Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. The Four Biases
     … So this is why we work on the meditation, getting the mind to be solid here in the present moment. It’s not just the case that virtue allows the mind to settle down. Once the mind is settled down and solid, it allows your virtue to become more and more solid and reliable, too. And it’s not just an abstract thought. There … 
  3. Recovering Your Balance
     … The Buddha has that statement about the mind being luminous but darkened by visiting defilements. He said this is the fact that allows us to train the mind. Now, he’s not saying that the mind is naturally good. He’s just saying that it’s bright, which means that when the defilements come, they’re like clouds blocking the sun. When the clouds … 
  4. Ready for the Truth
     … focusing on the breath, trying to make the breath comfortable, putting the mind at ease with the breath, and seeing that this really is a good place to be. Then, the Buddha said, you would be ready for the four noble truths. So you can see what he’s doing: On the one hand, in many places the prerequisite for getting the mind to … 
  5. The Cool Fire of Jhana
     … Now, in simply getting the mind to stay here, you’re getting some benefit from the concentration already. That’s one of the uses—the sense of well-being—and there’s also the opportunity to observe your defilements, to see more deeply into them. You see more and more clearly where their allure is: why there’s that part of the mind that … 
  6. Negotiating with the Committee
     … Because the mind does like to feed, and it likes to feed on pleasure. So as you negotiate with all the unskillful thoughts and voices in the mind, it’s really good to be able to throw them a little pleasure. What this comes down to is that every voice in the mind, every identity, every self, you’ve ever created, is created for … 
  7. Discernment Performs
     … He’s also interested in seeing the impact that they have on the mind: on the minds of the people who listen, the mind of the person speaking, and the mind of the person thinking. That moves on to a third quality, which is that speech be timely. You want your thoughts to be timely as well. Certain truths are useful at certain times … 
  8. A Good Place to Not-Self
     … You want to focus on the mind that’s doing the actions, the mind that’s making the intentions, and then train that well. Ajaan Suwat made this point. He said the Buddha talks about all the things that are not-self, which are the results of actions. He said the Buddha, however, does say that we’re the owners of our actions. That … 
  9. Changing the Pleasure Equation
     … Turn around and look at the mind that’s making these comments.” In other words, the fact that things change is not a big deal. The problem is that the mind is looking for happiness in things that change, looking for its happiness in things that are stressful, for happiness in things that are not-self. It’s that search for happiness: That’s … 
  10. Choices
     … And I said, “Well, the best way to figure out why is to go ahead and do it and see which voices in the mind complain.” It’s the same as when you’re working with the breath. Other things will come in and you say, “Oh, there’s that in the mind and there’s this in the mind.” Some people complain they … 
  11. Simplify
     … But when you learn how to develop a greater sense of spaciousness in the mind, a greater sense of wellbeing in the mind, after a while you begin to realize it doesn’t depend on the level of energy in the body at all. The mind begins to have its own internal nourishment, its own internal place to recharge. This is why we spend … 
  12. Develop Your Inner Observer
     … The more sensitive you get to how the mind fabricates, even on the bare level of bare awareness, the more likely you are to get the mind inclined to want to find something that goes beyond this, something that’s not fabricated. But in the meantime, work on developing this skill, because it helps you sort out a lot of things in the mind … 
  13. Three Levels of Effort
     … I’m here to learn about the mind, to strengthen the mind, to develop good qualities in the mind because that’s how happiness is found.” So setting things up like this is going to take a while, especially if you haven’t meditated before. But it’s a first step that everybody has to follow through with. The Buddha talks about three levels … 
  14. At Normalcy
     … But once you’ve put the mind in a position of feeding off its moods, you find that it’s got a lot of other things to feed on as well, such as depression or sorrow. Once you create that kind of mouth and stomach for the mind, hoping to feed off the good moods, it’s open to take in the sad moods … 
  15. Humility & Confidence
     … You’ve got a quality that the Buddha calls luminosity of the mind. It doesn’t mean that the mind is already awakened or already pure. What it means is the mind can observe itself. You’ll be observing not only the breath, but also the mind as it relates to the breath—and that, in fact, is going to be the important part … 
  16. Suffering is an Addiction
     … It’s an old bad habit, and meditating goes against the easy routes of the mind. In the Buddha’s terms, he says that when you think in certain ways, you bend the mind in that direction. So now you’re trying to bend the mind in a different direction. If it’s a young sapling, it’s easy to bend, but if it … 
  17. Worldly Narratives
     … Then you finally get to a point where they say you, “incline the mind to non-fabrication.” And that’s what heads you in the direction of awakening. So, there are many steps in this process of peeling away the layers of the mind, like layers of an onion. It’s not just that you say, “Okay, stop thinking. Put the mind into a … 
  18. A Full Life
     … Actions don’t just stay in the mind. They come out and they affect the world outside. Sometimes you hear some people say, “Karma is simply a matter of the mind affecting the mind,” but that’s not true. The mind affects the world around you. You’ve got to be careful about where your mind wanders. Let go of anything you notice that … 
  19. The Buddha’s Protection
     … Trying to get the mind to settle down, because the mind, when it’s settled down, is in a much more secure place. It can watch itself. It can see its actions clearly. You’re going to need to see them clearly because following the Buddha’s teachings is not just a matter of following the rules. When the Buddha says that certain types … 
  20. Oozing Bodies, Oozing Minds
     … One is effluent, something that comes flowing out of the mind. Usually in English we think of an effluent as something dirty, and that gives a pretty good idea of the implication in Pali as well. It’s something that defiles the mind, something unclean. Another translation is fermentation, something that comes bubbling up out of the mind. Either translation is effective in getting … 
  21. Beyond Likes & Dislikes
     … There are two parts of the mind: the part that likes to fool itself and the part that likes to be fooled. It’s like little kids playing together. “Okay, I’ll be the doctor, you be the patient,” or, “I’ll be the doctor, you be the nurse,” or whatever. The two parts of the mind say, “Okay, let’s play along,” and … 
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