Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Dhamma Medicine for Free
     … So learn to think in ways that give rise to a sense of well-being in the breath, in the mind, because you’re going to need a sense of well-being not only as you go through the day, but also as you start digging into issues in the mind. You’re going to run into a lot of things in the mind … 
  3. Right Livelihood
    For the mind to settle down, you need to give it space. This principle works on many layers. You need to give it a good space in the body. You need to give it a good space in your life. Because meditation isn’t simply a practice that you can fit into the cracks of your life regardless of what shape those cracks are … 
  4. Four Virtues
     … So as you’re working on your precepts, maintaining them throughout the day, it’s an important element in training and developing the mind. The second kind of virtue is restraint of the senses. The mind goes through the day feeding all the time, and you’ve got to be very careful about what kind of food you feed on, in terms of what … 
  5. To Begin the Day
     … Then you remind yourself that this is why we’re meditating, so that we can strengthen the mind, center the mind, give the mind good nourishment inside so that it’s less likely to do things based on ill will, less likely to do unskillful things. Usually it’s out of fear or hunger that we do unskillful things. So remind yourself that your … 
  6. On Being Non-reactive
     … In the same way, when the breath energies in the body are very still, you can sense the movements of the mind very clearly, and that’s what we’re here for. The breath is like a thread that you follow through a maze to get to the mind in the middle. When the breath gets still, the mind becomes more and more clear … 
  7. Wake Up from Addiction
     … You also look into the qualities in the mind. Is the pressure of the mind’s focus too strong or too weak? Are you feeling lax and lazy or are you feeling overly stimulated? And what can you do to bring things back into balance? Once you’ve analyzed things, then you put in the effort to bring them into balance. That effort is … 
  8. Safety in Awareness
     … There’s something here in the mind that really is reliable, something you can touch in the mind that’s reliable. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we put so much effort in the practice, because there are so many things out there in the world and so many other things in our own minds that seem promising and then let … 
  9. Present Kamma
     … the issue of how to be able to get the mind under control. As I was saying this morning, when the mind is not under your control, you can’t really trust yourself. The actions that come out—your thoughts and your words and your deeds: You don’t know if they’re going to be good or bad if you’re not really … 
  10. A Safe Place
     … You notice what the mind is doing, how the mind is settling in with the breath. At that point, you don’t need any more conversation in the mind about the breath. You can just be with the sensation of the breathing. Go into the sensation of the breathing and allow things to be very still. Some people complain that everything gets so still … 
  11. Training Your Inner Teacher
    We’re trying to find a special kind of truth inside ourselves, the truth of the end of suffering, a deathless dimension that can be accessed by the mind. The Buddha describes the steps in awakening to that truth. You start by finding a teacher who’s reliable, and you listen to the Dhamma; you pay careful attention; you try to remember the Dhamma … 
  12. Perceptions of the Breath
    Perceptions of the Breath March 23, 2010 To bring the mind to the breath, you need to have a perception—a label or a picture in mind—as a way of reminding yourself where you want to stay, and exactly what topic you’re focusing on. That’s because all the states of concentration up to the dimension of nothingness are called perception attainments … 
  13. Respect for the Path
     … Once you’ve solved this problem—the mind’s ignorant ways of causing itself stress and suffering—then nothing else is going to be a problem to weigh down the mind. The Dhamma is that large. It covers all problems, takes care of all problems that weigh down the mind, all the ways in which we cause ourselves stress and suffering. When we take … 
  14. The Wear & Tear of Life
     … And it strengthens the mind, so that it can continue looking for happiness in the right way and avoid the things that it knows are going to lead to harm—and a lot of things that you don’t yet really know are going to lead to harm. But you begin to realize, as the mind gets more and more sensitive to this sense … 
  15. Commit & Reflect
     … You really try to stick with it because when the mind can stay with one object, it’s going to see things a lot more clearly. And it gets nourished at the same time. That helps to keep up the practice. The mind needs its nourishment, so we look for it in the concentration. As the mind gets still and more nourished, that’s … 
  16. Stick to Your Duties
     … getting the mind to settle down, getting the mind to be clear, mindful, alert, ardent, and then using those qualities to find a sense of well-being in the present moment. You become a better judge of when stress comes, even in the concentration itself. If the mind hasn’t settled down like this, your sense of what constitutes stress and what constitutes pleasure … 
  17. Heeding the Deva Messengers
     … He saw the principle of karma, he saw the principle of becoming as it takes shape in the mind and how it then plays itself out not only in thoughts in the mind, but also in the states of being you take on outside. Becoming is basically taking on an identity in a particular world of experience. Now, inside your mind it’s happening … 
  18. Dreams & Voices
     … They slip into the mind, either consciously or just barely subconsciously. They give answers to that question the mind always repeats: “What to do next? What to do next?” As the mind gets more and more still, then the layers of conversation fall away. You find that this question is like an ostinato, a repeating theme that goes on all the time: “What to … 
  19. Organizing Your Inner Committee
     … So you’ve got to realize, as Ajaan Lee says, that there’s more than one mind in the mind. There are lots of minds in here, lots of intentions. It’s a problem in the beginning of meditation, but learning to see the mind as a committee can also be something that helps you in the meditation. That perception helps you pull away … 
  20. Perceptions of Earth & Space
    As you get ready to meditate, it’s useful to think about a series of comments the Buddha made about speech that also can be applied to the mind. If you’re going to say anything, the Buddha said, it should pass three tests: One, is it true? Two, is it beneficial? And three, is this the right time and place for that? Applying … 
  21. 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 … 
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