Search results for: "Thought"

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  2. Look in the Mirror
     … As you settle down with the breath, this is what directed thought and evaluation are all about. You direct your thoughts to the breath, you focus on it, you’re alert to the breath, and then you evaluate how things are going. Here again, you’ll notice if you’re putting too much pressure on the breath. If it feels squeezed or constrained, lighten … 
  3. Guardian Meditations
     … Are you ready to go? Or another way of dealing with it is if something really unskillful is going through the mind, you find yourself feeding on unskillful thoughts, you ask yourself: “Suppose I had a sudden heart attack right now or sudden stroke or something and these were the thoughts going through my head, how would I feel?” This is a contemplation that … 
  4. Fabricated Path, Unfabricated Goal
     … The best way to get out of that cycle, he says, is to go for what he calls renunciate pain, the thought that “There is the goal, and other people have attained it, but I haven’t attained it yet.” There’s a little bit of conceit in there, and a little bit of frustration, but it’s a thought that motivates you, gets … 
  5. A Frame of Reference
     … If a thought comes in, what does the thought do to the breathing? What does the breathing do to the thought? A feeling comes in, maybe a feeling of pain: Well, how does that feeling of pain relate to the breath? Can you breathe through it? Or do you have to stay with the breath and just let the pain go? In other words … 
  6. From Heedfulness to Purity
     … It’s through practicing that we learn, that we begin to recognize the things we’re holding onto that we thought might be good, thought might be worthwhile, but are actually part of the cause of suffering. When the Buddha was talking about the root of what is skillful in the mind, he didn’t say that it comes from any innate goodness, innate … 
  7. The Buddha’s Shoulds
     … You might resist his shoulds with the thought, “Who is he to tell me what to do?” Years back I was sitting in on a course on the Metta Sutta. The first line in the Metta Sutta starts: “This is what should be done by one who aims at a state of peace.” As the teacher started out with that line, a hand immediately … 
  8. Perceptions as Targets
     … When somebody attracts us, it may be because that person stirs up memories, and the perception of that person seems like a good target for our thoughts. The problem is that we’re focused more on the perception than the actual person, which can lead to problems. So however you translate sañña—memory, perception, label, target, whatever—the important point is that you can … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. Watch Your Mind Whenever You Can
     … Then if the mind does seem to be snagged on a particular thought, do what you can to unhook it. Notice where there’s a pattern of tension in the body that goes with that thought and then just breathe through that tension. As you do this, you learn a lot about your mind. You see how, when you settle on things like a … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. Discernment Requires Concentration
     … All these things that you thought were really solid inside—your views of the world, your views of yourself, your views of how things should be done: These things are not as solid as you thought they were. You begin to see how the mind constructs present-moment experience. There’s raw material coming in from the past, which presents opportunities and limitations, but … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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