Search results for: "consciousness"

  1. Page 27
  2. Free for the Time Being
     … If there are parts of the body that you’re not consciously occupying right now, other things can slip in, or other things can hide out. You don’t want that. You want this all to be your space. It’s just like going into a house that has gotten dusty and dirty, with a lot of old junk in the corners. So do … 
  3. Fear
     … This is one of the reasons why the Buddha said, “Look at your body, look at your feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs, even your consciousness. Can you really claim that they’re yours? Do they lie under your control? If they’re not under your control, why do you latch onto them?” It’s because of our fear that if we don’t latch onto … 
  4. The Breathing Game
     … The Buddha made a comparison between consciousness and a magic show, and psychologists have been studying magic to see exactly how a magician tricks his audience. They’ve discovered that our awareness of what’s going on right in front of our eyes is very sketchy. So many little bits of sensory input are coming in at any one time that we’ve learned … 
  5. True Honesty
     … So, as part of the practice, we really have to consciously fight that old habit. Learn to sincerely wish for your own true happiness. Think of how much you’d like to live in a world where true happiness was possible, attainable. Our society teaches us that it’s not, that we have to content ourselves with scraps and leftovers—the happiness that comes … 
  6. When the Mind Is Still
     … This is why, when the Buddha gives his image of the two messengers, tranquility and insight—who come running into the citadel of consciousness bringing a message—the message is not the three characteristics. The message is nibbāna. When insight has done its work, you’re going to experience something deathless inside. That’s what all this is for. But this means that you … 
  7. It’s All in What You’re Doing
     … And then you’ve got the awareness, the consciousness, that’s aware of all these things. That’s where you’re going to see those five aggregates. It’s not that they’re going to be set out some place separate from you, separate from what you’re doing. They’re going to be in what you’re doing. The same with the six … 
  8. The Heightened Mind
     … We can observe ourselves as we meditate and begin to see how we’re using form, feeling, perceptions, thought fabrications, consciousness—all the aggregates—in this state of concentration. You can start analyzing it. Where’s the stress? In fact, one of the ways of improving your concentration is to step back a bit like this and ask yourself, “Where am I causing unnecessary … 
  9. Freedom Undefined
     … When you hold onto any of the other aggregates, you’re classified as a feeling-clinger, a perception-clinger, a mental-fabrication-, or consciousness-clinger. You create your identity by what you cling to. This is why the Buddha never answered questions about what a human being is, because a human being can be almost anything. So this noble eightfold path that we’re … 
  10. Duties
     … Or you’re simply holding on to the consciousness, your awareness of the six senses. There’s s a clinging to some of these things or at least one of these things at any one time whenever there’s stress. And you can cling in different ways. You can cling simply because you want some sensual pleasure out of these things, or you’re … 
  11. The Right Time at the Right Place
     … Right here in the state of concentration, you’ve got the form of the body, you’ve got feelings of pleasure, you’ve got the perception that holds you here, you’ve got the fabrications of directed thought and evaluation that are your internal analysis—your internal conversation on how to get the mind and the breath together well—and then there’s consciousness … 
  12. Technique & Attitudes
     … How is it working? What kind of results are you getting? The more you get absorbed in the breath, then the less you consciously have to think about developing attitudes of goodwill or gratitude or respect, because the breath in and of itself seems more absorbing. But if you’re not there yet, remember that these attitudes can help. Think in ways that induce … 
  13. Don’t Be Afraid of Mistakes
    When we talk about the committee of the mind, or when Ajaan Lee talks about all the various consciousnesses that may be hovering around your body, or when the Buddha talks about your thoughts being not-self, the purpose is to get some distance from those thoughts. But it doesn’t mean you have to distrust them. It simply means that you want to … 
  14. Between You and Your Eyes
     … at once if you want to get to know just one part of the body. Maybe a whole hour isn’t enough. A good place to start might be your hands. Consciously go through and relax every muscle you can imagine in your hand. Think of the bones inside the hand, relaxing around the bones all the way through the in-breath, all the … 
  15. New Feeding Habits for the Mind
     … It takes this mind—which is feeding on the body, feeding on feelings, perceptions, thought constructs, and consciousness—and tells it that there are better things to feed on. If you feed on these things, you’re going to be really sorry because your food source is going to run out on you very quickly. It’s going to keep changing—and with that … 
  16. Your Secret Foundation
     … The potential for perception, your potential for fabrication, your potential for consciousness: These are all things coming from past actions and shaped by present intentions into what you actually experience. You can begin to see this in the breath. The breath is as close as you can get to focusing on the mind without actually focusing directly on the mind itself. It’s right … 
  17. Directing & Not Directing the Mind
     … in by trying to get the mind to want to latch on to the object of mindfulness. If it can’t, you use other ways of thinking that get it there: consciously not thinking about this, not thinking about that. Anything comes up; you drop it. Anything comes up; you drop it. By letting go in this way, you land naturally on the breath … 
  18. The Mind in Good Shape
     … One is that you’re directing the mind to the breath and, two, you’re consciously not directing it to other things. In other words, once you find yourself wandering off to something else, you immediately drop it. You don’t have to tie up loose ends of the thought. If you find yourself wandering off, just drop it and come back. Tell yourself … 
  19. The Committee of the Mind
     … That’s why we talk about the committee of the mind, or why Ajaan Lee talks about the various consciousnesses in your body. So let’s just look at the committee. There are different voices in there with different agendas, and as you meditate, you’re trying to convert them all to this agenda of staying with the breath. One way you can do … 
  20. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
     … A lot of these decisions for the most part tend to be under the radar, down in the basement, out of the light of consciousness. But as you become more alert and sensitive, what used to be unconscious or subconscious gets brought into the light of day. You see that you do have choices, and your choices are informed by your understanding. This is … 
  21. A Happiness Based Inside
     … But you’ve got to be consciously making the comparisons and seeing the areas where you can focus on things outside in certain ways so that your center is not disturbed by other ways of focusing, i.e., involving greed, anger, delusion, and all the other unskillful mental qualities that knock your center off kilter. This requires discernment: comparing things, seeing connections, and seeing … 
  22. Load next page...