s trying to teach you how to fabricate in a new way right then and there. That’s why the … 
  16. Abandoning Craving
     … You get the mind still, and you start seeing these things in action. As I was saying last night, as you practice concentration, you get a better and better sense of the aggregates and a better sense of the different operations that go into creating a thought-world. You get to have a chance to see precisely where you’re attracted to something, because … 
  17. The Source of Goodness
     … If you learn to be at ease with the breath, sensitive to the breath, you know what’s going on in the mind, because the breath does mirror the events in the mind. That puts you a lot more in touch with what’s going on inside. Thoughts and emotions will show up in the breath. You can use the skills we’ve been … 
  18. Vows
     … These are pretty harsh images but they’re harsh on purpose, for when the mind gets fixated on a sensual pleasure it doesn’t want to listen to anybody. It’s not going to be swayed by soft, gentle images. You have to keep reminding yourself in strong terms that if you really look at sensual pleasures, there’s nothing much: no true gratification … 
  19. Determined to Practice
     … to abandon unskillful behavior, to get the mind into concentration, to develop discernment, to gain release. All these things follow naturally from the initial conditions. The problem is those initial conditions: Those are the things that do require an act of will. They don’t happen on their own. There are two primary ones that the Buddha mentions. One is friendship with admirable people … 
  20. The Duty to Understand
     … Once the stress and suffering of that first noble truth is done with, then the inherent stress of the aggregates doesn’t weigh on the mind anymore, because you’re not dragging it in to burden the mind. In other words, the stress that remains: It doesn’t matter. The stress that weighs down the heart: It’s gone.
  21. Separate
     … This is why we focus on our awareness in the present moment, directing it first to the breath, so that we can leave thoughts of past and future, and get all the mind gathered around one thing. Try to expand the breath—your sense of the breath—so that it fills the whole body and feels good throughout the whole body. They talk about … 
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