Search results for: "Becoming"

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  2. What’s Worth Doing?
     … The work of developing does require a state of becoming. In Pali, this is obvious. *Bhava *is the word for becoming. *Bhavana, *the word for meditation, means developing. So as you meditate, you develop a state of becoming. You take on an identity. But you take it on when it’s worth it. You let it go when it’s done its duty. So … 
  3. Willing to Learn
    Willing to Learn January 24, 2019 The Buddha talks a lot about the process of becoming, which is a combination of two things: one, a particular world of experience; and two, your identity in that world, your sense of who you are, what your capabilities are. And the two are very dependent on each other. You see this particularly when you go into a … 
  4. Fear of Death
     … That’s the process of what they call “becoming” and “birth.” The appearance of the image of the place is the becoming. Going into it is the birth. The same thing happens as you die—the big difference, of course, being that you’re going to be pushed out of the body. You can’t stay here anymore. When you’re sleeping, you voluntarily … 
  5. Bases for Success
     … If you sit there simply thinking about how much you’d like to get the mind quiet but without actually doing the work that needs to be done, the desire becomes an obstacle. So focus in on what you’re doing. Try to want to be with the breath, try to want to catch the mind, to want to get it back. Do what … 
  6. Categorical Truths
     … Suffering comes from three types of cravings—specifically, craving for sensuality, for becoming (to take on an identity in a world of experience because you have a desire for something in that world of experience), or craving for non-becoming (your desire’s been frustrated; that particular mental world or physical world is not satisfying you anymore and you want to get rid of … 
  7. Respect for Emptiness
     … When you take these lessons to heart and carry them through, you find that the sense of peace, space, and stillness in the mind becomes more and more attractive. You want to move into that sense of peace for good. The Buddha calls this taking emptiness as your dwelling. Instead of focusing on the figures in the foreground, you focus on the still space … 
  8. Craving & Clinging
     … That’s how becoming starts: from craving to clinging to becoming. So, as I said, you draw the line. The state of concentration is what you want, and you have to develop a sense of dispassion, disinterest in any of the other becomings the mind could develop right now. This is one of the reasons why Ajaan Lee, when he gives concentration instructions, especially … 
  9. Anybody Home?
     … This is the process of becoming, which, as he said, happens an awful lot. It’s why we suffer. You create an identity in a particular world of experience: That’s becoming. Then you go into it: That’s birth. The process can go on indefinitely because we get so fascinated with the becomings we create. The Buddha’s image is of little children … 
  10. The Dangers of Sensuality
     … But when you first become aware of it, what feelings in the body, feelings in the mind, spark these things? Then you see that these things end. Then they have to be revived again and again. So when you revive them, then the question is, why? What’s the appeal? In some cases, the appeal is in the object. This is one of the … 
  11. Strength of Mindfulness
     … If things break down outside—food becomes hard to find, other things become hard to find—can you guarantee to yourself that you’re not going to stoop to some unvirtuous actions in order to get what you want? You’ve got to create a state of mind where you know for sure that you’re not going to stoop in that way. Even … 
  12. Good & Independent
     … This is why we have to learn how to become independent. Our goodness has to become independent. Again, you hear a lot of talk about how the idea of an independent self is the source of all evil. But we’re not talking about an independent self, we’re talking about independence—it’s a state that ultimately doesn’t require self. But to … 
  13. Using the Committee of the Mind
     … They become your power, they become your strength on the path. Because you *need *that strength. We get encouragement from our teachers, we get encouragement from our fellow practitioners, but there comes a point where you really have to depend on yourself. You have to find the resources of appropriate attention inside you. This is when the practice really becomes yours. Ajaan Fuang noted … 
  14. The Forerunner of All Things
     … You don’t simply fall head over heels into whatever state of becoming is being pushed on you by your greed, aversion, or delusion. In this way, staying with the breath makes you sensitive, and it also gives you some resistance. The benefits of having the mind in charge come from directing it in a skillful way. Think of that question the Buddha has … 
  15. A Path Under the Trees
     … the craving for sensuality, the craving for becoming, the craving for non-becoming? The first factor of the path that he found was right concentration. There’s another way he tells the story in which he actually got started with right resolve, but the two are very closely related. Right resolve is to resolve not to focus on sensuality, but to resolve on renunciation … 
  16. The Pleasure of the Middle Way
     … If you really pay attention here, if you’re consistent in your awareness of the breath, smooth in your awareness of the breath, then the breath becomes smooth as well. It becomes more and more comfortable. And what starts out as just an ordinary feeling of being okay becomes more intensely pleasant. You can let that feeling spread throughout the body. Think of it … 
  17. The Buddha’s Relationship Advice
     … This was apparently back in the early days before King Pasenadi had become a follower of the Buddha. But one of his queens Mallika had already become a follower. So he said to her, “This Buddha of yours has said that those who are dear bring suffering.” And she said, “Well, if that’s what he says, then it must be true.” He said … 
  18. Progress & Regress
     … That element of regret, the Buddha said, was what’s going to be the germ for his becoming a private buddha someday. Even the ultimate bad guy, Mara, is supposed to become a buddha sometime in the future. All the ultimate bad guys in the Buddha’s stories: There’s ultimately a good end for them. You haven’t done anything nearly as bad … 
  19. Guarding Against Trouble
     … All these are qualities you want to develop so that you have a basis for dealing with the greed and aversion and the sensuality, the desire for becoming, all these things that would otherwise come flowing out of the mind. When you meditate, you’re creating a good state of becoming: a state of becoming that has a pleasure that doesn’t need to … 
  20. Giving Ballast to the Mind
     … What would feel good right now to the mind? Which part of the body would you like to satisfy with a comfortable breath? Go through the body section by section, and become sensitive to what that particular part of the body needs in terms of breath energy coming in and going out. How do you bring it in so that it feels good and … 
  21. A Thread Out of the Maze
     … Once you start using it in a skillful way, you start becoming more and more willing to look at the power of your intentions, to admit the mistakes you made in the past, and resolve that you don’t want to make them again in the future. This ability to stay with your breath in the present moment to develop a sense of ease … 
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