Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. There’s Work to Be Done
     … There are certain qualities of mind that you’ve got to develop in order to get the mind to settle down. You start with the instructions on right mindfulness: that you keep track of either the body in and of itself, feelings, mind-states, or mental qualities in and of themselves. The Buddha mainly recommends starting with the body. At the same time, you … 
  3. The Quality of Your Awareness
     … We follow that trail deeper and deeper into the mind until we find out what’s really causing all the problems. That’s how we find what we’re looking for. So it’s a matter of that quality of your attention. This is why we practice concentration. This is why we pose questions in the mind to learn about the mind as it … 
  4. Wake Up from Addiction
     … That’s a good thing to keep in mind, as food for mindfulness the next time around. As we’re practicing, we’re trying to gather up enough experience so that our mindfulness isn’t informed just by what we’ve heard or read. It’s also informed by what we’ve done that’s gotten results. And you want to remind yourself of … 
  5. Responsible Conviction
    Meditation is a process by which you develop good qualities in the mind, qualities like mindfulness, alertness, ardency, concentration. We do this because we believe in the power of the mind. The mind is not just on the receiving end of material events. By working on the mind from within, you can make big changes in your life, big changes in the world around … 
  6. The Steps of Breath Meditation
     … And the breath is the topic he recommends most highly, most frequently — because the breath is not only a place where the mind can settle down and gain concentration, but it’s also something the mind can analyze. It’s where all the insights needed for Awakening can arise — while the mind is being mindful of the breath, alert to the breath, and also … 
  7. Virtues Bright & Neither Dark nor Bright
     … In other words, they’re part of training the mind. You practice the precepts, say, as a way of expressing your goodwill, but at the same time you’re also using them to develop your mindfulness, your ardency, your alertness. Those are qualities you’re going to need as you practice mindfulness, and especially the kind of mindfulness that leads to concentration. Mindfulness, of … 
  8. A Graduated Discourse
     … We do that by training the mind, developing mindfulness, alertness, ardency as we try to stay with the breath, stay with the events in the mind in the present moment. Mindfulness is not just watching things coming and going. It’s remembering what’s skillful and what’s not skillful, so that when you recognize what’s coming up through your alertness, you’ve … 
  9. How the Dhamma Protects
     … But the power of goodwill weakens the bad karma from the past so that it doesn’t have so much of an impact on the mind. But still, that’s still not the best protection. The best protection is once the mind is solid and secure in concentration, that you start looking at where the mind still attached to things, where it hankers after … 
  10. Basic Breath, Basic Insight
     … You want to be mindful and alert. “Mindful” here means keeping in mind the fact that you’re going to try to stay here, making sure the mind remembers to stay with the breath. And you want to be alert to see what you’re actually doing. If the mind wanders off, notice that fact and bring it back. While you’re with the … 
  11. Mindstorms
    Mindstorms December 1, 2004 There’s a part of the mind that’s just aware. No matter what else comes into the mind — greed, anger, delusion, despair, depression, regret, or fear — it’s just part of the mind. There’s also another part that’s just aware of these things, but it tends to get blocked out when strong emotions come in. Still, it … 
  12. When Your Head Is on Fire
    As the Buddha says, even if you can’t read the minds of other people, at least learn how to read your own mind, particularly if there are unskillful qualities there. When you notice them, you don’t just let them stay there. As the Buddha said, it’s as if your head is on fire. You have a turban, and the turban is … 
  13. Delusion Concentration
     … Remember that the pleasure is created by the flow of the breath, the stillness of the mind, working together. Both of these conditions depend on the focus of your mind on the breath, alert and mindful. You don’t want to drop your alertness; you don’t want to drop your mindfulness, because that’s what happens in delusion concentration. You’re not very … 
  14. Cause & Effect Right Now
     … When does the level of stress in the mind go up? When does it go down? And to see that, you’ve got to develop mindfulness, concentration, all the qualities of the path. Your mind’s already active in shaping your experience, and so the Buddha gives you an active path to learn how to shape it in a more skillful way. In the … 
  15. Bad Stuff Happens
     … When she came for a visit, he looked at her when she was meditating one night—he had this ability to look at people’s minds—and he said, “You’re doing nothing but subtle breathing.” He said, “This isn’t good for you.” There’s part of the mind that really likes it. Once you can get the mind into really subtle breathing … 
  16. A Mind Like Earth
    When the Buddha taught meditation to Rahula, his son, he started out by saying, “Make your mind like earth.”* *People throw disgusting things on the earth, but the earth doesn’t shrink away in disgust. Make your mind like water, wind, fire. Water washes away dirty things, wind blows dirty things around, fire burns garbage, but none of them are disgusted by the filth … 
  17. The World of the Body
     … Try to become sensitive to what feels best for the body, what feels best for the mind right now. As for other thoughts that may come to the mind, you can let them go. Try to stay in the world of the body right here. The mind is used to living in lots of different worlds. You’ve got the world of family, the … 
  18. Up for the Challenge
     … You hold that in mind, and you have to keep these things in mind, even though things are rumbling around in the body. This is why we have to strengthen mindfulness, to keep these things in mind even when—especially when—the choices are difficult and the body is acting up. It’s like being in a ship going down. You have to remember … 
  19. The Rivers of Karma
     … As the Buddha points out, there’s no abandoning our attachment for sensual pleasures until we can develop the sense of ease that comes from getting the mind still, centered, solidly based in the present. This is how you teach the mind not to be overcome by pleasure or pain. Pain becomes a tool an opportunity to learn about how the mind creates unnecessary … 
  20. Yes & No
     … when the mind wants to take on too much all at once. Stake out a little territory and protect it. Sometimes you hear that mindfulness is wide open. It accepts everything and doesn’t say No to anything. But that’s not how the Buddha taught mindfulness. He described mindfulness as a governing principle as more proactive: that when you see that there’s … 
  21. Bare Attention
     … There are skillful mind states and unskillful mind states. States that make you suffer are the unskillful ones. States that lead you away from suffering are the skillful ones. You’ve got to look at experience in those terms. And how do you recognize them? How do you tell skillful mind states from unskillful ones? You look at them in terms of what they … 
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