Search results for: "Form"

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  2. A Refuge Inside
     … We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, but that doesn’t mean we’re finding our ultimate refuge in Prince Siddhartha of 2600 years ago, or in the words of the Dhamma, or in the monks who form the monastic Sangha, or even in the noble ones who form the noble Sangha. Those are external refuges, and they play a … 
  3. The Skills of Truth & Calm
     … If you work your way down, you get to name and form. And here you are again: Form is the body as you experience it in terms of its properties. One of those properties is the wind property, and an aspect of the wind property is the in-and-out breath. But as you settle down, you may notice you’re also sensitive to … 
  4. Dhamma Medicine
     … This is a very basic form of wisdom—and it’s important not to forget the basics, because they form the structure for everything else. That way, when you apply the various teachings that are more subtle and more specific, you can apply them in the right spot, keeping the general framework in mind: Where does this teaching fit? What situation is it meant … 
  5. Exploring What You’ve Got
     … The important point that’s going to make a big difference, though, is when you get to the factor called “name and form.” “Name” stands for mental activities; “form” stands for the body or your sense of the body sitting right here. And in those mental activities there’s one that’s especially important: It’s called “attention.” Attention means basically what you choose … 
  6. The Power of Truth
     … He described the basic formula for mindfulness practice and then he talked about developing it as a form of jhana: Focus in the body in and of itself—ardent, alert, and mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s the formula for mindfulness. Then he would say first you develop this concentration with directed thought and evaluation—that’s … 
  7. Guardian Meditations
     … It can come in lots of different forms, so you have to use your ingenuity to deal with the new form. Keep this up and have this attitude that whatever comes at you, you’re going to figure out a way around it. That’s half the battle right there. The part of the mind that’s all too ready to give in: That … 
  8. Things As They Function
     … But if you look at the process as it has come to be, you begin to understand how these things form. Once there’s becoming, you have one of two reactions. Either you want the becoming to continue or you want it to be destroyed. You want it destroyed because you find yourself in a particular situation and you don’t like it: You … 
  9. Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Space
     … Space and consciousness are useful for getting beyond the form jhanas into the formless states. In other words, once you’ve got the breath still and you’ve got the other elements in balance, try to maintain that sense of being balanced right here. You’ll notice that because the breath energy isn’t flowing in and out, the sense of the boundaries of … 
  10. Befriending the Breath
     … There’s a sense of form you have here. As we’ve mentioned earlier, the pleasure that comes from the breath is not a sensual pleasure. It’s a pleasure of form: the sense of the body as it’s felt from within. You want to explore that sense as much you can, because it has a huge impact on your health. The way … 
  11. Radiating Goodness
     … Generosity, virtue, and meditation are all forms of merit. Even stream entry is a form of merit, so you can’t look down on it. What that means is that you look at the world as an opportunity to gain the happiness that comes from doing good. So if unexpected things happen, look at them as an opportunity to make some merit. A lot … 
  12. The Path to Stream Entry
     … There’s no form, no feeling, no perception, no fabrication of anything, and no consciousness of the six senses—and yet there is an awareness. As a result, there’s no tendency to want to identify yourself with any of the aggregates ever again. You still have a lingering sense of self that hovers around them, but you never hold to the view that … 
  13. Views & Vision
     … He simply developed qualities of the mind that all of us have in potential form. So that raises our sights as to what we can do with our lives. You can think about the Dharma, in that it recommends a totally harmless form of happiness, a happiness that doesn’t pose any danger to you, doesn’t pose any danger to anybody else, doesn … 
  14. The Return of Chickens from Hell
     … Those five activities—form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness—are the aggregates. And as the Buddha said, if we cling to them, we’re going to suffer. Particularly if we cling to them with ignorance. If we cling to them with knowledge, there’s still going to be some stress, but we can turn them into a path. So the choice is ours. And … 
  15. Tranquility & Insight
     … Our whole experience of the form of the body, our feelings, perceptions, thought fabrications, even our consciousness, has an element of intention in it. We’re doing it for a particular purpose. We want happiness out of these things, in line with whatever we conceive the happiness to be. And we shape these things because of our passion for the happiness. It’s a … 
  16. Brahmaviharas on the Path
     … So if you see that you’re engaging in any forms of wrong resolve, you can develop the brahmaviharas to counteract them. You have to realize, of course, that the brahmaviharas are not the natural, innate quality of the mind, any more than their opposites are. Ill will comes to the mind just as easily as goodwill. Thoughts of harmfulness come just as easily … 
  17. Proving the Teachings
     … As you focus on that issue, then you become more and more sensitive to the subtler forms of harm and stress you cause. You keep up the same process: Wherever you see it, whether it’s in your thoughts, in your words, or in your deeds, that you’re causing harm, causing any stress that’s unnecessary, just drop it. When you can do … 
  18. Pleasure on the Path
     … the pleasure that comes from what he calls form, your sense of the body as you feel it from the inside as you’re working with the breath. As you breathe in and out, notice the flow of energy, not only the flow of the air, but the flow of energy through the body that allows the air to come in, go out. Notice … 
  19. The Riddle of Freedom
    The Buddha’s teachings on karma are often presented as a form of determinism—fatalism even: What was done in the past is going to determine what you’re going to experience in the present, and if you do something in the present moment, you have some hope that it will have an effect on the future. But there’s that question: Well, do … 
  20. Battling Negativity
     … Our sense of “I am this” or “I am that” can be centered on form, feeling, perception, thought-constructs, or consciousness. And as soon as we slap the label of “I am this” or “I am that” onto something, we’re going to cling to it. And there you are: suffering. Suffering is bound up in how we define ourselves. So when we start … 
  21. Faith in Goodness
     … basic, basic forms of goodness—the implication being that if you have faith in goodness, you should have faith in the principle that we do have choices, and that the choices will give results depending on the quality of the motivation behind the choice. When talking about having faith in the principle of karma, or conviction in the principle of karma, it sounds rather … 
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