Search results for: "Thought"

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  2. When Things Aren’t Going Well
     … Most of them thought they were doomed. But even when they thought they were doomed, they kept going because of one thing: their sense of discipline, realizing that as long as you stay disciplined, you can take advantage of whatever opportunities do arise. That’s the first lesson to take from these stories: a strong sense of discipline. As you dig down into this … 
  3. Practical Wisdom
     … to see how the mind shapes its concepts, how different thoughts come into the mind. What are the stages by which they do this? This is something really worth knowing, because our thoughts have fooled us for so long, and here’s our chance to see through their subterfuges, their tricks. So if you find yourself getting bored with the practice or tiring of … 
  4. Fabrication at the Breath
     … How does the mind fabricate things? How does the breath fabricate your sense of the body? How do feelings and perceptions fabricate your mind? The way you direct your thoughts and the way you evaluate things: How does that effect the mind too? That’s another kind of fabrication, verbal fabrication. They’re all right here. It’s not that nothing is going on … 
  5. Breaking the Arrows
     … No matter what the thought may be, you just don’t continue weaving it. Let the frayed ends blow in the wind, but you come back. The thing is, you don’t have to pull the mind back. As soon as you drop the thought, you’re back here with the breath automatically. Each you come back, reward yourself with a comfortable breath. And … 
  6. All for the Sake of Freedom
     … Any thoughts that go outside, just tell yourself, “Not this time. Not right now; maybe later,” because the mind will keep churning out thoughts for a bit. Some of them will be useful, and some of them not. But anything that’s not related to this sense of the body as you feel it from within right now is not in line with the … 
  7. Together but Separate
     … You can latch on to a thought construct, or just latch on simply to awareness—or any combination of these. And even within a particular perception, it’s not always the same perception. Or with a thought-construct, it’s not always the same thought-construct. Sometimes you find that you can switch the perception around the pain. You can ask the question, “Does … 
  8. Basic Breath, Basic Insight
     … You don’t say, “Well, wait a minute until I’ve finished this thought. Then I’ll come back.” Because usually that thought ties into another thought and then another thought. It just keeps wandering off to who knows where. So stop the thought mid-sentence. Just drop it, no matter how important or wonderful or necessary it may seem. It’s not what … 
  9. Where Perceptions Can Take You
     … So counteract thoughts of ill will with thoughts like these. As for the perception of harmfulness, that’s counteracted by the principle of kamma. If you harm others, the harm is going to come back at you. Do you want that? If not, you can’t tell yourself that other people don’t matter. You have to take their well-being into consideration. Those … 
  10. Less is More
    Less is More July 2, 2009 We spread thoughts of goodwill for all the world, that we don’t wish anyone any harm. We wish that all beings could find happiness. So why are we sitting here with our eyes closed? Why aren’t we going out there, making people happy? Because happiness is something that has to come from within. It’s based … 
  11. Things that Arise & Pass Away
     … They hadn’t thought I would focus on karma; they thought I’d focus on emptiness or something of that sort. And I was surprise that they were surprised. The whole point of the Buddha’s teaching is that it is possible, through your actions, to find happiness in a way that develops noble qualities in the mind and actually has a good impact … 
  12. Guardian Meditations
     … If you really have goodwill for yourself, would you let yourself get bound up, say, in lust or anger, greed or jealousy, or whatever the unskillful state maybe? When you find yourself able to kindle some thoughts of goodwill for yourself, some genuine goodwill for yourself, then it’s a lot easier to feel goodwill for the people around you—the ones who are … 
  13. The Karma of Pain
     … As for any thoughts that are pulling you away, let them go right now. Gradually, things will begin to separate out. There’ll be the breath and then there’ll be the thinking. You want your thoughts to be directed to the breath, but you begin to realize that they’re not quite the same thing as the breath. As for any thoughts that … 
  14. Shoot Your Pains with Wisdom
     … The other way we fabricate our experience is through the way we think, so you can shoot yourself with skillful thoughts. Learn to think about the breath in a way that makes it easier to breath. For example, you can try holding in mind the perception that your body is like a big sponge, and the breath is coming in and out every pore … 
  15. Facing Danger & Hardship
     … So you protect yourself with thoughts of the Buddha, thoughts of the Dhamma, thoughts of the Sangha so that you don’t forget and just go to your old instincts when you react to danger. Here we chant about taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the** S**angha every day. And it becomes something of a ceremony. But you have to remember … 
  16. New Eyes
     … What happens when a thought of boredom comes in? For most of us, as soon as the thought comes in, “I’m bored.” But how did that happen? How did the “I” get in there? And who’s demanding to be entertained? There are so many other things in life that we are patient with, so why can’t we be patient with this … 
  17. Hunker Down
     … So you’ve got to learn through practice which of your thoughts are actually helpful, which ones are not, which thoughts you can deal with directly, which ones you simply have to sidestep. This is an important principle because all kinds of stuff can come up in the mind. After all, we all have past kamma, good and bad, and a lot of the … 
  18. Refuge in the Dhamma
     … You have to bring yourself in line with the Dhamma for that refuge to come inside, in your thoughts, your words, and your deeds. They said that Ajaan Mun’s most frequent Dhamma topic was practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma, not in accordance with your own preferences or with your old habits. You have to change your habits. This is because … 
  19. Practicing Meditation to Perform at Death
     … You’ve got to cut off thoughts of your family. If you’re not on good terms with your family, cut off thoughts of revenge around your family, because those, too, will pull you back, thinking about how somebody in your family wronged you. You don’t want that to be the craving that determines where you’re going to be reborn. The next … 
  20. More than Mindfulness
     … The same principle applies to your thoughts. There’s a little stirring, right on the border between the breath and your awareness. It could turn into just anything. It could turn into just a physical stirring or it could turn into a thought. As soon as you sense it, zap it, disperse it. Don’t just watch it come and go. Make it go … 
  21. Doing the Right Thing
     … learning to develop skillful qualities in the mind—which means learning to do skillful things in your thoughts, words and deeds, and learning how to abandon unskillful ones. In fact, he said that was one of his categorical teachings. There are only two categorical teachings in Buddhism. One is the skillful qualities should be developed, and unskillful ones abandoned. The other is the four … 
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