Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Voices in the Mind
     … It’s because of these desires that we take on all kinds of different identities in the mind, all the different voices. You can get involved in dialogues, taking on different parts, different roles, arguing back and forth—or one side of the mind encouraging another side of the mind, going back and forth that way as well. This really destroys any peace and … 
  3. Respect for the Breath
     … You’re training the mind, training the qualities of the mind. So you want to have respect for this process, because the mind does tend to insist that its other thoughts, its ideas, its desires, its likes and dislikes are more important. A Chan master once said that the great way is not difficult for those with no preferences. What that means is you … 
  4. How & Why We Meditate
     … Just notice that there are other thoughts in the mind, not connected with the breath, but you don’t have to follow them. That right there is an important insight. You don’t have to run after everything that comes up in the mind. Then stick with the breath as long as you can and see what impact it has on the mind and … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. Understanding Pain
     … Fortunately, the actions we’re doing right now are creating the kind of pain in the mind that’s causing the mind to suffer. If we change our present actions, the mind doesn’t have to suffer. So first we have to have this understanding: The fact that there’s pain in the body does not have to make us suffer. Then we can … 
  7. Working at Home
    Working at Home August 13, 2008 A traditional Pali term for concentration is vihara-dhamma, a home for the mind. It’s a place where the mind can stay. But it’s also more than that. As with any home, there’s more to the home than just the bedroom. And there’s more to the home than just living in it. First you … 
  8. Doing the Right Thing
     … Then to help the mind see clearly, we practice concentration and get the mind to settle down and be still for a while. You do whatever it takes to get the mind to settle down. This involves some discernment in noticing where the mind is obstreperous, or what it’s hanging on to so that it won’t settle down. You can figure out … 
  9. Maintaining Stillness
     … But to see these ways requires that the mind be still, and that we learn to keep the mind still in all sorts of situations. All too often, it’s easy to get the mind to settle down as you’re sitting here with your eyes closed. The trick lies in maintaining that same sense of balance, that same sense of stillness, even in … 
  10. For the Survival of True Happiness
     … In particular, train the mind through meditation. We use the breath as a way of anchoring our attention in the present moment so that we can observe the mind. We work with the breath both because it provides us with a comfortable place to stay as we’re watching the mind and because the breath is the part of the body most intimately connected … 
  11. Immediate Knowledge
     … Yet the things that are going on in the mind, what the mind is doing, all these activities, all the events in the mind right now, what’s the intention, which one is shaping things in the present moment, and what are the things being shaped: Those are things we very rarely know. As for the pleasure and pain that’s coming from our … 
  12. Reflect
     … Other times, you work on the mind. If you find that the mind doesn’t want to settle down with the breath, okay, what’s the problem? Maybe you need to give it something else to work with first, like contemplating the body or developing thoughts of goodwill. Maybe there’s a specific issue coming up from the day that you’ve got to … 
  13. Walking Meditation: Stillness in Motion
     … When we sit quietly, we’re trying to get the mind still, and we try to keep the body still as a way of helping the mind along. But you also want to be able to keep the mind still in the midst of movement, in the midst of activity. That’s where walking meditation comes in. When you get up from your sitting … 
  14. Three Stages in the Practice
     … That’s a healthy thing for the mind. And often we overlook that. That’s what the Buddha calls the pleasure that comes from seclusion: simply that you’re not going after unskillful thoughts; you keep the mind secluded from their influence. That brings a certain amount of ease to the mind. There’s a passage in the Canon where the Buddha talks about … 
  15. Honesty
     … And different parts of the mind will have embroidered a new screen behind which that committee member can hide. So when there’s a particularly strong reaction in the mind, you’ve got to react back strongly the other way. Say, “Why? What’s the reason? I’m not going to act on anything until I hear a good reason.” Often this committee member … 
  16. How the Tree Leans
     … The same applies to the mind. You can be sitting here very still with the mind focused on the present moment. But the present moment keeps changing. The present moment you were focused on just a few seconds ago is gone. The mind is leaning in different directions. As the Buddha said, based on the thoughts that you encourage in your mind, it’s … 
  17. The Path of Happiness
     … As Ajaan Fuang, my teacher, said, “The practice brings you to the mind.” You begin to see the mind in action. What does the mind want? Basically, it wants happiness; it wants a happiness it can depend on. In fact, just about everything we do is for the sake of happiness—one kind of happiness or another. Yet the problem that’s one of … 
  18. Achieving Balance
    An important principle in meditating, in getting the mind to settle down properly, is to develop a sense of balance so that your desire isn’t so strong that it runs away with you or so weak that you don’t really care. Your effort isn’t so strong that it wears you out, but not so weak that you don’t accomplish anything … 
  19. Open Door Meditation
    There’s a good reason why we sit still with our eyes closed as we try to get the mind still: to teach the mind a lesson from the body. Not too much is coming in and particularly not nothing is coming in through your eyes, and there’s a lot less to distract you. Then you can tell yourself, that any thought that … 
  20. Insight in Concentration
     … This is where you run into a lot of interesting issues in the mind. People often think that you first do concentration, then, when you really get good at concentration, discernment comes. Well, a lot of discernment comes in the course of trying to keep the mind here in the present moment, because after a while different ideas will come up in the mind … 
  21. The Battle of Your Selves
    We sit here trying to get the mind into concentration, to get it focused on the breath, and all of a sudden we find it someplace else. By that I mean without any sense that we intended to go someplace else, it’s just that we’re there. This is a good lesson in how your self is pretty arbitrary, and how there are … 
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