Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. The Buddha’s Currency
     … You see that you can get the mind still and you can really see clearly what’s going on inside the mind. You gain a sense of which qualities of the mind need to be developed, which ones need to be abandoned. You really see that the suffering that weighs the mind down most is the suffering that comes from within. The world may … 
  3. Wandering On, Shooting Arrows
     … And as long as I don’t yet see, I’m going to keep on looking.” This is why we meditate—to look into what the mind is doing wrong. That willingness to accept the fact that, yes, the mind is sometimes lying to itself, and sometimes hiding things from itself: That’s what keeps us honest. It’s not the case that the … 
  4. Only Natural
    Only Natural May 16, 2020 One of the main reasons for suffering is the way the mind talks to itself. Now, the solution is not to just stop talking. You have to understand the process of what’s going on as the mind talks to itself. Who’s talking? Where does it come from? Where does it lead? When you understand it, then you … 
  5. Skills Needed at Death
     … If you had no control over the mind at all, and if the thoughts in the mind didn’t make any difference at death, then that would make sense. But in the Buddha’s analysis, the mind is making choices at that point. The problem is, it’s often making them under the power of aversion. It doesn’t want to die, but it … 
  6. Look after Yourself Happily
     … So however long it takes for the mind to have enough rest, you have to let it rest. But it’s not wasted time. One, the mind does get healed in a lot of ways. And two, it does require a certain amount of insight and discernment in order to protect your concentration. Once the mind gets still, then you can see the other … 
  7. All Four Tetrads at Once
     … It starts with being sensitive to the mind. If you haven’t been sensitive to the mind up to this point, you’re not going to get anywhere. As the Buddha said, the mind is right there all along: It has to be mindful and alert for you to stay with the breath from the very beginning. But sometimes the mind is the problem … 
  8. Start by Relaxing Your Hands
     … If you start getting interested in the potentials, you’ll find that they can do a lot, both for the state of the body and for the state of the mind. In this way, your meditation isn’t simply a process of forcing the mind to stay with the breath. As you get more and more interested, the element of force gets placed off … 
  9. Looking at Your Life
    When you bring the mind the breath, you’re developing a good vantage point, a good place to look at what’s going on in the body, a good place to look at what’s going on in the mind—and a good place to look at what’s going on in your life. There tends to be a lot of confusion in all … 
  10. Sensitivity & Strength
     … that when the mind is in concentration, it’s both very sensitive and very strong. On the one hand, it’s sensitive to the slightest wavering that’s going on in the mind, doing your best to maintain the sense of steadiness, fullness, refreshment. On the other hand, you’re trying to be resilient, so that when people approach you with their negative moods … 
  11. Cleansing the Mind
     … And as I mentioned, water doesn’t clean the mind. Good actions clean the mind: words, deeds, and particularly the three teachings the Buddha has on right mental conduct. It’s good to keep these in mind. They’re a foundation for the meditation, a foundation for the practice. They’re mentioned in a sutta where a brahman comes to see the Buddha and … 
  12. Five Strengths
     … If you breathe in a comfortable way, it helps to erase stress diseases and it’s calming to the mind. More importantly, staying with the breath develops a lot of good and very useful qualities in the mind. And this is important because it’s the nature of your mind, that the skills of the mind determine the shape of your life. Essentially we … 
  13. Fear of Death
     … Things will appear to the mind as you realize, “I can’t stay here anymore in the body.” It’s pushing you out. And the mind’s response is to think of various places to go. I was electrocuted one time, years back. I thought I was going to die. My sense of the time that I was being electrocuted was about five minutes … 
  14. Intelligent Restraint
     … Let that well-being spread through the body, so that the mind isn’t so hungry. One of the reasons why we gobble down sights, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations without any sense of restraint is because the mind is hungry for pleasure. So you give it a better pleasure right here. And as you’re grounded in the body, it changes the balance … 
  15. In the Mood to Meditate
     … The Buddha talks about gladdening the mind as part of the meditation, and there are lots of different ways to gladden the mind. Even thinking about death can gladden the mind. You realize there’s not much time left, but you do have this opportunity to practice right now. Thinking about death reminds you of how important this is right now. You’ve got … 
  16. Oneness is a Water Snake
     … We’re getting the mind ready to do something else, which is to let things fall apart in a natural way. Part of the falling away simply comes from the fact that, as you’re working with the mind in getting it to settle down, you begin to clearly see things—events, activities of the mind clearly—that you didn’t see clearly before … 
  17. Gladdening the Mind
    Gladdening the Mind September 2, 2004 Gladdening the mind. This is an important skill in the meditation. The Buddha lists it as one of the basic steps in mindfulness of breathing. If your meditation gets dry, it starts to seize up like an engine without any lubricant. So you need to keep your mind lubricated, keep it refreshed as you’re practicing. There are … 
  18. Jhana & Insight
     … You require some insight to get the mind to settle down, and then as the mind has settled down, your insight’s clearer. So the two processes go together. So, there’s no question about how long you do samatha and then switch over to vipassana: You just do concentration. As you’re doing it, you can’t help but begin to notice things … 
  19. Free for the Time Being
     … You may have some responsibilities after you leave meditation, but there’s no need to weigh the mind down with them now. You don’t need to clutter it up now. As I said, there’s no need to stash anything away. Allow the mind to have some freedom for the time being. Your frame of reference is just this: the breath coming in … 
  20. Conviction & Persistence
    We’re here to train the mind. But we focus on the breath. It’s by focusing the mind on the breath and keeping it there that we’re developing some really good qualities in the mind: qualities of persistence, ardency, mindfulness, alertness. It’s by staying consistently with the breath in all the ups and downs of our lives that we learn some … 
  21. Faith in Present Intentions
     … We’re trying to bring the mind to the breath to give it an anchor in the present moment, both so that it can see the present moment clearly and so that it has strength to do what’s right. When you get the mind still, you can see things moving in the mind that you wouldn’t otherwise. Areas of the mind that … 
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