Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 171
  2. With Reference to the World
    The body in and of itself, feelings in and of themselves, the mind in and of itself, mental qualities in and of themselves: Notice the “in and of itself” or “in and of themselves” here. That’s the important point of what we’re trying to focus on. Take the body, for instance. Just try to be with the sensation of the body you … 
  3. Goodwill & Heedfulness
     … It’s always important to keep that perspective in mind, that context in mind, when you’re developing goodwill as a meditation practice. We’re developing goodwill because there are dangers if we don’t. You can see them in the principle of kamma: If you act on ill will, you’ll create bad kamma. In fact, when the Buddha talks about developing goodwill … 
  4. Desires Rightly Directed
     … It’s hard to get your mind around it, and fortunately you don’t have to get your mind around it. All you have to do is learn how to develop your sense of values, put them in line with the Buddha’s values, and direct yourself rightly. Use the three perceptions to let go of things that would pull you back. Keep the … 
  5. The Power of Attention
     … Causes and conditions from the past would determine the present… But the first kind of causality opens the possibility that you can change your mind now, and it’ll have an impact now. That’s what we’re focusing on as we meditate. Of course, we’re dealing with this body, we’re dealing with this mind, and there are things in the body … 
  6. Faith in the Buddha’s Awakening
     … So keep these points in mind because they give you energy even when things seem to be closing in on you. There is an escape. There is an opening. Freedom is possible. And the quality of the mind is much more important than the mere survival of the body. Believing this helps you keep your values straight, that even if you don’t get … 
  7. Happiness – Yours & Others’
     … You’re trying to see if what the Buddha taught was true, that we gain happiness by training the mind. And you do it the only way you can do it: by training your own mind, by putting his teachings to the test. This, of course, puts you to the test as well, because if you’re going to give a fair evaluation of … 
  8. Not-self, Not No Self
    When you meditate, you’re taking responsibility for your mind: the thoughts that you’re going to act on, the thoughts that you’re going to focus on, how you focus on them, with what purpose. You’re being responsible because you realize that your actions will have an important impact now and on into the future. You want to make sure that the … 
  9. The World Is Aflame
    The eye is burning; the ear, the nose, tongue, body, the mind is burning. All six senses, the Buddha said, are burning with aging, illness, and death; passion, aversion, delusion. And those six senses are both his definition of the world and his definition of old kamma. It’s not a very life-affirming or world-affirming view, but it does affirm something else … 
  10. Judging Your Meditation
     … That person’s mind is that person’s mind; your mind is your mind. It’s like comparing yourself to other people in the doctor’s waiting room. There’s no contest as to who has the most interesting disease, or who has the most advanced disease or whatever. We all have our diseases, and the fact that your meditation is subject to ups … 
  11. Cornered
     … If you’re mindful, alert, and ardent, you can resist the temptation to go places that won’t be conducive to the practice. 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 … 
  12. Guiding Truths
     … From there you develop all the other factors of the path, particularly right concentration, which gives the mind the strength it needs in order to pull away from the craving, to pull out of its old habits. Because the mind needs pleasure, you give it the pleasure of concentration. Once it has the pleasure of concentration, it has a point of comparison from which … 
  13. What Made the Buddha Exclaim
     … a state of mind where the happiness is totally unshakable. There’s a whole series of verses where the Buddha talks about how the mind of an awakened one doesn’t quiver at all in response to either pleasure or pain. Totally solid, a happiness that can’t be touched by anything else: That’s what we’re practicing for. In the case of … 
  14. Delight in Conviction
     … You’re focusing on your mind in the present moment because your mind in the present moment has a lot of potential power, and you want to learn how to use it well. There are a lot of potentials you have here for understanding yourself, understanding your breath, understanding the way you talk to yourself, understanding the perceptions you hold in mind—even the … 
  15. The Best of a Bad Situation
     … When you realize that this is not useful at this very moment, as a good meditator you should learn how to put it aside even when it’s screaming in your mind again and again and again. Your attitude has to be, okay, maybe I can’t get you out of the mind but at least I’m not going to let you have … 
  16. Daily-Life Dhamma
     … Maybe your mind is racing with all sorts of great sarcastic replies to something someone says, but you realize, “Nope, it’s not going to be worth it.” You learn how to keep a lid on things. Now, this requires that you learn how to not turn the mind into a pressure cooker. Again, you remind yourself that you’re better off by not … 
  17. Other People
     … As you get more and more interested in this, you get a sense of well-being not only in the body but also in the mind—because it’s not running around all over the place. It can rest. Now, be careful when you rest not to drift off. You have to be very, very mindful of what you’re doing. This is why … 
  18. Dhamma Opportunism
     … But with goodness, you take it with you by leaving some goodness behind—in your relationship with other people and the way you deal with your mind. The inner and the outer goodness are connected. Any goodness you leave behind by being unburdensome, by being content, also goes with you as a strength in the mind. So it’s not a matter of just … 
  19. How to Change
     … It can help you develop qualities of mind that would be useful, at the very least so that you can fabricate with knowledge and can see all the various layers in the mind where it sides with the defilements that are out to destroy your true happiness. He’s also teaching new ways to talk to yourself. This is why we have all those … 
  20. Respect, Confidence, & Patience
     … There are lots of techniques for dealing with all different kinds of problems in the mind. When teachers give you just one technique, it’s sort of one-size-fits-all, or Henry Ford’s old maxim: People can have whatever color car they want as long as it’s black. Given the complexity of the mind, there’s no way that one single … 
  21. Rapture
     … If you can nourish and protect this sense of fullness, then you begin to notice any movements of the mind that might disturb it. You see where the mind is hungry and how it often goes out looking for what’s basically junk food to assuage its hunger. Now, however, you realize you don’t have to do that, for you’ve got something … 
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