Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 31
  2. Ask the Right Questions
     … They lie in your mind. This is why we train the mind. And so the source of a happy new year is here in the mind: the qualities we develop in the mind. There’s a passage where the Buddha talks about an auspicious day, or an auspicious night. It’s interesting that back in his time, when they used the lunar calendar, when … 
  3. Tranquility & Insight
     … However, thinking a lot gets the mind tired, which is why the Buddha said the best thing to do was to get the mind into concentration. That’s when you gather the cows in. After all, if the mind is tired from thinking, sometimes it’ll start thinking unskillful thoughts, and it’ll be difficult to keep them under control. So you let the … 
  4. Taking a Stance
     … In Pali, the word for the object of the mind, arammana, literally means a “support” for the mind. When you meditate, you want to find a good, solid support, because when your support is solid you can deal with whatever’s coming at you from whatever direction, whether thoughts inside the mind or things people do or say from outside. Your response — if it … 
  5. Gradually Sudden
     … Yet, when the mind begins to slow down, and you begin to see the steps by which the mind goes through its processes of creating thoughts and then dropping them, it all begins to make sense. Not in the sense that you agree with what the mind has been doing, but you can understand how the mind has been operating under ignorance. If you … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. Things as They Function
     … Where are they coming from? Where are they going? How do we do it? We learn not by focusing directly on the mind to begin with. We give the mind something else to focus on and then we watch the mind as it’s focused. This is why we have the training in the precepts, training in concentration, training in discernment. The Buddha’s … 
  8. Every Little Bit
     … Once you get into position, and the mind settles down and feels good, you realize you don’t really want to get up again. This reflects a teaching the Buddha gave one time, which is that when the mind is in an unskillful state, just giving rise to a finger-snap of a skillful mind state has value. If the idea of trying to … 
  9. Staying on Track
     … Or something comes up and you make up your mind, “Well, this must mean this, that must mean that.” You talk to yourself about what’s going on and if you’re not careful, you can create lots of really strange states of mind and come to some strange conclusions. The Buddha recognized that meditation can dig up unskillful thoughts in the mind, unskillful … 
  10. Wisdom & Compassion
    Meditation is medicine for the mind, medicine for the heart. It’s an opportunity to put down all your thoughts and concerns, and let the mind be treated in a healing way. One good way of getting out of mind’s concerns is to focus on how the body feels right now. Before you focus on the breath, you might want to go through … 
  11. Hunker Down
     … right back at the mind, right back at the breath. The talk is just shadows, words, names for the Dhamma. The actual Dhamma is there in the mind. There might be kusala dhamma or akusala dhamma, in other words, skillful or unskillful qualities in the mind, but the Dhamma’s right there in the mind, good or bad: That’s what you’ve got … 
  12. Practical Wisdom
     … Why? Because the more you can gain some control over the breath, the more you learn about the mind and about the body at the same time, but particularly about the mind. Ajaan Lee says that the breath is a mirror for the mind. When you get the breath smooth, you can see your mind clearly there. Whatever’s happening in the present moment … 
  13. The Pursuit of Pleasure
     … The mind is not dulled. It’s a pleasure that comes from a sharp mind, learning how to use your powers of observation to sharpen the mind, at the same time that you’re getting a sense of ease in the body. It’s something to be developed. It’s part of the path. So don’t be afraid of it. At the same … 
  14. An Admirable Friend — In Memory of Luang Loong
     … As the Buddha taught mindfulness, it’s not just bare awareness. It’s full presence of mind, keeping things in mind. He compared mindfulness to a gatekeeper who watches after the gate of a fortress, allowing in the people he knows, and keeping out the people he doesn’t know. In the same way, the Buddha said, when you have mindfulness as your gatekeeper … 
  15. Not Siding with the Hindrances
    It’s inevitable that when you make up your mind to do something, something else is going to get in the way. Then you have to decide which is more important: the original intention or the new one. When you’re meditating, it should seem obvious that your intention to actually do the meditation should take first priority. But somehow, after four or five … 
  16. Secluded from Sensuality
     … This applies not only in right concentration but also right mindfulness, because the two are actually parts of the same process. Right mindfulness is how you get the mind into right concentration. Think of the Buddha’s images: When you’re practicing right mindfulness, you’re like that quail in the field that’s been newly plowed. The stones are all turned up, and … 
  17. As Days & Nights Fly Past
     … You stir up all your relentlessness, your desire, your mindfulness to put out the fire. It’s one of those passages that shows that mindfulness doesn’t mean simply accepting things as they are. It means keeping something in mind, keeping the important things in mind—in this case, realizing that you don’t know how much time you have. Death is going to … 
  18. Getting Familiar with Concentration
    The mind has its own rhythms, its own pace in the practice. It’s not up to you to determine what that rhythm or pace is. All you can do is provide the right conditions for it to grow. Whether your mind is going to be a banana tree that grows so fast you can almost watch it grow, or an oak tree that … 
  19. Imperturbable
    Imperturbable June 18, 2014 Before the mind can settle down, you have to do a little housecleaning, to clean up the mind, clean up the body. Cleaning up the mind is putting it in the right mood with the right attitude so that it’s ready to settle down and not pick up a lot of other issues. After all, you’ve got a … 
  20. Calm & at Ease
     … If you’re feeling anxious, ill at ease, worked up about things, it’s hard to get the mind to settle down. And only when it’s settled down can it stay firmly focused. The English word concentration is a good translation for samadhi, because it’s when the mind is firmly intent. Calm is more gentle. You’re beginning to settle down, so … 
  21. Leaving Distractions Alone
     … One day, he went to complain to Ajaan Mun, saying that his mind couldn’t settle down. He’d sit there meditating and all he could see was his mind running off. Ajaan Mun said to him, “Well, at least you’re practicing the foundations of mindfulness. Knowing the distracted mind as a distracted mind is practicing mindfulness of the mind in and of … 
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