Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 182
  2. Getting Untangled from Thorns
     … In the same way, we need our mind to be functioning well, so we have to untangle it carefully. Always hold in mind the fact that this is a long-term project we’re working on here, and a very delicate one. You can’t just rush through things. It’s also especially important not to get discouraged when you’ve worked through something … 
  3. Analyzing Suffering
     … the idea that every opinion has its truth, and then just staying there with the idea that that puts you in a secure place, nobody can attack you, you’re safe, you’re open-minded, nobody can accuse you of being close-minded. But you just hold on to the view. It doesn’t go anywhere. You can be attached to a view of … 
  4. A Pure Happiness
     … the sense of well-being, rapture, pleasure that comes as the mind begins to settle down into good, strong states of concentration. This is a form of happiness that the Buddha says to develop, work on it. Don’t be afraid of being attached here. After all, the nature of the mind is that it’s going to hold onto things, so give it … 
  5. Better to Give than to Consume
     … We want the bliss; we want the pleasure, the sense of freedom that we’ve heard that will come from mindfulness and concentration. But in order to consume those things, we first have to produce them. This is why, when the Buddha starts his teachings on the most basic levels, he starts with generosity. It’s the first of the perfections, the first of … 
  6. Deconstruct Your Emotions
     … Think of directed thought and evaluation as the full sentences that go through your mind, whereas the perceptions are just words or images. What kind of image do you have in mind when a difficult situation comes up? Are you the judge sitting way up on a seat where you can pass judgment on people down below you? You can end up passing some … 
  7. Reinvest Your Noble Treasures
     … Then, there are higher motivations: “Giving is good.” Or, “It’s not right that I have more than enough and other people don’t have enough.” Or because “It makes the mind serene.” You think less and less in terms of material rewards, but you still get rewards—you go to higher levels of heaven when you pass away. Even when giving is just … 
  8. Four Noble Truths to One
     … We don’t suffer from what’s coming into the mind. We suffer from what’s coming out of the mind. That’s what you have to abandon. But first you have to comprehend the suffering. As the Buddha says, aging, illness, and death are suffering. Not getting what you want; having to be with what you don’t like; having to be separated … 
  9. The Inner Saboteur
     … At the very least for this hour, let’s really get together and focus our attention on trying to do something about the mind, learning how to bring it to its object, how to keep it there, and really paying attention to what’s actually going on in the mind.” These, you might call them traitors inside you, the parts of you that sabotage … 
  10. Strategies for Happiness
     … But always keep in mind that even here the quest for happiness lies in the background. It’s the overriding issue. You first have to become skillful in the way you manage your happiness, realizing that being generous, being virtuous, training the mind are things you have to do; that you’re responsible for your happiness, and have to develop these qualities that are … 
  11. Ready for Death
     … The skillful way is to realize that the shape of your mind is going to determine where you’re going to go, so you’d better get your mind in good shape. Develop these skills of mindfulness, alertness, ardency, so that when the unexpected happens, when that moment comes, you’ll be prepared. You’ll know what to do. As the Buddha said, our … 
  12. True, Beneficial, Timely
     … This principle applies not only to your speech outside, but also to speech going on in your mind right now, as you’re meditating. It’s not that you’re not going to be thinking at all. You do have to think to get the mind to settle down. So you have to be able to judge what kind of thinking is the kind … 
  13. Look Around
     … After all, looking at things, making sure everything is straightened out from all sides, that’s what you’ve got to do with your mind. All too often we get in these vicious thought-cycles and we can’t get out because we can’t see another way of looking at things. Everything becomes very narrow: This has got to be that way; that … 
  14. Endurance & Equanimity
     … With equanimity, the mind is not affected by things it likes or doesn’t like. It has an ability to stay on an even keel. With endurance, you’re dealing with things you don’t like. Whether the mind is on an even keel or not, you’re able to hold yourself back and not react out of anger. It’s very closely related … 
  15. Truth
     … The other meaning of truthfulness is sticking to something once you’ve made up your mind that it’s what’s really worthwhile to do. The two qualities go together: Once you’ve noticed that something seems clearly and truly good, then you stick with it without betraying your knowledge or your understanding, until you get the true results you’re after. You have … 
  16. Free from Buddha Nature
     … You’ve got a mind that refuses to settle down? Well, that’s something that’s just going to take time. This doesn’t mean it’ll never settle down, or that your nature is unsettled—that you can never do it. It simply means that you’ve got a lot of habits to work through. That’s where patience and equanimity are important … 
  17. Fabricating Goodwill
     … This is going to require mindfulness, alertness, and determination. Once we’ve decided on a good goal, we have to make sure that the way we breathe, the way we talk to ourselves, the way we image the world to ourselves, is in line with that goal. As we leave meditation, we’re going to make sure that we carry that determination with us … 
  18. In Earnest
     … This is why the Buddha said to feed the mind in a different way, a way that gets it so strong that eventually you don’t have to feed anymore. The five strengths—conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment—are healthy food for the mind, food that teaches it to be more and more independent, less and less reliant on its old kinds of feeding … 
  19. Goodwill Is Respect
     … The voice of the commentator in the mind, which is one of the roles that our self plays, can often be very cruel, harsh, filled with ill will. That’s a lack of respect. So that voice has to be trained, because we do need a good commentator. As the Buddha said, you nourish the Dhamma by committing yourself to it and then reflecting … 
  20. When This Is, That Is
     … Make up your mind to stay here with every breath. If you slip off, just very patiently bring yourself back. And allow the breath to be comfortable. This is where there’s room for experimentation. There can be long breathing, short breathing, deep, shallow, fast, slow, broad, narrow. You can think of the breath energy coming in and out of the body at any … 
  21. Path & Raft
     … Why does the mind keep on creating stress and suffering for itself? And where are you going to look inside? How are you going to notice what the mind is doing to create these states of becoming that cause that stress? This is where you bring in the other elements of the path, and then you make the effort to stick with it. This … 
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