Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Against the Grain
     … That teaching sometimes is interpreted as saying that the mind is naturally awakened and you just have to let the clouds of defilement pass away on their own and you’ll reach its awakened nature. But when the Buddha says that the mind is luminous, luminosity is not the same as being awakened. The mind can get luminous in states of concentration. The mind … 
  3. It’s What You Give
     … Phenomena are preceded by the mind, excelled by the mind, made by the mind. The people who put that statement first in the Dhammapada knew what they were doing, because it expresses a principle that holds all the way through the practice: The mind comes first; the heart comes first. We live in a world where we have to put a lot of energy … 
  4. Feeding on Right Resolve
    Just as the body needs food and nourishment, the mind needs nourishment as well. The Buddha identifies three different kinds of food for consciousness. One of them is sensory contact: sights, sounds, smells, taste, tactile sensations making contact at your eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind. Then there’s the act of consciousness itself as those things make contact: We’re constantly looking, listening … 
  5. A Path Under the Trees
     … It doesn’t take anything away from anyone else and doesn’t encourage the mind to be heedless. And it doesn’t obscure things. In fact, the more you can find a sense of well-being by being quiet here in the present moment, the clearer things become in the mind. So you try to stay established on the breath coming in, going out … 
  6. Right View Tells You What to Do
     … The more you can get the sense of being still and solid with your object, the subtler the movements you’re going to be able to see in the mind. So we do the concentration, which involves both focusing on one object and also being prepared for the fact that the mind is going to go off, so you’ve got to learn how … 
  7. Lust
     … Or just look at what lust does to the mind, right here, right now, when it starts flaring up. Think of how much you lie to yourself, how many areas of the mind get shut down as you focus on liking this, wanting that, and totally ignoring all the consequences. The narratives you build up in the mind are total fantasies. To be attractive … 
  8. Worldly Equanimity & Its Uses
     … Let’s watch it.” Again, you hold the mind in check. You exercise some restraint, not by clamping down, but by having the right perceptions in mind to make it easier to keep the mind on an even keel. Because to get the mind to the deeper levels of equanimity requires that you be really observant. Once you get the mind into concentration, how … 
  9. A Connoisseur of the Breath
     … All of this is designed to put the mind in position where it’s ready to settle down. The mindfulness and alertness protect the mind, provide a good foundation. The quality of ardency is what helps make it skillful. And when you reflect on the universality of suffering, it gives you the right motivation for practicing. So all these qualities together get you ready … 
  10. Stop & Think
     … Undirected is when nothing much is weighing down the mind. You simply let go of your concerns and find yourself with the breath. You settle in with the breath, you’re mindful, alert, and ardent to stay with the breath. And whatever thinking you engage in has to do only with the breath itself and the mind’s relationship to the breath: the directed … 
  11. Success on the Path
     … As Ajaan Fuang said, you lubricate the mind so that it doesn’t seize up the way an engine would seize up when it runs out of lubricant. You give rise to the desire to stick with the path. From that desire develops persistence: the energy, the stick-to-it-iveness that’s required in training the mind. After all, the mind has a … 
  12. The Heart to Keep Going
     … We’re here for all the other skills that go into training the mind. Each time you find the mind wandering off and you bring it back, that’s strengthening a very essential skill—the skill to get your mind off a bad topic and bring it back to a good one. Even though this may happen many times, the fact that you’re … 
  13. Attention to Your Potentials
     … The remaining factors have to do with getting the mind into good concentration: rapture, calm, concentration, equanimity. These are things you develop. You look for the potentials there in the mind for it to settle down—because the mind does have these potentials. The present moment as it comes is not just a finished product. It’s a work in progress. And there are … 
  14. Mindfulness Aims at Concentration
     … Well, think of it as meaning, literally, “with-a-center.” The mind is centered and it’s strongly focused. Without that strong focus, people like Ajaan Lee wouldn’t be able to develop psychic powers based on samādhi. You have to lure the mind into that state—you can’t just force it—which is why, when the Buddha talks about using the breath … 
  15. Protection
     … Part of the mind will be willing to make that trade, and part of the mind will not. So it’s good to have a sense of well-being right now, so that the part of the mind that wants instant gratification has something to feed on. It’s in this way the mind gains strength. And again, you do this because of heedfulness … 
  16. Joyous Endurance
     … The nature of the mind is that it doesn’t just sit in one place. It moves. The problem is that it moves in many different directions and can change direction very quickly. In fact, there’s nothing that can change direction as quickly as the mind. When the Buddha talks about change, this is the big change he’s worried about: You try … 
  17. Reflect on What You’re Doing
     … That thought occurs naturally to the mind only when you’ve seen something that’s not originated. Remember, origination means, one, something caused, and two, the cause came from within the mind. Because you’re so perceptive and so alert, you can tell when something is caused by the mind and when something is not caused by the mind. So here again, you have … 
  18. The Buddha Respects Your Potential
     … The ability to get the mind concentrated can do an awful lot for the mind, for your life, and for the people around you, so bring an attitude of respect to what we’re doing here—respect for concentration, as we said in the chant just now. It seems such a little thing—the mind, still. We think that most of the great things … 
  19. Right Next to Ignorance
     … If the mind resists for a long time, you might have to find another way of getting the mind to settle down. The Buddha talks about there being a fever in the body or a fever in the mind, which means you’re getting antsy and you don’t want to settle down right here. Well, you find another topic. Find something you find … 
  20. Mindfulness as Refuge
     … This is where you’ve got to train the mind so that it can depend on itself, so that it doesn’t add any unnecessary suffering. And as we find out, the unnecessary suffering is the suffering that weighs the mind down. The necessary pains of life don’t have to weigh the mind down. That’s the Buddha’s message. And so it … 
  21. A Good Purpose in Life
     … that to really develop the mind, to have the discernment that you need in order to see through how you’re creating suffering for yourself and suffering for others, you also have to develop qualities of the good heart. The good mind and the good heart go together. You look at the list of perfections. Discernment, the perfection focused on the development of the … 
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