Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. The Uses of Fear
     … How and why does the mind hide these things from itself? And how do you know that it’s about to happen? When you can anticipate that it’s about to happen, you’ll notice it’s because of a sense of irritation or boredom or antsiness in the mind. Even though you’re standing with the breath, the mind is beginning to look … 
  3. Looking for Happiness Inside
     … The part of the mind that wants to direct this and say, “focus here, focus there,” gets thrown into sharp relief. And you ask yourself: “Who’s talking to whom in here?” You start questioning the very, very basic movements of the mind, until you see an opening where there are no movements of the mind at all. That may sound very abstract, but … 
  4. Hope
     … So try to get the mind as still as possible so that you can be more precisely aware of what you’re doing and the results of what you do. The more quiet you are, the more you can see. The more still you are, the more you can see the little movements of the mind as they run out after things. Ajaan Lee … 
  5. Peace of Mind
     … It has to involve peace of mind, because if the mind is agitated, if the mind is worked up, then no matter how good things may be otherwise, you can’t really be happy. So this is the essential ingredient. That’s why we’re meditating: to find peace of mind. So how do you make your mind peaceful? Remind yourself that its well … 
  6. Take Down Your Sails
     … When something comes up in the mind, first question, is it true? Two, is it beneficial? There are a lot of true things out there that are not beneficial at all, especially for the training of the mind. And then three, is this the right time and place for that? If you can apply this to your meditation, you’ll find that it helps … 
  7. The Dangers of Sensuality
     … Look at them from the point of view of what’s called “metacognition,” where part of the mind steps back from another part of the mind and observes it. You look for the origination of the fantasy. What sparks it? The problem is that all too often we’re aware of the fantasy only well after it’s been sparked, because there are subterranean … 
  8. Breathing through Daily Life
    Breathing through Daily Life September 4, 2003 The mind is always working. If it were doing just one or two jobs at a time, that would be no big problem. But it’s usually juggling several jobs at once. No wonder it’s tired. Relationships, responsibilities, jobs, issues: Lots of things are going on in the mind all at once. Often when we start … 
  9. Focus on What You’re Doing
     … I’ve got to push what’s left to push.” He said to Anuruddha, “That’s your restlessness right there.” Sometimes you have some preconceived notions about how things should work, and you just push, push, push, push the mind the mind in that direction. And it doesn’t work. As Ajaan Fuang once said, “If we could push our way into nibbana, we … 
  10. To Comprehend Suffering
     … Then you begin to watch the mind. What did the mind just do when it flared up? Not in reaction to the flaring up—what did it do to cause the flaring up? Then, when it calmed down, what did the mind do at that point? What’s the connection? You can see cause and effect right here in the present moment. In Thai … 
  11. Arising & Passing Away
     … So you have to look into the mind to see how the mind stitches things together in this process of upataan , stitching little sensations together and making a bigger deal out of them than they have to be. This is one of the reasons why the Buddha has us focus on just arising and passing away; what’s immediately apparent, immediately present to the … 
  12. Heedfulness All the Way Through
     … So if you’re really heedful as you’re mindful, you want to get the mind concentrated and still. This is the fourth strength. That’s when the mind gains power, because it can rest. Of the different qualities involved in the practice, concentration is the one the Buddha identifies with food. You nourish the mind. You nourish its sense of well-being simply … 
  13. Three More Recollections
     … There are other times, though when the mind refuses to settle down. In the words of the suttas, there’s a “fever” in the body that arises when you start focusing on the breath, or there’s sluggishness in the mind, or the mind gets scattered. No matter how much you tell it to stay with the breath, it resists. When that happens, then … 
  14. Doing Nothing
     … Right effort means distinguishing what’s skillful and what’s unskillful in the mind, and learning how to block or end any unskillful states in the mind and how to give rise to skillful states and then how to develop them further. That’s ardency in the practice. The effort here is not just a blind effort. It has to involve a certain amount … 
  15. How to Fall
     … When the mind slips off its object, you get faster and faster at bringing it back. Notice, the answer isn’t: The mind doesn’t slip off at all. It’s: You’re expected to slip off; it’s a normal part of the practice, a normal part of the training. The point lies in being more alert to what’s going on and … 
  16. Stillness & Clear Seeing
    Each time you start to meditate, you should remind yourself that this is a very high level of work for the mind—an honorable level of work, a noble level of work. So put yourself in the mood to do something noble. You’re not going to just sit here and follow your thoughts wherever they go. You’re going to stand above them … 
  17. The Analytical Mind
     … We’re trying to get the mind quiet, so that it learns the skill of how not to think. And sometimes the mind is willing to settle right down, like some of us tonight. It’s been a rough day with the heat, a lot of us are braindead, and the mind is ready just to settle down and rest. But the problem there … 
  18. Directing the Flow
    The mind well trained brings happiness; the mind untrained brings suffering and stress. The Buddha once said that it’s a sign of a wise person to realize how much the mind needs training. If it’s untrained, it’s like an untrained animal. If you have a dog that hasn’t been trained, it can’t live in the house. If a horse … 
  19. What to Tolerate, What Not
     … That way, even though there may be stress in your experience, it doesn’t weigh on the mind. The stress in the four noble truths is the only thing that really weighs on the mind. The stress in the three characteristics is not a problem if you don’t pull it in. Clinging and craving pull it in, make it weigh the mind down … 
  20. Strengthening Concentration
     … What you’ve done is that you’ve changed your perception, changed your understanding, in a way that enables you to strategize more effectively in overcoming resistance in the mind. The same thing applies with concentration. The Buddha talks about times when you’re trying to focus on the breath, and the mind says: “Oh, I’m not willing to settle down.” He calls … 
  21. Success with Breathing
     … There are also the potentials of the mind that are applied here, where you can watch to see how the mind fashions its experiences with its perceptions, with its ways of talking to itself. You can fashion them in all kinds of ways. But you want to fashion them in a way that leads the mind to want to settle down. These potentials are … 
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