Search results for: "Thought"

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  2. Delight
     … You can go with the thought, or not. You can place a label on a particular stirring in the energy of the body, the energy of the breath, and turn it into one kind of thought, but you can place another label on it, too, and turn it into a better thought. There’s lots to learn in just getting the mind to settle … 
  3. The Buddha’s Secret Weapon
     … When you’re focused on the breath, that’s directed thought. So you’ve got the three causal factors of the first jhana right there. Then the results will come: a sense of ease and well-being or pleasure; a sense of refreshment, sometimes to the point of rapture. It feels really, really gratifying breathing in, breathing out. It seems to satisfy the body … 
  4. A Larger Perspective
     … This is why we spread thoughts of goodwill to all beings, compassion, empathetic joy toward all beings, equanimity toward all beings, to open up the mind a little bit—to get that concept of “all beings” in there. This is also why the reflection on birth, aging, illness, death, separation, and the principle of karma comes in two forms. In the first, you reflect … 
  5. Respect for the Path
     … Thoughts come into the mind; thoughts go away. But don’t drop your focus to follow those things, because what do they have to offer? Not much. They come flashing by, but then they go. Whereas a spot that you’re trying to maintain here right now: This has potential. In the beginning, it may not seem like much, just a sense of ease … 
  6. Ironies
     … It very easily slips from one thought to another. So part of the training here requires that you keep remembering: Stay with the breath, stay with the breath. Keep that thought in mind. As for watching the breath, in the beginning it’s pretty simple: Just watch it coming in and out. This is called alertness: You’re alert to what you’re doing … 
  7. Pulling Out of the Narratives
     … So when you’re sitting in the middle of the day, any thought that comes up that reminds you what time of day it is, just throw the thought out. It’s useless information. You might say, how can you help but notice where the sun is? Well, don’t notice it. As soon as the mind takes note of that fact, say, “This … 
  8. Friends Inside
     … Without his teaching us the path, would you have ever thought to sit down and close your eyes and focus on your breath that it would accomplish anything? Very few people in the world realize that true happiness doesn’t come from getting things or having nice friends. It comes from training the mind. Nice things and good friends are good, but your real … 
  9. Goodwill Is Respect
     … When we extend thoughts of goodwill to others, we’re not saying, as some people say, that we’re basically accepting them. Actually, we’re respecting their desire for happiness. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean we respect the way they’re looking for happiness. After all, a lot of people are looking for happiness in ways that are harmful to themselves or to … 
  10. At the End of the Day
     … If any other issues keep coming up, you think of thoughts of goodwill, thoughts of forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean, as they say, “forgive and forget,” and trying to love the other person. It’s simply that you won’t pose any danger to the other person. In making that choice, you’re protecting yourself. If you’re trying to pose dangers to other … 
  11. Skills to Make You Free
     … If you teach that, you’re leaving people bewildered as they have urges coming up in the mind and they have no basis for even believing that they can choose which train of thought to follow, which ideas to follow, which ones to say yes to, which ones to say no to. When you have no basis for making those kinds of decisions, you … 
  12. How the Breath Helps You to Die Well
     … I’m going to breathe that way.” And then you evaluate: “What way of breathing actually does give rise to rapture; gives rise to pleasure? What way of dealing with feelings and perceptions allows the mind to calm down?” All of these thoughts comes under the way you talk to yourself—the technical term is directed thought and evaluation. So there you are: You … 
  13. Independent Values
    Let all your other thoughts and concerns drop away for the time being. It’s time to give the mind some time to be its own self, not be pushed around by outside events. Focus on your breath. Know when it’s coming in, know when it’s going out. Try to remember that. This quality is called mindfulness. Try to be with each … 
  14. Refuge for All Beings
     … If you get down on yourself for things you’ve done in the past that are not honorable, you can think about that only for so long, and then you start lashing back, saying, “Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.” Or if you start thinking of yourself as being a miserable person, and again, you can think that thought only for … 
  15. All-around Knowing
     … Another image is that when you’re thinking about something, you have to narrow down your awareness of the body so that you can create your little thought world. But as long as you can maintain this full-body awareness, when it’s really solid, there’s no space for the thought worlds to appear, or if they do appear, there’s no space … 
  16. The Time & Place to Let Go
     … When you’re engaged in mental activity, the body gets put aside and you identify with your thoughts or your feelings. Then there are the times when you’re very much your body. So as long as our sense of who we are keeps changing all the time—you might say it’s a verb, “selfing,” we self in different ways—an important part … 
  17. Learning How to Talk to Yourself
     … One is directed thought, where you direct your thoughts to a particular topic. You’re going to think about the breath right now. Then there’s evaluation: Whatever you’re thinking about, you make comments on it, whether it’s good or bad, how it might be changed, how it might not be changed, that kind of thing. In this case, evaluate how you … 
  18. Strong Through Admirable Friendship
     … Thoughts of ill will, thoughts of sensuality: You don’t have to hold on to them. You don’t have to follow them. As for whatever mindfulness you may have, any concentration you may have, you try to make sure that it develops and takes hold. You don’t just watch it come and watch it go. But there’s more to right effort … 
  19. Fabricating with Awareness
     … You apply your knowledge to the way you fabricate the body through the breath, the way you fabricate speech through your mental chatter—which is basically directed thought and evaluation—and then the way you fabricate the mind through feelings and perceptions. You bring knowledge to these practices so that you get a sense of where they’re causing suffering and where they’re … 
  20. Memory & Motivation
     … So a very good way of motivating yourself to do the skillful thing and avoid the unskillful thing is to develop thoughts of goodwill. You may have heard the question: Do other people deserve your goodwill? But that’s not the real question. The real question is: Can you trust yourself if you don’t develop goodwill? It’s primarily for the sake of … 
  21. Common Sense
     … simply noticing that thoughts and feelings have an effect on the mind, and that some thoughts and some feelings have a better effect than others. That’s the whole principle of the path. You try to develop thoughts and feelings that lead to an end of suffering. As for the ones that lead to more suffering, you learn to let them go. It’s … 
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