Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Protection Through Mindfulness
     … In this case, of course, the priority is the state of your mind, the qualities of the mind you’re acting on, the qualities of the mind you’re trying to abandon. So give the issues of the mind top priority: That’s one of the lessons of right mindfulness. That’s the kind of protection that that image calls to mind. Then there … 
  3. Training in Commitment & Reflection
     … If the mind wanders off again, you bring yourself back again. Try not to get discouraged. When you are with the breath, the question is, “Does the mind feel snug with the breath? Are you really sensitive to what’s going on?” Here again, you have to use some reflection. What kind of breathing would be easiest for the mind to stay with right … 
  4. Introduction to the Breath
     … Our happiness or lack of happiness depends on our own actions, and the word “actions” here means not only what we do with our body but also with our speech, and most especially with the mind. In other words, the mind can make a difference, that in spite of the situation outside, by training the mind it’s possible to gain a happiness that … 
  5. Reading Your Meditation
     … They saw what he was talking about as it appeared in the actions of the mind. Instead of focusing on the arrows that were pointing to the mind, they focused on the mind itself. That’s how they were able to gain insight, gain awakening. So try to bring that attitude to the evening talk. As you meditate, there’s a lot to pay … 
  6. Facing Your Responsibilities
     … As they get old and face death, they look back at their lives and say, “What was that all about? What do you have to show for having been a human being?” As you meditate, you’re making changes in the big issue in life, which is the mind, the activities of the mind. These issues are right here right now. There’s nowhere … 
  7. Befriending the Breath
     … You use the breath as an anchor even when you’re focusing on the mind. The way to focus on the mind is first to get it anchored to the breath and in touch with the breath, so that you know you’re staying in the present moment—because that’s where you want to observe the mind. If the mind slips off into … 
  8. Beyond Inter-eating
     … that as long as the mind needs to feed, it’s causing suffering. And the greatest act of kindness both to yourself and other people is to put it in a position where it doesn’t need to feed. We tend to forget this. We think that sitting here meditating, trying to get the mind under control, is a selfish thing because we don … 
  9. Rooted in Desire
    Rooted in Desire August 28, 2017 The Dhammapada starts with two verses on the topic of the power of the mind: “The mind is the forerunner of all dhammas. The mind is their chief; they’re made of the mind.” And we may say, on one level, that this sounds reasonable. The way you look at things, the way you act, will have an … 
  10. A Mind Like Earth
     … Because after all, the mind does have a problem. It’s creating suffering. It doesn’t want suffering, and it doesn’t want to create suffering, but it does. You’ve got to figure that out. It requires watching it and watching parts of the mind you don’t like and not getting shaken by them. This is why you have to make the … 
  11. Being Still
     … And in the same way if you want to see things in the mind, see things in the breath, you have to make yourself very quiet. The quieter the mind is the more it sees. So, when the breath comes in, the breath goes out, the mind doesn’t have to come in and out with the breath. You choose a spot in the … 
  12. Determined to Stay with the Breath
     … You have to remember that the mind that’s not trained suffers a lot more than a person sitting here trying to train the mind, even when it’s hot or when it’s cold. When the circumstances are nice or not nice, you don’t want to make them an obstacle to your practice. After all, it is the mind that we’re … 
  13. A Pervasive Well-being
    When we talk about practicing concentration, we often talk about bringing the mind to oneness, or a state of one-pointedness or singleness. It’s important that we understand what this means and how you do it because there are two ways of explaining the Pali term ekaggatā. One is that the mind is at one point. Eka means one, agga means point or … 
  14. It’s All in What You’re Doing
     … As you get more and more familiar with staying with the breath, you can get to observe the mind in action. How does it keep itself with the breath? How does it motivate itself? What is it reminding itself of? These are the activities we have to look into. There are qualities of the mind that lie behind these activities. Those are the things … 
  15. Leaving Distractions Alone
     … You don’t have to coordinate it with the breath, just say *buddho, buddho, buddho *over and over in the mind until the mind has had enough of that. Then you can settle down and just be with the physical sensation of breathing. The important principle is that you can’t wait until everything is really quiet and settled and all taken care of … 
  16. A Meditation Karma Checklist
     … Now, you may discover that the mind has other problems. Sometimes it’s having problems with lust, so switch over to the 32 parts of the body. If you’re having problems with ill will for somebody, okay, try to develop goodwill. In other words, try to choose an object that’s right for the state of the mind you’re experiencing right now … 
  17. Reading & Meditating
     … getting the mind really, really still, and then observing what happens in the still mind. After all, all those factors for dependent co-arising are showing themselves all the time, but they show themselves more clearly, more distinctly, when the mind is really still. You see their connections more clearly when the mind is really still. So you have to know, one, how to … 
  18. No Running Away
     … You want to run away from the issues of the mind: You find that when things are quiet, the issues have more space to come and confront you. So once you realize there’s no place to run away, what do you do? You have to turn around and learn how to deal with these things. If it’s something unskillful in the mind … 
  19. Respect for Concentration
     … Simply that the mind doesn’t move out after them. The mind stays firmly based in the breath, its home base, and from there it protects that sense of being centered, looks after it, maintains it. This is the only way that concentration can grow, can develop the real stability we need to withstand whatever comes up. Too many times I’ve heard people … 
  20. Breath Meditation
     … This is what keeps the mind and the body together.” And it only stands to reason that if the breath is in good shape, then other things will go well in life as well. The body will feel good; the mind will have a good place to stay when the breath is comfortable. So learn to get to know the breath. Be on friendly … 
  21. Taking Responsibility
    If the mind were basically good, there’d be no need to train it. You’d just follow whatever impulses come up, and you’d be guaranteed happiness. If the mind were basically bad, you couldn’t train it: It would resist training. What this means is that the mind has both good and bad impulses. And our duty is to learn how to … 
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