Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 181
  2. Seeing with the Body
    Seeing with the Body January 6, 2006 One of the Buddha’s essential insights was that the suffering that really weighs down the mind is a suffering we create — and it’s unnecessary. Even though we create it and we suffer from it, we cling to it. This has some unexpected implications. One is that for a lot of us, if we didn’t … 
  3. Sensitivity Through Generosity
     … They’re not learning the lessons that come from looking at the people around you – looking at their expressions, listening to the tone of voice, seeing what they’re doing and casting around in your mind to ask yourself, “What do they need? What are they lacking? Is there something I’ve got that they could use?” It’s through reestablishing human contact that … 
  4. Your Sketches vs. the Buddha’s
     … You look at the suttas, and some suttas say that mindfulness comes before discernment. Others say that discernment comes before mindfulness. There’s a little bit of variation here and there, but both variations are right. So when we’re looking at the Canon, we’re looking at the Buddha’s sketchbook. Try to find a sketch that seems to correspond best to what … 
  5. Bigger than the World
     … in other words, thoughts of being mindful, being alert, being ardent here in the practice; staying with the breath, getting really interested in the breath, the fact that you’ve got this breath here, right here, right now. This is why, when we practice mindfulness, it’s the body in and of itself, without any reference to the world. So what have you got … 
  6. Delight in the Breath
     … If you don’t have this pleasure inside, he said, then no matter how clearly you see the drawbacks of sensuality, you’re going to go back for it, because the mind needs pleasure. It needs a sense of well-being. **So let’s try to provide it inside. As you’re sensitive to the breath, what is there in the breath that’s … 
  7. A Refuge from Aging, Illness, & Death
     … It’s easy to shove him away, to blank him out of our minds as if he never existed. Yet when we do that, who are we benefiting? We’re not benefiting ourselves, we’re not benefiting the ones around us. So you always want to keep him in mind. That’s the other meaning of sarana: On the one hand it means refuge … 
  8. Nurturing Patient Endurance
     … The more you can get interested in the breath, the less you’ll be worried about the things that are weighing down the mind in other areas. So talk to yourself about the breath. Some people find that that spot where they’re very sensitive to the breath is right around the area of the heart, the area of the sternum. How do you … 
  9. Attachment vs. Affection
     … When we apply it to the mind, the mind’s upadana is a place where it looks for happiness—when you feel that the life of your happiness depends on having this person, that situation: whatever it is to keep your happiness alive. For most of us, our emotional feeding is on other people. This is the aspect of our relationships that the Buddha … 
  10. Attention & Intention
     … Some of them have only a little impact on the mind. Some of them have a huge impact on the mind. But they all bite, bite, bite away. Ajaan Fuang once described an experience he had in his meditation. Looking back on it, I’d say that he was probably talking about his experience of stream-entry. He said he came out of it … 
  11. Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity
     … But without the goodwill, equanimity turns into indifference and coldness, which I don’t think is what the Buddha had in mind when he was teaching equanimity. You have to start with goodwill, a desire for happiness, a happiness that’s lasting, a happiness that’s harmless. Part of being harmless is that you realize if your happiness does harm somebody else, they’re … 
  12. Abandoning Craving
     … Focus your desires on qualities of mind that will get you out: mindfulness, alertness, ardency, concentration, discernment. These are all good things to desire. That kind of desire for change is actually part of the path. So look to see where the suffering is and why you would desire it. We don’t think we desire suffering, but that’s what the Buddha says … 
  13. Chanting on Your Own
     … Now in general, meditation is helped by chanting simply because if you’ve been going through the day picking up different issues, different concerns, and the time comes to meditate, it’s good to have something to empty those issues and concerns out of the mind, to give you a different perspective, to think about the Buddha—the fact that we have a Buddha … 
  14. Cutting Edge Perceptions
     … When you’re trying to keep the precepts and you’re feeling very strongly tempted to break a precept, there’ll be that voice in the mind that says, “You’re going to give in a little way down the line, so why not just give in right now?” And you’ve got to say, “No. I’m responsible for right now. I’m … 
  15. An Issue of Control
     … So the issue is not whether it’s permanent or not; the issue is the fact that the mind constantly wants to cling, constantly wants to control. Now there are some areas where your control is useful, and this is why we have the path. You need a certain amount of control over your mind so that you can follow the path. This is … 
  16. Freedom
     … All the thoughts and cares about your job, about your family, about all the things that the mind weighs itself down with: You don’t have to think about those things at all. That’s the freedom. The restriction is that you’re asked to stay with one topic, the breath. When you compare the two, the freedom is more important. In the course … 
  17. Allies
     … Even if it doesn’t push out all the sense of dis-ease in the mind, at least it gives you a place to stay from which you can watch the sense of dis-ease, both in the body and in the mind, from a position where you don’t feel threatened by it. This is where you can really put to use the … 
  18. A Sense of Adventure
     … Part of the mind says, “Well, I’d like to have it done fast so I can go off and do something else.” But there also has to be another part of the mind that says, “If you try to speed it up, you could ruin it. So keep doing what you’re doing.” Even though the results don’t appear as quickly as … 
  19. Appropriate Attention Plus Admirable Friendship
     … That’s one of the duties of mindfulness, and that’s how you pay appropriate attention here. If a pain comes up, remember that the Buddha said to investigate, comprehend. We don’t try to run away from it; we don’t try to get rid of it. We’re trying to make the mind solid enough so that we can look: “What is … 
  20. In the Mood to Meditate
     … training your mind. You recognize that the suffering you cause yourself and others is something that you can learn how not to do. You’re taking responsibility for it. And you’re going to learn the skills that help you to stop doing the cause that gives rise to suffering, whatever that cause may be. This is a good thing. There are so many … 
  21. The Thoroughbred Horse
     … Right mindfulness, right concentration: These are good qualities to develop in the mind. And that goodness doesn’t change. When you look around and see other people are not doing it, you can’t let that set you back. You have to respect the fact that everybody has freedom of choice. If you wait until everybody agrees that this is a good thing, the … 
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