Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Hindrances to the Heightened Mind
     … Just because something comes up in the mind, they make us feel that we’re committed, that we have to think the thought through. There’s also the problem where one part of the mind says, “Well, as long as I’m trying to get the mind into concentration, I can’t let there be any thoughts at all in the mind,” and so … 
  3. The Fourth Frame of Reference
     … This further energizes the mind. If, on the other hand, your mind is too active, that’s when you try to calm it down. Go for serenity. Get the mind to focus on easing the breath, calming the breath down, working through tension in the body, until the mind gets more solid and can come to a state of equanimity and equipoise. So, again … 
  4. A Culture of Restraint
     … You create ruts in the mind. When you give free rein to anger, you create an anger-rut. When you develop mindfulness, you create a mindfulness-rut. The next time you get anywhere near those patterns of thinking, the mind falls into the rut and goes along with it. We’re doing this all the time. They’ve done study after study to show … 
  5. Breath by Breath
     … So keep the mind with the breath continuously, and then let them do their work. The mind does its work on the breath, and the breath does its work on the mind. And bit, by bit, by bit, the sense of ease, the sense of pleasure, grows. But even when it gets large and intense, you can’t abandon that producing mode. The ease … 
  6. Friends with Pain
     … That’s why the pain gets to the mind. The more you understand the pain, the more you can relate to it in a skillful way so that it doesn’t make inroads on the mind. The pain can be there in the knee but it doesn’t have an impact on the mind. The mind is perfectly fine because it’s quick enough … 
  7. Think
     … Part of the mind will say, “Oh, of course not.” But there may be a part of the mind that says, “Well, it seems like it.” The only way you’re going to find that second part of the mind is to ask questions. You can ask if the pain is coming at you. Actually the pain doesn’t have a direction, but if … 
  8. The Wisdom of Equanimity
     … But you look at the nature of the happiness of the mind, and it’s that the mind can rest someplace and not be pushed out. When we start identifying with the parts of the mind that push out, that complain about this, want this to be different, want that to be different and are upset about things: When those parts get what they … 
  9. Appreciating Your Practice
     … But he noticed when he could get the mind to settle down with the breath and how he could get the mind to settle down with the breath. He noticed the ways that worked and the ways that didn’t work. He judged his meditation based on the level of stress and suffering still in the mind, and the types of stress and suffering … 
  10. For When the World Can’t Help You
     … Things can just pop into the mind. As the Buddha said, there’s nothing quicker to change than the mind. You seem to be going in one direction, then all of the sudden, you’re going someplace else. You want to learn how to take advantage of that quality. In other words, if you see the mind is headed in a bad direction, remind … 
  11. Right View & Right Resolve
     … So we look at the mind. But to look at the mind, you need to give it a focal point, which is why we don’t look directly at the mind to begin with. We start with the breath, get the mind focused on the breath, and get used to being here. Notice what way of breathing feels really good. Notice where you feel … 
  12. Anupassana
     … When you’re doing mindfulness practice—trying to get the mind to settle down with the breath and stay with the breath so as to get into concentration—that’s called anupassana. You’re keeping track of the breath. It’s like keeping track of a thread going through a carpet. There are lots of other threads in the carpet, but you’re not … 
  13. Learning & Respect
     … There’s so much going on in the mind that’s subterranean. When we talk about the subconscious, it’s not like a basement, a different place in the mind. Subconscious things are actions in the mind that come very quickly. We’re barely aware of them, but they’re there and they leave their traces. The Buddha points out that there are intentions … 
  14. Investigative Work
    **Ajaan Chah once said that one of the first things you notice when you really look at the mind is how much it lies to you. It promises happiness through the way it thinks, the way it sees things, and then it doesn’t deliver. Actually, it delivers a lot of stress and suffering. Then it hopes you forget. Then it promises more happiness … 
  15. Capture Your Imagination
     … You’re creating a world in the mind—but not solely in the mind. It’s also in the body. As you may have noticed, when you’re thinking about things, there’s a spot of tension or a pattern of tension someplace in the body that goes along with the thought. This means that any act of the imagination, any act of the … 
  16. Around in Circles
     … just the mind staying alert to the breath right here. There are not too many variables, it would seem. But it’s plenty enough to keep you busy, plenty enough to give you all the raw material you need to learn about the mind in the present moment. Because that’s when the mind does all its work: in the present moment. We often … 
  17. The Four Precepts
     … Remember, the word “meditation” in Pali, bhavana, means developing the mind. And you don’t develop the mind solely when you sit here with your eyes closed, not doing anything. You also have to develop it while you’re doing things—while you’re acting, while you’re moving, while you’re speaking. It’s like learning how to chew gum and to walk … 
  18. A Post by the Ocean
     … In other words, if you take on too many responsibilities out in the world but don’t have a firm foundation for the mind, the mind ends up getting smashed to pieces. And it’s of no use to anybody. So while you’re focused on one small point right here — just the breath, just the body — it may seem like you’re neglecting … 
  19. From Heedfulness to Purity
     … Do you want to hold onto it or do you want to let go? So you bring the mind to the concentration usually with some confused motives. And the concentration, the mindfulness, allow for the discernment that’s going to allow us to see where the confusion lies, because we begin to see that it really does cause suffering, causes stress one way or … 
  20. Booster Stages
    The Buddha was a master of the apt simile, the apt comparison, but even he found himself stymied when it came to finding comparison for how quickly the mind can change. Attitudes you may have held for a long time, you can drop in a fraction of a second. Intentions that you sincerely wish for, you can drop very quickly—and then you want … 
  21. Generating Power
     … We often think of it as a place for the mind to rest, and it is, but it’s even more a place for the mind to recharge its batteries. That requires energy, requires effort, requires work. In Thailand the idiom for meditation is “to make an effort.” And in meditating there very definitely are things we have to do. It’s not just … 
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