Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 185
  2. The Limits of Interconnectedness
     … And as you die, as you go towards death, for focus is going to be forced more and more into this area right here, right now, i.e., your direct experience of your mind, your direct experience of your body, how body and mind feel from within. You want to make sure that you’ve developed the tools from within, so that when you … 
  3. Reflecting on the Requisites
     … And no matter how much the mind may try to weave a web of gratification, satisfaction, something special around that pleasure, you realize that that web does nothing but trap you into hungering for the pleasure again. Psychologists say that people are pretty bad at gauging the pleasure they’ve had in the past and deciding whether or not they want to try to … 
  4. Strength from the Basics
     … There are two things to keep in mind. One is that you want to keep your priorities straight: Focus on the basics, focus on the really important issues in life. Then, if there’s something you can’t manage, let that be in the area that’s not important. And notice that, after Ajaan Suwat had his accident, he suffered some brain damage and … 
  5. Your Committee of Addicts
     … And these are the different roles that the mind plays. This is where the committee of the mind comes from, taking on these different roles. Some members of the committee can think only of sensual pleasures. Others are very attached to their views about the world. Others are very attached to ideas of what should and shouldn’t be done. This includes people who … 
  6. The Need for Goodwill
     … The mind is basically changeable. It’s capable of all kinds of things, but we do all want to be happy. It’s just that we have some very confused notions of how that can be brought about.” We have to realize that if our happiness depends on anyone else’s suffering it’s not going to last. And particularly if it depends on … 
  7. Negativity
     … It’ll actually weaken you when you need to make your mind strong so that you don’t repeat the mistake. He recommends two things. One is a healthy sense of shame. Now, shame may sound very similar to guilt, but it’s not. It’s actually an aspect of self-esteem—basically, telling yourself that you’ve aimed at a good goal, you … 
  8. Comprehending Pain
     … You try to develop right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The third level of knowledge is knowing that all the factors of the path have been fully developed. So the Dhamma wheel is complete at the moment of awakening, as the Buddha said, when he had complete knowledge of these four noble truths … 
  9. Not-self Is a Value Judgment
     … But there are a lot of other identities lurking in the background of the mind. The identity of you at work, the identity of you at home, the identity of you as a feeder, as an enjoyer of sensual pleasures: all kinds of identities that you could take on right now. For the time being at least, you have to learn how to not … 
  10. Switch the Context
     … It’s all too easy when you sit down and close your eyes that a lot of the stories from the past will come flooding into your mind. They’ve been kept at bay as you go through the activities of your normal day, and now here’s an empty space, so they come flooding in. You need to find a few effective ways … 
  11. A Sense of Yourself
     … And in seeing the parts of the mind that don’t want to stick to the promise, that’s where you gain a lot of insight. But you don’t want to give in to them. In fact, if you give in to them, then the chance for insight is gone. It’s like finding out about the hidden currents in the bottom of … 
  12. Skillful Desire
     … Why am I having this setback? Why do I have to work so hard?” The mind is a complex thing. You may be making progress in one area and falling back in another—and it’s normal. There are times when you have to push yourself hard, and a part of the mind puts up a lot of resistance. Well, if you don’t … 
  13. The Four Noble Truths from Within
     … So we bring awareness to the breath, to the way the mind relates to the breath. Then we have perceptions and feelings. Those are the factors that fabricate the mind. What kind of perceptions are we going to bring to this process of being right here so that we can create feelings of well-being that can sustain us? These are all things you … 
  14. Truths That Are Noble
     … He told Rahula, “Look at your actions as you would look into a mirror.” You’re going to see your mind. It’s through purifying your actions that you purify the mind. So your gaze is always reflected back inward. The Buddha himself, when he was searching for awakening, took that attitude. Whenever he found himself in a blind alley, the first question was … 
  15. The Right Piece in the Right Puzzle
     … Fabrication consists of your directed thought and evaluation as you adjust the breath to fit with the mind, adjust the mind to fit with the breath, and then keep them there together. Then there’s consciousness, which is aware of all these things. You have to see that these things, too, once you’ve mastered the concentration, are stressful, and inconstant—and they’re … 
  16. Heedfulness Is Auspicious
     … Which is why he said in that verse that stands in the beginning of the Dhammapada: *The mind is the forerunner of all things. *Everything you’re going to experience comes out of the mind. So if you’re really heedful, you’re going to focus on the training of the mind to develop these skills. Then as aging, illness and death come, you … 
  17. The Value of Effort
     … Or on days when your mind is totally out of control, you have to be patient to sit through the storm. Find a spot in the body where you can get some shelter, to wait until the storm passes, but recognize that it is a storm and that it’s going to end. In the meantime, you’ve got to look after your well … 
  18. The Path of Mistakes
     … In this way you use your understanding of fabrication to deconstruct unskillful emotions, unskillful mind states, and then to develop skillful emotions and skillful mind states in their place. We don’t usually like the idea of constructing an emotion, or fabricating an emotion: It seems too artificial. But we do it all the time. It’s simply that we’re not conscious of … 
  19. The First Noble Truth
     … He says when you go out into the wilderness, you should have in mind the perception you’re in the wilderness. Then the perceptions of being back home, the perceptions of being with this person or that person, fade away. They seem a lot smaller. The concerns that go along with those perceptions are put in a new light. It’s called getting into … 
  20. Finding Extra Energy
     … And the Buddha said, “In the same way, you tune your effort to what you’re capable of, and then you tune the rest of the faculties – conviction, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment – to the amount of effort that’s just right for you.” So that’s one way of figuring out how much effort is the right amount: what you’re capable of. The … 
  21. Cutting the Fetters
     … You do what’s told in the description of right mindfulness. Those are the instructions for getting into concentration. Then when you attain concentration, you’re ready to contemplate things. This is exactly how the Buddha says you arrive at a place where the lower fetters have been cut. You start with your practice of concentration. You get really good at it. He compares … 
  22. Load next page...