Search results for: "Feeling"

  1. Page 28
  2. Square One
     … Finally, the third type of fabrication, mental, consists of feelings and perceptions. Feelings are feeling tones: pleasure, pain, neither pleasure nor pain. Perceptions are the labels you put on things that identify what they are, what they mean, how important they are. As with a red light: You can identify that the light is red, you can tell that it means “stop,” and you … 
  3. Change Your Perceptions
     … So where do you feel it? As you breathe in, where’s the movement? Where does it feel like energy is coming in, or where does it feel like energy is radiating from inside the body? You have your choice of perceptions. Ajaan Lee also recommends that you think of the breath energy entering at the back of the neck, going down the spine … 
  4. Faith in Goodness
     … We can’t feel other beings’ suffering. Sometimes we can see the signs and we can empathize, but we have to assume that when they suffer, it hurts just as much as when we suffer. When there’s a part of your mind that feels pained by that realization, that’s when you develop the heart, the good heart, that wants to develop goodness … 
  5. Realities Right Here
     … Where do you actually feel the movement in the body? It may not be where you expected it. What’s the best way to pay attention to the breath in the body? What are the best perceptions to have around the breath? You can think of the breath coming in almost anywhere in the body. But notice, where does it feel like it’s … 
  6. Free to Choose
     … You can sit and look at somebody suffer, and you can feel sympathy for them, but you don’t actually feel their pain. And no one else can feel your pain. The Buddha’s basic message is that you can focus on that pain and suffering as a worthwhile issue, and on getting rid of that pain as a worthwhile goal. Other people may … 
  7. A Thorough Cleaning
     … In other words, you just think pink clouds of goodwill to everybody without stopping to think, “Do you really think thoughts of goodwill? Are there people for whom it’s hard to feel goodwill? How do you get past that?” We’re not trying to pretend that we have goodwill for people for whom we don’t have it. But we can teach ourselves … 
  8. The Energy You Broadcast
     … to create a place where the mind can settle down and really feel at home, really feel connected inside. And this is why one of the steps in breath meditation is just that: getting connected. As you get more and more sensitive to the breath energy, you can begin to see areas in which it’s cut off. Parts of the body may seem … 
  9. Be Observant
     … Try long breathing to begin with, to see how that feels. If it feels comfortable, stick with it. If not, you can change: in long, out short; in short, out long; in short, out short; deep, shallow, heavy, light. Notice what rhythm and texture of the breathing feels best. There’s nobody to tell you that you’re right or wrong. You have to … 
  10. Wise About Pleasure
     … And as you’re adjusting the breath, try not to put any pressure on it, because if you apply pressure to the breath, then no matter what kind of breathing you’re engaged in, it’s not going to feel comfortable. It’s more a question of allowing the breath to feel good, allowing the body to breathe in a way that feels refreshing … 
  11. Goodwill Plus
     … It’s just as easy to feel ill will for somebody as it is to feel goodwill. Especially if the person has been doing something unskillful, acting in ways that have been harmful or intentionally cruel, it’s very easy to feel ill will. You have to remember that the Buddha never said that goodwill is innate. He said it’s a form of … 
  12. Choosing Not to Suffer
     … You don’t have to relate the breath to anything else outside, just focus on how the breath feels in the present moment, noticing which ways of breathing feel good in the body, which ways of breathing don’t feel good, and how you can change them. You change them simply by thinking. Don’t try to put force or pressure on the breath … 
  13. Hunting & Foraging
    Breathe long and deep to see where you feel the energy move in the body as you breathe. Wherever it’s most blatant, wherever it’s easiest to follow, let your attention settle right there. That’s your focal point—or, as they call it in Pali, your support. You’re going to be watching the mind, but first you’ve got to give … 
  14. Perceptions for Training the Mind
     … As for the feelings, he talks about how to create feelings of pleasure and rapture through the breath. The perceptions come in the analogies that he gives, pictures you can hold in mind that can talk to your lizard brain, so that you can bring some knowledge and awareness even to the really, really basic mental functions that are going on right now. We … 
  15. An Equanimity You Can Feed On
     … You adjust the condition so that it feels good breathing in, feels good breathing out, it feels good just sitting here, inhabiting your body, inhabiting the form of the body. Allow yourself to gain an appreciation for this level of pleasure, this level of refreshment. As the Buddha says, you indulge in it, and it helps you to stabilize the mind. As the mind … 
  16. Doing Favors & Making Merit
     … When King Pasenadi came to see the Buddha and asked him, “Where should a gift be given?” the Buddha’s first response was, “Give where you feel inspired or you feel that it would be well used.” But then the king asked further, “Where, when a gift is given, does it give the best results?” The Buddha replied, “Now, that’s a different question … 
  17. Friends with the Breath, Friends with the Buddha
     … How does the breath feel right now? Is it long? Is it short? Heavy? Light? What kind of breathing feels good right now?—because the breath is nourishment for the body, and it’s most nourishing when it feels refreshing. The breath becomes even a better friend if you make friends with it. You do it in the same way that you make friends … 
  18. Arising & Passing Away
     … Where you feel the breathing? Where does it feel like the energy is coming into the body? Where does it feel like it’s going out? Do you squeeze it out too much when you breathe out? Do you make it too tight when you breathe in? Try to get as sensitive as possible to how this feels. The more sensitive you are, the … 
  19. Uncertainty
     … It should feel good coming in. If you’re not sure, hold your breath for a bit and then, when you can’t stand it any longer, breathe. It should feel good. Then say, “Well, that felt good. Then another breath just like that should feel good, or maybe something similar to that.” This way, you rearrange the conversation in the mind, because all … 
  20. A Poker Mind
     … You’ve got to maintain that sense of awareness-and-breath-and-pleasure until the pleasure starts feeling gross. Not gross in the sense of being disgusting, but just not subtle enough. You want something more subtle. Before the pleasure feels gross, you’ve got the rapture that starts feeling a bit too much. You let that die away. Then you let the pleasure … 
  21. An Auspicious Day
     … See what feels best for the body right now. And when you find a rhythm that feels good, stick with it until it doesn’t feel so good anymore. Then you can change. Take an interest in the breath, because after all, it’ll be your anchor in the present moment. Because ultimately you’re going to be watching the mind, and it’s … 
  22. Load next page...