Search results for: "Feeling"
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- To Discern Suffering… It’s hard to comprehend suffering when you feel oppressed by it and surrounded by it, overwhelmed by it. So one of the purposes of the practice is to put the mind in a position where it can look at its suffering and not feel threatened. We start by working with the breath. Allow the mind to stay with just the sensation of breathing …
- The Dhamma Points Inside… Then there’s a feeling. And then there’s someone who feels the feeling, and then someone who perceives the feeling and then thinks about it and then gets involved in these concepts. Then the concepts of papañca come back and **assail them. ** **So you want to look into the concepts that you hold onto. To what extent do they assail you? What problems …
- A Mirror for the Mind… Then there’s the word piti, which usually is translated as “rapture,” but also means “refreshment.” Sometimes “rapture” seems a bit too strong as a description for what you feel. Other times, “rapture” seems just right, as when there’s a very strong, intense feeling of the energy going in waves through the body. These two very pleasant feelings come from the fact that …
- The Psychology of Harmlessness… The way you breathe shapes the way you feel. Verbal fabrication, the way you talk to yourself, will shape the way you feel. Mental fabrications, the perceptions and feelings you focus on, will shape your mind. You want to be sensitive to what you’re doing right now in these terms because that gets into the question of values as to what’s worth …
- Light Merit… Notice how it feels as it comes in, how it feels as it goes out. Ask yourself: What kind of breathing would feel really good right now? There’s a pleasure that comes from breathing in this way. That’s light merit. So is the realization you have no other responsibilities at this moment. That doesn’t mean you’re being irresponsible. It means …
- Safe at Home… Think about your breath and be alert to how the breathing feels. When it comes in, know it’s coming in. When it goes out, know it’s going out. Be alert to how it feels. Try a couple good, long, deep in-and-out breaths, and then let the breath settle into a rhythm that feels comfortable: not too long, not too short …
- Seeing with the Body… Are you enjoying it? Even though the breath moves between two different types of pain, if you adjust it properly you can make the experience of the breath in between, the feel of the breath in between, really gratifying — as it feels good coming in, coming in, down to the lungs, down to the abdomen. It can feel refreshing, gratifying. And just that fact …
- Reading & Meditating… Well, feeling and perception are together in the factor for fabrication, and they’re together in the factor for name and form. Sometimes the feeling is invading your mind because of the way you talk to yourself: directed thought and evaluation, also in the factor of fabrication. Sometimes the feeling is related to sensory contact. Sometimes it’s related to craving. Sometimes it comes …
- Cut Through the Narratives… As he says, there are feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither pleasures nor pain. Some of them are what he calls pleasures of the flesh, amisa-sukha; others are pleasures not of the flesh, niramisa-sukha. There are also pains of the flesh, pains not of the flesh, feelings of equanimity of the flesh, not of the flesh. Instead of focusing …
- Understanding Aggregates… But you’re driven by a feeling: the feeling of hunger—the pain of hunger—and the desire for the pleasure of feeling full. But that doesn’t last. You get hungry again, and so have to feed again. Then there’s perception: how you label things in the world. Your first act of perception is to figure out what’s edible and what …
- To Strengthen the Path… Breathe in a way that feels good. And if it doesn’t feel good, then have the desire to figure out how to make it feel good. You can try longer breathing, shorter breathing, faster, slower, heavier, lighter, deeper, more shallow. The desire to keep doing this counts as right effort. Take some time to get to know the breath. Try to fully occupy …
- The Freedom to Give… When people would come to ask him, “Where should a gift be given?” he would answer, “Wherever your mind feels inspired, wherever you feel it would be well used.” In other words, generosity is free. No restrictions. No “you should give here, you shouldn’t give there.” In fact when monks are asked, “Where should this gift be given?” That’s the response they …
- Genuine Happiness… Then ask yourself, “Does it feel comfortable? Could it feel more comfortable?” You can experiment. Try breathing deep down into the abdomen. Or even further: Think of the breath going all the way down to your feet. You can try heavier breathing or lighter; longer, shorter; faster, slower; deeper or more shallow. See what kind of breathing feels good right now. You want to …
- Fighting the Defilements… And you don’t have to be afraid that their feelings will be hurt. You don’t have to be afraid that their self-respect will be hurt. That’s not an issue here. The issue is power: whatever power they have over the mind and how you’re going to counteract it. And basically the power of feelings comes from their ability to …
- The Dhamma Wheel… But as you get more and more confident in this sense of how you feel the body from within as you’re sitting right here, you can make it comfortable: relaxing if you’re feeling tense, energizing if you’re feeling tired, soothing if you’re feeling frazzled. You get to choose. That’s an important principle of getting the mind into concentration: getting …
- Choices… But when you feel the breathing energy, where does it feel like when it’s coming in? Look for that. Open up and air out your mind for a while. Breathe in: Where does the energy flow? Where do you feel it? Does it feel good? If it does, keep it up. If it doesn’t, you can change. Think of the breath coming …
- Tapping into the Breath… If you’re one of the ones who don’t, learn how to change your perception so you don’t feel threatened by it. Some people feel threatened by it because they’ve had experiences with almost drowning, and it’s a similar sensation: a feeling of intense fullness throughout the body. You have to remind yourself that you’re surrounded by air. There …
- Your Inner Ally… Where do you feel the breath right now? It may be in the midst of a lot of other sensations, and of course, all the chattering voices in the mind. But try to ferret out where you feel the breath most clearly and just hang on right there. As for everything else, you can let it go. As Ajaan Lee says, if you try …
- Bewildered… There’s feeling in fabrication, there’s feeling in name and form, and there’s feeling that arises immediately after contact. Then there’s the pain that comes with aging, illness, and death and all the different forms of craving. So, you have to ask yourself, which is it this time? Have that range in mind, because it helps give you some idea of …
- A Good Place to Not-Self… That will allow the feelings of ease in the breath to spread down the nerves, down the blood vessels. You can think of those feelings of ease spreading out to every pore of the skin. If you’re really sensitive, it feels like the whole body’s breathing. Then try to maintain that sense of whole body: whole-body awareness, a whole-body feeling …
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