Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Virtues Bright & Neither Dark nor Bright
     … That attitude, the sense of well-being that comes from being principled, is really conducive to concentration because, as you’re going to get to settle the mind down, you let go of your ordinary thinking. The mind gets into a state where it’s more tender than normal as it’s beginning to get snug with its object but it’s not quite … 
  3. Delight
     … And as the mind begins to settle down, learn to appreciate the mind when it’s still. You can think back on times when the mind was weighed down, hemmed in by the affairs of the world, and how much better off you are here being quiet, just breathing—finding contentment in the skills that you can develop sitting with your eyes closed. At … 
  4. Choosing Not to Suffer
     … And you’ll find that once you put down the unnecessary burdens, there’s nothing to burden the mind. All the things that cause suffering to the mind are unnecessary. There may be pains in the body, there will be aging, illness, and death, but the mind doesn’t have to create suffering out of them. The first lesson in how not to create … 
  5. No-Tech Meditation
     … Usually when the Buddha uses that word, he’s talking about causes coming out of the mind. Craving comes out of the mind. Clinging comes out of the mind. That’s what we’ve got to look out for. We’re going to see these things in action as we fabricate craving and clinging, and ideally we get to the point where we don … 
  6. The Buddha’s Qualities
    The chants we just had are designed to get the mind in the right mood for meditating. We chant about the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha to remind ourselves of the values behind the practice. Some people have characterized Buddhism as a religion no need for faith. Well, there is an element of faith, an element of belief, believing that the Buddha was … 
  7. An Island in the Flood
     … If you have any doubts about that, you can talk to yourself a bit about why the mind needs training, and how all the big problems of the world come down to the fact that the mind is creating a lot of unnecessary suffering for itself, but it can learn how not to do that. This is how you do it. So whatever problems … 
  8. Balancing Effort & Patience
     … See what else arises every time there’s suffering in the mind, every time there’s stress in the mind. You can see this most clearly when the mind is most still. So you try to develop concentration and the other factors of the path. Then watch for suffering until you can see the cause that goes along with it, and then you can … 
  9. Firmly Intent
     … The Thai phrase for being firmly intent literally means to set up the mind firmly. You don’t want it to fall down. So set your mind on the breath. Set your mind on getting the mind to stay here, because we want more than just concentration. We want the discernment that comes from concentration and the release that comes from discernment. But you … 
  10. Seeing Danger in Birth
     … Heedful in your concentration means trying to be as careful as possible in your efforts to get the mind to settle down: being alert, mindful, ardent; not just getting the mind to be still, but also watching the mind as it settles down. This way you can begin to understand when the mind does leave the topic of concentration, even if just for a … 
  11. Mindful of Karma
     … What’s going on here? Why does the mind go for this garbage? You’re here meditating and all of a sudden the mind is off planning something else, remembering something else. Why? What’s the appeal? What can you do to think in new ways, to see that this particular line of thinking is not as much fun or as attractive as you … 
  12. Potentials
    As you survey the body sitting here right now, the mind right now, you’ll notice that there are lots of potentials: There’s a breath potential—the energy that can flow in different places. There’s a fire potential—the warmth. There’s a potential for coolness—which is water. A potential for solidity—earth. A potential for space. The mind has potentials … 
  13. In & of Themselves
    The basic frames of reference for getting the mind into concentration are three: body, feelings, mind. And the Buddha has you look at these things in and of themselves: the body in and of itself, feelings in and of themselves, mind states in and of themselves, because otherwise, we go and create them into becomings, acts of taking on identities in worlds of experience … 
  14. Comprehending Suffering
     … If the mind refuses to settle down, maybe the problem is not with the breath, maybe it’s with the mind. This is where you may have to do a little detour. Think in ways that incline the mind to want to settle down. If you’re carrying issues from the day about who said what to you and how you don’t like … 
  15. Everybody Benefits
     … Sometimes when you read about the different teachers who emphasize just watching the mind or observing the mind, you might say, “Why are we spending so much time with the breath? Why aren’t we focusing directly on the mind?” Well, working with the breath helps expand your sensitivities, making you sensitive to areas of the mind you wouldn’t have known otherwise. If … 
  16. A Divine Seat
     … The Buddha talks about getting the mind into concentration as a divine seat. Get the mind into the first jhana, and there’s a sense of ease and rapture filling the body. You can work it through the body. When you’re sitting in that state, you’re in a divine seat. So create a divine seat for yourself tonight. Focus on the breath … 
  17. Right Speech
     … As they say in the sutta on mindfulness of breathing, there are times when you need to gladden the mind. There are times when you need to release the mind from its attachments. Learn how to breathe in such a way that helps you do that. And learn how to talk to the mind in such a way that helps you do that, too … 
  18. Delight in Concentration
     … After all, this is the mind’s question all the time: The mind is an active principle, it’s constantly acting, and the question it asks itself always is, “What to do next? What to do next?” The Buddha’s giving you a good answer for that. So take delight in that fact. The next two objects of delight are a pair. You delight … 
  19. Strengthening Your Goodness
     … You have to figure out why the mind likes to go for those unskillful things, what the allure is, and then provide arguments against the allure. And you may say, “I came here to get some peace of mind, and here I am arguing with my own mind.” It’s an important part of the exercise in getting the mind trained. You don’t … 
  20. Dethinking Thinking
     … And sure enough, the mind will start creating little becomings, just like those beavers building dams, but you want to nip them in the bud. You have to see: What is it that goes into those becomings? The Buddha said that two of the aggregates are especially active in shaping the mind or shaping these becomings: feelings and perceptions. And you want to learn … 
  21. Full, Focused Attention
     … One of the best cures for that is to really take an interest in what you’re doing, to realize that even though it may not seem as if much is going on, the mind is calculating, the mind is adjusting, the mind is doing all kinds of things. And of course the body is functioning. Lots of things are going on in the … 
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