Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. A Small, Steady Flame
    A Small, Steady Flame July, 2002 The breath is where the mind and the body meet. We often have a sense that the solid part of our bodies is the part we know best, the part we inhabit, and the breath is something that just comes in and goes out through the solid part we’re inhabiting. But when you close your eyes, what … 
  3. Right Mindfulness
     … All of this is designed to put the mind in a position where it’s ready to really settle down. The mindfulness and the 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. All these qualities together get … 
  4. The Lightness of the Concentrated Mind
     … But once you close your eyes, why do you have to think that the mind has a face in any direction at all? The face belongs to the body. The mind doesn’t have a face. Think of it as centered in itself. As for the solid parts of the body, remind yourself, as the body sits here very still, that you don’t … 
  5. A Graduated Discourse
     … So sometimes when you have trouble getting the mind to settle down, give yourself your own graduated discourse, about all the things that you find alluring out in the world and then realizing that they have their drawbacks and their degradation. If the mind were to get fascinated and infatuated with them, they would pull you down. Whereas when you get the mind into … 
  6. The Dhamma Eye
     … For instance, the origination of suffering is craving—and where is craving? It’s in the mind. What’s the origination of the causal chain that leads to craving? It’s ignorance. That, too, comes out of the mind. You then begin to realize all the other things that come out of the mind: fabrication, name-and-form, consciousness, your experience of the six … 
  7. Mental Experiments
    Mental Experiments October 14, 2005 Meditation is like running a series of experiments in the mind, trying to see what happens when you focus it on one thing for long periods of time, trying to see what happens when you really take seriously the idea that the way you use your mind may be causing unnecessary suffering. So you want to see clearly what … 
  8. When the Mind Is Still
     … In the beginning, that’s not hard because there’s a lot to be done in getting the mind to settle down. Sometimes it takes a while, takes some strategizing: “What can you do to get the mind to be willing to settle down, stay with one thing, the breath, with a sense of ease?” Ajaan Lee gives some advice. You can notice where … 
  9. Sitting & Walking
     … You begin to see how the mind lies to itself. You’re innocently looking at the end of the path but another part of the mind says, “I have another agenda.” As you ignore that, that’s how the mind normally lies to itself. You’ve got to catch it as it’s going out. And the trick is to watch it go out … 
  10. Hindrances
     … It doesn’t blind you to what’s going on in the mind. In fact, it actually makes events in the mind a lot clearer. So pursue that pleasure instead. As for ill will, sometimes you can justify that by saying that someone really did something wrong, and justice has to be done. They have to be punished. But how many people respond well … 
  11. On Human Nature
     … What’s it like to stay with the breath for long periods of time? Do your best to argue with the mind, cajole the mind, anything that works to keep the mind with the breath, exploring how to make the breath comfortable, looking at the breath energy in the different parts of the body you don’t normally look at: the breath in your … 
  12. Doubting the Buddha
     … Try to stay with the sense of fullness, ease, and stillness, and let the mind soak in that for a while. That’s food for the mind. When you have this kind of food for the mind, you’re less and less hungry for other thoughts, other types of mental food. And when you’re less hungry, then you can look at those thoughts … 
  13. Pure Action
     … Ultimately, you can lead the mind to the deathless, which is a happiness that doesn’t have to depend on conditions at all. But even before you get there, the path is a blameless path. It’s all a matter of training the mind, and realizing that that’s the true source of happiness: a trained mind. So we’re sitting here training the … 
  14. Feeding on the Breath
     … In other words, if you can give yourself a good reason to be here, doing nothing but watching your breath, that kind of thinking can help the mind stay interested, because you’re looking for ways in which the breath energy can improve your physical condition and to give the mind a good place to settle down. When there finally is a sense of … 
  15. Potentials Past & Present
     … There’s a dimension that the mind can touch if you develop all the right qualities in mind—in particular, mindfulness, concentration, discernment: what we’re trying to develop right now. You get very clear about what’s going on in the mind, how the mind takes raw material from the past and can fashion it either in a skillful way or in an … 
  16. Worry vs. Heedfulness
     … It’s the normal way of the mind, and in everyday life it doesn’t seem like much is being hindered. But when you’re trying to lift the mind to a higher level, thoughts like this can really get in the way. Some of them are problems in daily life as well: Ill will is a problem. Restlessness, worry, uncertainty, sleepiness: These are … 
  17. How to Listen
     … When you first get the mind to settle down, your thought is, “How can I make this last?” There’s nothing wrong with that thought. Learning how to appreciate the pleasure of getting the mind into oneness, finding pleasure apart from sensuality, is an important skill—one that should be cultivated, one that should be appreciated. But you have to realize that it’s … 
  18. Right Resolve, Right Concentration
     … So the mind needs to rest. And when you’ve been thinking skillful thoughts like that, it’s easy to get the mind to settle down, much more so than if you’ve been thinking unskillful thoughts and you try to jump straight to concentration. Your mind is going to resist. It’s got some unfinished business it’s got to take care of … 
  19. Defilements
     … We have a certain familiarity with them, and part of the mind is of the opinion that this is just the way the mind has to be. You’re not going to change anything. When you start changing it, it feels out of whack, like something’s wrong, unfamiliar. It’s like somebody who’s been leaning to the left for years and years … 
  20. Matters of Life & Death
     … The restrictions may be in the body, but the mind doesn’t have to be restricted. There are still areas in which the mind can find true happiness. You find it within. This is what the concentration provides, which is why it’s not a waste of time when you do find pleasure in the concentration, that you learn how to maintain it. It … 
  21. Heightening the Mind
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