Search results for: "Thought"

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  2. Monotasking
     … If it’s something really tenacious, ask yourself if you can think the thought through to the point where you realize you have no desire to be with that thought—at all. Part of you may say, “Well, I already don’t want to be with that thought.” But maybe you’re hiding another part of the mind that does like to be with … 
  3. Right Action & Right Livelihood
     … If you can’t even control your actions, how are you going to control your thoughts? Last night we talked about right speech, but the two other factors in between—right action and right livelihood—are also directly related to right resolve and directly related to the practice of right concentration as well. If you resolve on renunciation, you’re not going to be … 
  4. The Problem of Suffering
     … The Buddha said to focus on its drawbacks, the drawbacks of thinking about that kind of thing, of identifying that as a thought you want to get involved with. That’s where you can begin to use the three characteristics. In other words, notice how that thought comes and goes. Or if it’s a pain, notice how the pain comes and goes. Once … 
  5. Scramble the Image
     … A thought forms and you don’t have to be subjected to whatever it’s going to be or going to do to you. You also find, though, that there are some thoughts that you tend to like to follow, old video clips that could be either things that actually happened, or things that you would have liked to have happened, that you want … 
  6. The Wealth of Simplicity
     … That’s what it meant by papañca, the way the mind proliferates thoughts. These thoughts don’t just go scattering out, they also come back and they attack you. The analysis is this: First there’s contact at the senses, and from the contact comes feeling, and all of a sudden, it’s not just an event of feeling anymore, what one feels, one … 
  7. Speaking Truth to Defilement
     … Maybe you were more fascinated with the perception or the image or the thought-construct around that person, or a feeling that came up as you thought about that situation. It had nothing to do with the actual person or the actual situation. The important thing is that if you don’t recognize where your cravings are, there’s no way you’re going … 
  8. Reflect
     … As he said, when you get the mind into the first jhana, you’ve got directed thought and evaluation. The directed thought and singleness of preoccupation are the concentration side of the jhana practice. The evaluation is the beginning of discernment as you evaluate: How does your breath feel right now? Is it a good breath to settle down with? You’ve got to … 
  9. Not-self Is a Value Judgment
     … If you find yourself suddenly wandering off into the past by means of a little thought world, well, pull yourself out. This ability to pull out of an identity is a lot of what not-self is about: pulling out of those thought worlds. You see that the thought world, and your identity in the thought world, isn’t worth it. And, of course … 
  10. Inner Wealth Management
     … Don’t be afraid of getting stuck on the pleasure of concentration, because you have to get stuck here first so that you can pull away your attachments to unskillful thoughts: thoughts of sensuality, thoughts of ill will, fearful thoughts, jealous thoughts. You want to give the mind good food so that it can stop feeding on its old garbage. But you have to … 
  11. Restraint Leads to Freedom
     … The mind has to stay with the body in and of itself, and you have to put aside all thoughts with reference to the world. That’s the description of mindfulness practice, but it’s also the description of how you get into concentration. Sometimes we hear that mindfulness is an open, accepting, non-judgmental state of mind, but that’s not how the … 
  12. Concentration Develops Right View
     … He learned one big lesson about sensuality—that if you’re going to train the mind, you have to get it past its fascination with sensual thoughts. This is a deep-rooted tendency we have: When we’re looking for a little pleasure, we think about sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, thoughts of lust. We get really fascinated about these things. The mind … 
  13. Teachings to Rahula
     … And notice that the principles that the Buddha stated here have to do not only with your words and your deeds, but also with your thoughts. This is where we get into meditation. You’re sitting here. What kind of thoughts are you planning to think as you sit here? What do you expect will come? You want some peace and you want some … 
  14. Perception
     … It was a thing with a will, and you thought it was coming after you. You didn’t know any better. But even though your conscious mind knows better now, a lot of your subconscious thoughts may not know better. This is one of the reasons why we have to meditate — to get the mind still enough so you can see these subconscious thoughts … 
  15. You’re Doing Something Wrong
     … Ajaan Lee attributed that to the fact that he’d never done any directed thought and evaluation in his meditation. He’d just done the buddho, buddho, which I guess would be directed thought, but no evaluation. He was missing an important part of what Ajaan Lee called “concentration work.” We often come to concentration thinking we just get to rest, and there is … 
  16. The Happiness & Suffering of Others
     … We had someone here last week who thought that snakes went around wanting to bite people. So of course every time he saw a snake, he was scared. Every time he even thought of the snakes around here, he was scared. But you have to realize that snakes don’t want to bite people. That’s the last thing they want to do. They … 
  17. Free from Buddha Nature
     … directed thought and evaluation. Directed thought is when you focus your attention on a particular topic to keep it there. Evaluation is checking to see: “How does this feel? Does this feel good? Does this feel right? Is this a comfortable place to stay? Is it an uncomfortable place to stay? How about my mind? Is it ready to settle down right now, or … 
  18. A Good Place to Not-Self
     … Any thoughts that are not related to the breath, just let them go because you don’t want to get involved in any narratives that would pull you away. If you do get pulled away, just drop the thought and you’ll be right back here. If you get pulled away again, as soon as you notice you’re pulled away, drop the thought … 
  19. Fear of Death
     … A distracting thought comes up, and you learn how not to go for it. This puts you more and more in control. The mindfulness that keeps reminding you, “I have choices”: That’s going to help you an awful lot at that point. And where have you learned that? You learned that through the meditation. You learn how to turn off thoughts, breathe through … 
  20. Dethinking Thinking
    There’s a school of thought that says that all our troubles come from thinking. If only we could learn to stop thinking, trying to figure things out, and just be with things as they arise and pass away, then we’d be okay. But that wasn’t the Buddha’s approach. When you look at all the suttas in the Canon, all the … 
  21. Good & Independent
     … What are you doing that’s burdensome right now? Anything that pulls you away from this sense of ease—why would you want to go with it? You may have a habit of going with thoughts like that, but when you’ve got something much better, you can compare them and see that those thoughts have their drawbacks. You can let them go much … 
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