Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 181
  2. Pride
     … After all, there are so many qualities of the mind that we need to work on. And different people around us may be strong in some areas and weak in others. If you look down on them for their weaknesses or get offended by their behavior, you’re not going to be able to learn from their strengths. And that places a limitation on … 
  3. Is the Buddha’s Wisdom Selfish?
     … When we loosen the need to feed on people and things outside, then we can start turning around to look at this feeding inside, to see how the mind can go beyond that. Because ideally what you want is a mind that doesn’t need to feed at all. Not because you tell it to stop, but because it’s found something inside that … 
  4. At Home in Your Own Skin
     … This is why you focus on the breath, because the breath, of all the different elements and properties in the body, is the one that’s closest to the mind. And it’s the one you can use to adjust all the other properties so that you feel at home. Adjusting the breath is like knowing how to run a thermostat in your home … 
  5. Memory & Motivation
     … Another useful motivation, another application of heedfulness, is when the voice in the mind says, “I’ve got to worry about this, I’ve got to worry about that, I don’t have time to meditate.” You don’t know how much longer you’re going to be alive, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but you do … 
  6. Cleaning Out the Stables
     … At the moment you left your last life, some image related to the human world appeared in the mind, and you went for it. The human world developed around it, and you took on this identity as a human being in the world. The Canon has a very vivid image for this: a crow sitting in a human skull. We like to think that … 
  7. Write It Down in Your Heart
     … Nothing even goes in, much less stays in the mind. In the Buddha’s terms, they don’t attend to the talk. Attending is more than just listening, or lending ear. It means thinking about the talk in terms of, “How does this apply to me, especially my problem of suffering?” The person of lap discernment listens to the talk, pays attention, asks those … 
  8. The Buddha’s Compassion
     … We sometimes think about the kindness of our parents, the kindness of our teachers, and part of the mind will say, “Well, they had to be kind to us.” If our parents had aborted us or thrown us away, they would have broken the law. So in some cases, they felt compelled to look after us. But with the Buddha, there was no compulsion … 
  9. Courage
     … As he himself once said, when he realized that he’d have to give up his sensual passions in order to get the mind into concentration, his heart didn’t leap up at the idea. But still, when he realized that there were advantages to be gained from giving up those passions, he put them aside. So we have his example. He didn’t … 
  10. Taking Responsibility
     … The fact that you could get the mind into the first jhana, say, and that could be part of the path to awakening: That wasn’t taught anywhere else. So his story is showing what we can do. We have this possibility of acting in such a way that does lead to awakening. We can look at our actions and reflect on them, and … 
  11. Determination
     … We’re developing all kinds of good qualities of the mind. So you can look at your whole life as an opportunity to practice. This doesn’t mean that you just try to be mindful all the time or alert or aware all the time. There are many other qualities you’ve got to develop, too. One of the lists that’s useful to … 
  12. Light Your Way
     … You have to be virtuous, generous, develop your discernment, so that you can understand how the mind is creating suffering for itself. And then when you get there, you have to be extra specially careful, not to get complacent. If you have this right attitude, it’s like driving in a car. You’re driving at night, but you’ve got headlights. As long … 
  13. Wise about Pain
     … Are you staying with the breath? If not, what can you do to get it back? If you are, what can you do to get more sensitive to what’s going on? At the same time, be alert to how your mind is having an effect on the breath, how the breath is having an effect on the mind, and how you can improve … 
  14. Compassion Without Clinging
     … When you’ve got the mind independent like that, that’s a mind you can trust. And that’s a mind that doesn’t have to suffer. So when you think about the Buddha’s shoulds, remember they’re not imposed on us. They’re ways in which the Buddha opens opportunities for us to live in this world of our likes and dislikes … 
  15. Action & Result
     … When the mind gets well-fed with the concentration, clear with the concentration, then you start asking the right questions. And again, these are questions of action and result—the kinds of questions the Buddha said are categorical, which don’t need to be rephrased, they don’t need to be cross-examined. The questions are good in and of themselves. And the answers … 
  16. Savor Your Breath
     … With a guitar, what sounds good to you? What harmonies hit a soft spot in your body or mind? With the breath, what feels good to you as you breathe in? You want to get sensitive to this, because you’re going to be getting sensitive to what the Buddha calls name and form. “Name” covers all the different activities of the mind. “Form … 
  17. Keeping the Buddha in Mind
     … Try to train your mind.” Look at every aspect of your life as a part of developing good qualities in the mind: When you’re kind, when you have goodwill for everybody you’re dealing with, when you’re patient, when you’re harmless—the qualities you need to master when you’re dealing with other people—you’re also developing good qualities in … 
  18. A Good Buddhist Ego
     … You get the mind into concentration and you don’t think about the fact that you’re doing the concentration, it’s just a process that you’ve mastered so smoothly by that point it becomes almost automatic. Your sense of self is not called into question. There’s nothing to obstruct what you want to do. It’s when you meet up with … 
  19. In the Context of the Path
     … You see that the path is made out of aggregates? Well, you’re supposed to let go of aggregates, right? That’s what discernment is supposed to do, right? Even before you’ve got the mind in concentration, you try to develop you’ve heard is discernment, and that can stop you from developing what you need to develop. Think of the image of … 
  20. Smart vs. Wise
     … Otherwise, the mind will go sneaking off to find a hit of pleasure wherever it can. So sublimation is what helps anticipation to work. These are aspects of a healthy sense of self. And the Buddha advises that we develop and maintain these attitudes. Again, you hear that when you hit the end of the path there’s no sense of I or mine … 
  21. Not-self in Context
     … Why latch on to it if latching on is going to involve suffering?” You’ve probably realized that thoughts come up in the mind, and at first they seem interesting and entertaining. They have a lot of potential, so you go into them. Then they turn on you. They get out of your control, which is another reason you don’t want to hold … 
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