Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 42
  2. All Three Functions of Mindfulness
     … Remember to recognize things that are coming up in the mind and learn how to label them as “This is skillful,” or “This is unskillful.” That’s usually not the first thought that comes to us, of course. Lust comes into the mind, anger comes into the mind, and we just tend to go for it. We don’t stop to label it as … 
  3. Seeing Distinctions
    We’re trying to bring the mind to stillness for two purposes, and the purposes go together. One is that when the mind is still, there’s a sense of ease and well-being. The second is that when it’s still, it can see things clearly. These go hand in hand, because if you don’t have a basic sense of well-being … 
  4. Experimental Intelligence
     … You start out by getting the mind to be still. Get it into strong states of concentration where everything is very, very still, so that you can observe, when a thought comes into the mind, what it does to the mind; or when you do an action, what it does to the mind. If things aren’t really still, you can’t see the … 
  5. Training the Committee
     … This kind of recollection is not just an indoctrination where you force the mind to think these things whether you agree with it or not. You can sit down and ask yourself: Do you really think that the mind can be trained? Why would you not want it to be able to be trained? It’s the lazy part of the mind that says … 
  6. Self-reliance
     … Why is it that the mind is creating suffering for itself? You get the mind quiet, you get it still, so that you can watch the mind. Fortunately, the mind is something you can watch. This is where the fact of the committee of the mind comes in really helpful. One part of the mind can watch another part of the mind. In fact … 
  7. A Valuable Gift
     … And your actions come from where? They come from the mind. So that gives you even more incentive to get the mind to settle down here in the present moment, to work on the intentions of the mind. Because that’s what we’re working on here as we focus on meditation, getting into concentration. The Thai translation for samadhi or concentration is firm … 
  8. In the Details
     … What is getting results? A defilement comes up in the mind—greed comes up in the mind, lust comes up in the mind, aversion comes up in the mind—and if you can look at it and it just drops away, you know you’re making progress. But if you find that it comes up and just latches on, and you have trouble shaking … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. The Buddha’s Shoulds
     … You want to avoid intentions that would make it difficult to get the mind into concentration, so you want to learn how to go beyond being resolved on sensual passion, being resolved on ill will, being resolved on harmfulness — because all these things stir up the mind and interfere with its settling down. There’s a passage in the Canon where Prince Jayasena, walking … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
  22. Load next page...