Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 38
  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. The Strength of Heedfulness
     … But all that thinking can be tiring, so the mind needs to rest from time to time. This is how the strength of mindfulness leads to the strength of concentration—when you’re heedful—because you know that if the mind gets tired, it’s very easy to slip back to your old unskillful ways. So the mind does need to rest, and it … 
  8. To Comprehend Pain
     … Or when we’re told, “Okay, the pain for the mind is in the clinging,” even though the words are right, that’s not comprehension, either. We have to see these things in action, see the mind holding on to something that is causing it to suffer, and realizing that you have the option not to hold on. In some cases, you simply let … 
  9. Your Secret Foundation
     … The breath is as close as you can get to focusing on the mind without actually focusing directly on the mind itself. It’s right next door. And because it’s the part of the body that’s most sensitive to the movements of the mind, it’s a really good mirror for the mind. So it serves a lot of functions. When you … 
  10. Negotiating with Death
     … The mind, you could think of as the entire committee of the mind that has made a decision. It’s on the side of greed or on the side of anger—or on the opposite side. Or you’re trying to get the mind to settle down, so you check your progress against the Buddha’s list. Either it’s concentrated or it’s … 
  11. Why We Meditate
     … This is why we meditate, trying to exert some sort of control over the mind, keeping it mindful. In other words, you try to keep the breath in mind and you keep alert, watching to see what the mind is doing. It’s only then that you can clearly see what the mind does that causes suffering and what does it that actually leads … 
  12. Avoidance
     … that the suffering that really weighs the mind down comes from its actions and that you are free to choose what you’re going to do—“actions,” here, meaning not just actions of the body, of course, but actions of the mind, the decisions, the choices in the mind. You have the freedom to change those. You’re not totally determined. We’re not … 
  13. A Happiness Based Inside
     … You need a combination of tranquility and insight to get the mind firmly established in a good dependable state of concentration and to keep it there—and to realize that if you’re going to have a foundation for happiness, it lies in this direction and not outside. That means, one, steadying the mind with a sense of the breath and learning how to … 
  14. The Resolve to Let Go
     … If you’re going to get the mind into right concentration, think about the first part of the definition: “secluded from sensuality.” This doesn’t mean that you have to go to a place where there are no sensual pleasures at all, simply that you seclude the mind, withdraw the mind from that sensual kind of thinking. You have to learn how to let … 
  15. Inner Refuge
     … It can be really healing for the body and for the mind as well. You begin to realize that you have friends in here, that the qualities of the body can be used in a way, can be manipulated inside in a way that’s comforting for the mind, absorbing for the mind. It becomes easier and easier to stay here consistently. Ultimately, you … 
  16. Mindful of the Buddha’s Shoulds
     … So when our actions are so important, of course there are going to be shoulds: “What will be the best thing to do?” If you look deeply into the mind, you find that it’s very proactive. It’s not simply reacting to things outside: The mind is proactive in looking for happiness. One of our most basic questions comes from the experience of … 
  17. Five Precepts, Five Virtues
    The Pali word for meditation, bhāvanā, means to develop, to try to develop good qualities in the mind. Even with something simple like this, focusing on the breath: Take a couple of good long deep in-and-out breaths, and try to stay with nothing but the breath. In other words, the sound of the crickets, the sound of the wind, the sound of … 
  18. Meticulous
     … Actually it’s in the process of developing the mind in concentration that you learn a lot of things about the processes of the mind—not only seeing the processes, but seeing them as fabrication. When you see them as fabrication, you begin to realize: This is all pretty arbitrary. Then it’s easier to develop a sense of disenchantment and dispassion around these … 
  19. Always Observe Your Mind
     … The focus is more and more on the state of the mind: “Giving is good.” “The mind is made serene. It’s gratified by giving.” “Giving is an ornament on the mind.” He keeps pointing back more and more to the mind. After all, if you’re going to be observing the mind, it’s best to start out with observing yourself doing good … 
  20. Discernment
     … The discernment has to be there to inform them all, all the way along, because you’re looking at, “What are your actions? What are you doing right now?” Right now, you say, “I’m watching my breath.” “Why are you watching your breath?” “To get the mind into concentration.” “Why would you want to get the mind into concentration?” “Because the mind in … 
  21. Finding the Openings
     … Find a way to root the mind, first here in the body, and then more deeply in itself, so that you have something solid to hold on to instead of grabbing on to whatever trash comes flying past. This is why we meditate, to give the mind that kind of grounding. And this is why we develop discernment, so that we offer less resistance … 
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