Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 65
  2. Victory over Death
     … One of our strengths, of course, is meditation, training the mind, based on generosity, based on virtue. You develop good qualities of the heart and mind. It’s good to remember when training the mind that the Pali word for “mind,” citta, also means “heart.” So we’re not just training the thinking side of the mind. We’re also training the part of … 
  3. To Stay the Course
     … He focuses on the suffering that the mind creates for itself when it’s clinging. And where does that come from? It comes from the mind’s own actions. It comes from its cravings. That’s the suffering that’s weighing the mind down. Without that suffering, outside sufferings wouldn’t bother the mind at all. As you learn how to develop equanimity for … 
  4. Discernment Performs
     … He’s also interested in seeing the impact that they have on the mind: on the minds of the people who listen, the mind of the person speaking, and the mind of the person thinking. That moves on to a third quality, which is that speech be timely. You want your thoughts to be timely as well. Certain truths are useful at certain times … 
  5. The Resolve to Let Go
     … If you’re going to get the mind into right concentration, think about the first part of the definition: “secluded from sensuality.” This doesn’t mean that you have to go to a place where there are no sensual pleasures at all, simply that you seclude the mind, withdraw the mind from that sensual kind of thinking. You have to learn how to let … 
  6. Consistently on the Path
     … Right mindfulness is what keeps that view in mind. This can be the governor of your practice, in the same way that a machine has a governor: the part of the machine that makes sure it doesn’t run too slow, it doesn’t run too fast, that it runs consistently just right. The Buddha defines this as the duty of mindfulness, that when … 
  7. Abandoning Effluents (3)
     … You start with mindfulness, and mindfulness leads to analysis of qualities. In other words, you’re mindful to stick with your frame of reference. Then whatever comes up in the context of that frame of reference—whether it’s the body or your feelings or the mind or mental qualities—you try to figure out which mental events are skillful and which are not … 
  8. Mindfulness Immersed in the Breath
     … In this way, as you get absorbed in the breath, you’re not even thinking about trying to make the mind concentrated. The concentration comes from your interest in the breath. If the mind is not interested in the breath and keeps wandering off, ask yourself: What is it that’s attracting the mind away? Sometimes it’s random stuff. In that case, you … 
  9. Dhamma Medicine
    The Dhamma is medicine for diseases of the mind. These diseases are not the ones that would send you to an insane asylum necessarily. They’re the basic everyday diseases: greed, anger, and delusion. These are big troublemakers in the mind because they cause you to see things wrongly. We think something may be in our best interest, but it’s not. Greed may … 
  10. Cleansing the Mind
     … And as I mentioned, water doesn’t clean the mind. Good actions clean the mind: words, deeds, and particularly the three teachings the Buddha has on right mental conduct. It’s good to keep these in mind. They’re a foundation for the meditation, a foundation for the practice. They’re mentioned in a sutta where a brahman comes to see the Buddha and … 
  11. How to Be Happy
     … So you’ve got to train the mind. And because you’ve been building this on virtue, there are no walls in the mind that bar things off. In other words, there’s not a lot of denial about what’s going on, because mindfulness is the basis of concentration. Mindfulness is an ability to remember things for a long time so that you … 
  12. Joyous Endurance
     … So right now we’re trying to create a state of concentration in the mind. Direct your thoughts to the breath, part of the body in and of itself. Be ardent, alert, mindful. Put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s the basic formula. That’s how you get into concentration, where the mind can settle in but still maintain … 
  13. A Unified Committee
    Each person’s mind is like a committee, and each person brings a different committee to the meditation. This is why we have such different issues as we try to get the mind to settle down. Some members of the committee are willing to settle down; others are a little bit more resistant. And the politics within each person’s committee is extremely individual … 
  14. How to Fall
     … When the mind slips off its object, you get faster and faster at bringing it back. Notice, the answer isn’t: The mind doesn’t slip off at all. It’s: You’re expected to slip off; it’s a normal part of the practice, a normal part of the training. The point lies in being more alert to what’s going on and … 
  15. Defilements
     … But you notice these things best if you have the mind in concentration and you try to maintain that sense of center. You begin to hear more clearly the voices in your mind: all the different committee members. This is where it’s good to have some practice with the phrases for goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, because if you then suddenly find … 
  16. Restlessness & Anxiety
     … What you’re going to need when the future comes is more alertness, more mindfulness, more concentration, more discernment. 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 … 
  17. Appreciating Goodness
     … This training starts with being meritorious, but it goes on beyond that, it goes deeper into the meditation, as you learn to see ways in which the mind is causing itself unnecessary suffering, and you can root out those causes. The mind becomes a lighter mind, more spacious mind, a mind you can trust a lot more. The scariest thing in life—even scarier … 
  18. Hindrances
    The ajaans would often say that when you begin to meditate, you should make a survey of your mind to see if there are any hindrances there. Clear out the hindrances and then focus on your meditation. Now, sometimes it works in that order. Other times, you’ve got to start with the breath and then be prepared to see what comes to get … 
  19. Kind & Happy
     … To develop qualities in the mind, you really have to stick with one thing. Start with mindfulness. Keep one thing in mind and watch it carefully. Keep the breath in mind each time it comes in. If you catch yourself wandering off, bring the mind right back. And pay careful attention to how the breathing feels. Where in the body do you notice the … 
  20. Investment Strategies
     … something that helps you stash away good qualities for the future, because conviction comes down to the idea that the training of the mind can make all the difference in the world. As you’re sitting here focusing on the breath, you’re developing qualities that will be very useful, such as mindfulness and alertness. In other words, when you see the mind moving … 
  21. Verbal Fabrication
     … You’re trying to get the mind to settle down. Any speech beyond that is not really necessary. We’re trying to speak in ways that lead the mind to a place where it doesn’t have to speak. As for whether you’re going to be gentle or harsh with yourself as you speak, that depends on how you read your own mind … 
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