Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. Protection Through Mindfulness Practice
    Protection Through Mindfulness Practice December 24, 2015 The Buddha often talks about the practice of satipatthana, or the establishing of mindfulness, as a kind of protection. He says that you make yourself a refuge when you practice the establishing of mindfulness. You make yourself an island, a safe place in the middle of the flood. There’s also the passage where he tells the … 
  18. The Buddha’s Shoulds
     … You want to be ardent, alert, and mindful. The ardency there is right effort. The mindfulness means that you keep your frame of reference in mind — as when we’re keeping the breath in mind right now. The alertness means seeing what’s happening in the present moment, seeing if you really are with the breath, if the mind is settling down well with … 
  19. The Seven Treasures
     … But if the mind can realize that these things are going to have to go someplace, sometime, anyhow, you can develop the generosity that comes from seeing that other people may need them and you happily give them away. Your mind becomes a lot more open, a much more spacious mind. That’s a mind that’s a lot easier to live in. This … 
  20. On Not Twisting the Cow’s Horn
     … We want to see the subtle things because the subtle things are what drive the mind. If you don’t dig them out, they’re going to stay there and keep driving the mind. We’re not here just to accept the fact that they’re driving the mind. We want to put an end to it because these subtle things can grow into … 
  21. Look at Yourself
     … This way, your mindfulness practice builds on your ability to remember things way back, things you’ve learned from the practice in various times, because you haven’t been throwing up walls in the mind in the meantime. Then mindfulness, in turn, gives you the skills you need for concentration, because as you get the mind into concentration, what are the themes of concentration … 
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