Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Practice Without Gaps
     … The original intention is not so hard, but maintaining it—that’s where you run into difficulties, because the mind does have a tendency to jump around. Then it’ll come back, and then somehow it jumps again without your even realizing that it’s jumped. So you have to train yourself to be more alert to what’s going on in the mind … 
  3. Choose Your Actions Wisely
     … For the mind to hold on means that it keeps coming back to do the same thing again and again and again. So we’re back to that issue of actions, the actions of the mind. You’ve got to figure out why you keep doing something that’s not that skillful. Sometimes it’s just a lack of imagination. You can’t think … 
  4. Escape from Inter-eating
     … So to train the mind, you sit here moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath, watching the mind as it stays with the breath because the movements of the mind are important. And you don’t really know them until you see how they begin. This means that we’re not here just to rest or get some stress reduction. We get the mind still … 
  5. Values
    There are lots of different ways of getting the mind to settle down, and the breath is the object the Buddha discussed most frequently and in most detail for settling down with. But there are other ways of getting the mind to settle down as well. You can focus on the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha either by simply repeating one of those words … 
  6. Choices
     … This is why we’re focusing on the mind here in the present moment: because of the power of the mind in the present moment to shape both the present moment and the future. So, if you’re focused on the breath, really be sincere in sticking with it. The Buddha says you should be mindful, alert, ardent. In other words, keep the breath … 
  7. Four Determinations
     … You have to think your way to get the mind to settle down with the breath: You adjust the breath to fit with the mind; you adjust the mind to fit with the breath. But there comes a point where you don’t have to adjust anymore. The fit is perfect, or at least good enough to settle down in. But often the mind … 
  8. Right Resolve & Right Speech
     … If the mind is settling down with the breath, fine. Keep it going. Try to breathe in a way that’s comfortable. But if the mind is not settling down, you have to look into why. This is where you want to hear more truthful speech inside. What’s the mind focused on? There will be times when it’ll be embarrassed to admit … 
  9. The Allure of Sensuality
     … There’s a part of the mind that will be willing to do almost anything, and there are parts of the mind that will do anything, to get that pleasure back—which is why you can’t trust it. But the pleasure of concentration makes the mind much more trustworthy because you know you’ve got something good right here that doesn’t require … 
  10. Equanimity & Power
     … Breathe in ways that gladden the mind, steady the mind, release the mind. So there’s work to be done, and equanimity on this level is like the equanimity of a goldsmith. The Buddha says there are three things a goldsmith has to do. He has to put the gold in the fire. He has to take it out and blow on it. And … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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