Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Letting Go
     … There’s a part of the mind that looks after the body, a part of the mind that looks after your social obligations, work obligations, family obligations; another part of the mind that’s dealing with your own desire for pleasure and entertainment. Any of these can come in. As soon as the mind settles down with the breath, part of the mind will … 
  3. Unentangled Compassion
     … So it’s wiser to learn how to develop the qualities inside the mind. Because wherever the mind goes, the mind has those qualities right there, right at hand. You can learn how to depend on them if you train the mind properly. And you find that they provide a happiness that goes a lot deeper. So like any good parent, the Buddha trains … 
  4. Go, Do Jhana
     … The fabrications that keep the mind still and steady, that keep the mind engaged in the pursuit of what’s skillful, are the ones you want to encourage. So this practice of steadying the mind, maintaining that still, steady flame, requires both tranquility and insight. And, of course, once the mind settles down, the insight gets more refined. The tranquility gets stronger. In this … 
  5. The Search for Something of Substance
     … Here we are working on concentration, but you find that there are parts of the mind that don’t want to be bothered. You try to get the mind to settle down. You try to get the mind to be mindful and alert. There are parts of the mind that thrive on lack of mindfulness and lack of alertness. They’re going to push … 
  6. Preparing to Meditate
    Try to get the mind ready to meditate. Sometimes you find that it settles down easily: just focus on the breath and there it is. Other times, there’s a resistance. Something’s wrong. Sometimes what’s wrong may be the breath itself, but other times it’s attitudes you carry around in the mind. We like to think that meditation is a process … 
  7. Chronic Pain
     … Is the pain the same thing as the mind? The pain doesn’t know anything. The mind is aware. The pain is not aware. The mind has intentions. The pain has no intentions. Learn to see these three things as separate—the body, the pain, and the mind—and that way, the mind can be there at the same time that there’s pain … 
  8. Big Desire, Detailed Focus
     … Then there’s alertness, being very clear about what you’re doing, what the breath is doing, what the mind is doing, noticing when the mind is with the breath, noticing when it’s wandered away. And here’s something else you want to remember: Try to be ardent—in other words, try to do this well. When the mind does wander away, you … 
  9. A Full Range of Archery Skills
     … Also remember that, in stilling the mind, it’s not simply a matter of beating them mind down. If you beat it down, when the beating down ends, then it springs right back to its old ways. You want to develop some insight into your mind as it settles down: the insight that sees both what the mind would like, what skillful objects the … 
  10. Mindfulness, Discernment, & Peace of Mind
    We meditate to gain peace of mind, and part of that means finding something soothing for the mind to focus on. If all you can think about are problems and distractions, then there’s not going to be much peace. The mind is going to feel frazzled, rough, raw. This is one of the reasons why we start with the breath, because you can … 
  11. The Escape of Discipline
     … But, as the Buddha said, the mind can be trained, and the trained mind is a source of true happiness. All too often we balk at the idea of training the mind. We don’t like the sound of the words “discipline” and “training,” having to force the mind, control the mind. It’s as if we’re being put back in school. Not … 
  12. Protect Your Inner Center
     … You watch what’s actually happening both in the breath and with the mind, so that you can get a sense of how well they’re getting along. And then three, ardency: You really try to do this well. In other words, you see that the activity of training the mind is something really essential, because the mind, if it’s not trained, can … 
  13. What You’re Responsible For
     … Just focus on the mind and the breath right here, right now. Is the mind staying with the breath? If not, is the problem with the breath or with the mind? First, focus on the mind. Get a sense of what kind of mind you’re bringing to the meditation. Thinking about the future or the past? Put those thoughts aside. Too much energy … 
  14. The Rivers of Karma
     … As the Buddha points out, there’s no abandoning our attachment for sensual pleasures until we can develop the sense of ease that comes from getting the mind still, centered, solidly based in the present. This is how you teach the mind not to be overcome by pleasure or pain. Pain becomes a tool an opportunity to learn about how the mind creates unnecessary … 
  15. On Your Own Two Feet
     … The calmer you can make the mind, the more easily you’ll be able to observe what actually is healthy breathing and what’s unhealthy breathing; what’s energizing and what kind of breathing drains your energy; what’s relaxing, what gives rise to tension. So this ability to make the mind still and observant, and also to experiment: They have to go hand … 
  16. Addictive Thinking
     … all the justifications for giving in to that particular addiction that one part of the mind tells the rest of the mind: “You need to have people around. You need to have this or you need to have that in order to feel at ease.” We build this huge structure of excuses and values and ideas to justify our old harmful behavior. This applies … 
  17. Take the One Seat
     … The problem is the fact that the mind is constantly creating trouble for itself. The trouble isn’t out there in other people, situations outside. I mean, those are troublesome enough, but the real trouble is the trouble the mind makes for itself. It’ll take things outside and bring them in to compound the trouble. But the trouble is right here. Now, the … 
  18. The Triple Training
     … Then, when the mind is settled, it can work on discernment. Other people, though, have trouble settling down. They first need to use their discernment to think their way through the problems that keep them from settling down. Then they can settle down. Once the mind is settled down, then they can develop their discernment even further. The analogy he gives is of cutting … 
  19. Suffering Comes from What You’re Doing
     … Because if the mind is restless and you’re impatient with your restless mind, that just stokes the fire. So find some spot in the mind, find some spot in the body, in the breath, that’s relatively still, and as for the rest of the mind, just let it chatter for a while. One of the basic principles of the practice is that … 
  20. Anapanasati Day
     … Once you release the mind from those things, you’re there in the first jhana. But that has directed thought and evaluations. So, after the mind has set a while—the same way the concrete sets after it’s been poured and finally gets hard enough that you can take away the mold—then when the mind is still enough with the breath, you … 
  21. W.W.B.R.
    There are times when you sit down to focus on the breath and the mind is right there, and it takes to the breath. Ajaan Fuang would say that the mind takes to the breath in the same way a kite takes to the wind. You spread your awareness through the body and it stays there. You get interested in how the breath energy … 
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