Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Look in the Mirror
    Ajaan Lee talks about using the breath as a mirror for the mind. As you focus on the breath, you’ll notice that if you’re putting too much pressure on the breath, the breath feels uncomfortable. You want to give the breath as much freedom as possible to flow throughout the body—and that requires a light touch. Even though he talks about … 
  3. The Swinging Balance
     … Finally, though, they would all get to a point where they could settle down, and the mind would be really still. In fact, both the mind and the body would be so still that even the breath itself would stop. Once they had gotten to that point in their meditation, everything would seem balanced. The mind was balanced in the present moment, the body … 
  4. Monologue on the Breath
     … And it’s a part of the mind that’s going to rebel. It’s going to want to talk about other things. Or it’s going to comment on you as a meditator. The mind keeps wandering off and the commentator says, “There it goes again,” and you can get involved in all sorts of useless conversations, useless diatribes. An important thing to … 
  5. The Languages of Right View
     … That changes the whole discussion, and it has a different impact on the mind. This is what you’re looking for: how to talk to yourself in a way that has a good impact on the mind, that gives the mind energy when it needs it, calms it down when it needs to be calmed, frames things in new ways so that you can … 
  6. Restlessness & Anxiety
     … The future’s going to bring a lot of unexpected things, and these are the qualities of the mind that can deal with the unexpected, that can be sensitive to what’s going on and see opportunities that you wouldn’t see if the mind is all frazzled. So when there’s a voice in the mind that says, “You’ve got to worry … 
  7. Getting the Most Out of the Present
     … When the mind can rest a bit, then it can look at itself more clearly. So whatever lessons you’ve learned on how to let the mind rest with the breath and let that sensation of resting spread out: Remember them. Then, of course, there will be a lot of other things from the past coming up that are not really relevant right now … 
  8. Behind the Scenes
    One of the reasons why we start the meditation with thoughts of goodwill for all beings in all directions—along with thoughts of compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity—is to put the mind in the right frame to meditate. Otherwise, we bring the issues of the day into our meditation. Instead of focusing on the breath, we focus on what we did or somebody … 
  9. The Science of Meditation
     … that the mind can be trained, that your actions can actually make a difference, and that it’s worthwhile to train the mind, because the mind is what determines what actions you’re going to take. You’re also assuming that there’s a pattern to the way action plays itself out. Certain actions are going to be skillful. In other words, they lead … 
  10. Skillful Desire
     … As for the mind, it can do even more good things. Simply having an alternative place to stay aside from your pain, aside from the sorrows and ups and downs of daily life, puts the mind in a much better position to deal with those things and not feel threatened by them. For instance, if you’re sitting here with a pain that doesn … 
  11. Concentration Nurtured with Virtue
     … They don’t guarantee your awakening, but they do give you food for thought, they do train the mind in the qualities of mindfulness, alertness, ingenuity, discernment, compassion, and empathy. In a sense, they soften the mind so that you recognize a mistake when it happens. You’re not stubborn. You don’t put up walls of resistance and denial. That makes the mind … 
  12. Scribe Knowledge, Warrior Knowledge
     … Find a source of food that, unlike most pleasures of the world, doesn’t involve any bad kamma and also doesn’t involve clouding the mind. When the mind gets concentrated, you can see things clearly, and in particular, see what’s going on inside the mind. That puts you in a position where you can see where and how the mind is causing … 
  13. An Inside Job
     … In the same way, when the breath gets really, really still, then the events in the mind come to the fore, sharp and clear. This allows you to look at the issue of why the mind creates suffering. Again, this might seem like a small issue to some people. They’d like bigger issues. But the fact of pain and suffering in the mind … 
  14. For a Routine That Isn’t Routine
     … He says you can simply take the body sitting here as your object, and ask questions about it: “Is the mind sitting in the body? Is the body sitting in the mind? Who’s doing the sitting? Does the mind sit? Or is it just the body that sits?” You can ask all kinds of questions. You’ll find that, as you ask the … 
  15. Against the Stream
     … So there will be thoughts that come into the mind and they just don’t seem to want to go away, but this is what we have the breath for. Say, “Well, that thought can have that corner of the mind, but I’m going to stay with the breath,” and you identify with the part of the mind that wants to stay with … 
  16. Monotasking
     … The third step the Buddha gives in dealing with the mind is releasing the mind. In other words, if you find there’s something burdening the mind, a particular thought, try to locate where in the body there’s the physical sensation that corresponds to that thought. There will be a little hitch or a little spot of tension; see if you can breathe … 
  17. Going Out of Your Way
     … What makes it special is when you decide you’re going to focus in on one thing and get the mind to stay there. Now, in some forms of concentration there’s not much ingenuity involved. Simply repeat a word over and over again, and force the mind down, beat it down. But the way the Buddha teaches breath meditation requires that you think … 
  18. The Buddha’s Medicine
    The Dhamma is medicine—medicine for the ailments of the mind. And just as with medicine for the body, some Dhamma medicines are meant to be preventive and others are meant to treat illnesses you’ve already got. And although we have the Buddha as the primary doctor, and other people are more experienced on the path as doctors who can give us advice … 
  19. Change Your Mind
     … You also experiment with breathing in ways that have an effect on the mind, or gladdening the mind while you breathe in and breathe out, steadying the mind, releasing the mind, in response to what it needs. These are all things you do. You don’t hope that these things will simply happen on their own while you watch the TV show of your … 
  20. A Basis in Well-being
     … You work with the breath to make it comfortable, you want the mind to be comfortable with the breath, you want the mind to be comfortable here in the present moment. That’s your foundation, that’s one of the main factors of the path. It’s when the mind feels at ease in this way that there’s a good sense of well … 
  21. A Taste of Freedom
    When you meditate, you’re taking advantage of the fact that the mind can choose its objects, choose its preoccupations. It’s not the case that you have to go running with whatever comes floating up into the mind in the present moment, because a lot of thoughts come in from the past—your past kamma, your old habits. And the reason we’re … 
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