Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. A Mental Fortress
     … And also, once these things get into your mind, if you notice that something unskillful has gotten into the mind, you have to remember to get it out. So this is not just mindfulness on its own. It’s also alertness. Then who else do you have inside the fortress? Well, you’ve got your right effort. Those are the soldiers: the realization that … 
  3. The Garden of Enlightenment
     … And even though we’re working with natural things in the mind, and there’s a natural quality of goodness in the mind, there’s also a natural quality of not-goodness in there. So we can’t be complacent. The practice is not just letting the mind go along with its own ordinary flow, because what’s the ordinary flow of the mind … 
  4. The Cool Fire of Jhana
     … It’s actually good for the body, good for the mind, and it brings light into areas of the mind that have long been dark. You can read your mind because the flame is steady. Of course, it’s still burning. This is where the image of nibbana comes in. That’s where there’s no fire, no burning at all, even the cool … 
  5. Three Levels of Effort
     … There’s greater clarity in the mind, greater understanding. Your powers of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, and discernment: They all grow. Ultimately, this brings the mind to a point—what we might call the third level of skillful effort—where there’s really nothing more to do. If skillful qualities are developed, there’s a great sense of balance in the mind—stability. There’s … 
  6. Moods Are Not-Self
     … So the first order of business is get the mind in the right mood to be with the breath on good terms. To begin with, the Buddha recommended that you try to make your mind like earth. Think of the part of the mind that can just be with anything, no matter what, and not feel upset or elated by it—because that part … 
  7. The Dhamma Wheel
     … And then, to get the mind into concentration, you have to let go of unskillful mental qualities and develop skillful ones. You have to have an establishment, a place where you can settle the mind. That’s what the establishings of mindfulness are for. You connect with the body in and of itself, or feelings in and of themselves, mind states, mental qualities in … 
  8. Your Inner Teacher
     … Subconscious events are events going on in the mind all the time when you’re not paying attention, or that you—consciously or subconsciously—willfully ignore. You go into denial. This is why it’s so difficult to train the mind. The mind has this tendency toward denial, to block things out. What we’re doing as we meditate is to put the mind … 
  9. A Gentle Touch
    Give the mind a chance to settle down, and try to learn just the right amount of pressure to put on the breath to keep it there. For a lot of people, if you could take a picture of what they’re doing to their mind as they’re practicing concentration, it’s as if they’re strangling it, which is why the mind … 
  10. Matters of Life & Death
     … So you want to develop the quality of mind that will serve you as a refuge when you’re old, when you’re ill, when you’re dying. This is why we meditate with so much emphasis on developing mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. Mindfulness is not being aware. It’s keeping certain things in mind, especially keeping in mind the idea that you really … 
  11. Your Own Karma
     … When the mind is concentrated, it’s easier to be more careful about your speech and your actions. When you understand how you’re causing stress and suffering, it’s easier to get the mind still. All the different elements of the path work together. So you can’t do just mindfulness practice. That old attitude of. “All you need is mindfulness,” doesn’t … 
  12. A Path Rooted in Desire
    Make up your mind you’re going to stay with the breath—all the way in, all the way out, each breath as it comes in, as it goes out. Notice when you breathe in: Where do you feel it in the body? When the Buddha talks about breath, he’s not talking about the tactile sensation of the air at the nose. He … 
  13. The Path Requires Effort
     … And you have to respect the necessary work, because actually, in the process of getting the mind to settle down, you learn a lot of interesting things about the mind, just through this effort of coming back, coming back. You learn a lot of unexpected things about the mind. It’s easy to read books about Buddhism and say, “Well, ultimately you have to … 
  14. Oozing Bodies, Oozing Minds
     … One is effluent, something that comes flowing out of the mind. Usually in English we think of an effluent as something dirty, and that gives a pretty good idea of the implication in Pali as well. It’s something that defiles the mind, something unclean. Another translation is fermentation, something that comes bubbling up out of the mind. Either translation is effective in getting … 
  15. A Sense of Space Inside
     … And hold in mind the perception that the whole body is breathing: all the nerves, all the blood vessels, all the cells. That creates a nice spacious sense here in the present. See how long you can maintain that perception—and what happens to your sense of the body, your sense of yourself sitting here as you keep that perception in mind. Read the … 
  16. Walking Meditation: Stillness in Motion
     … When we sit quietly, we’re trying to get the mind still, and we try to keep the body still as a way of helping the mind along. But you also want to be able to keep the mind still in the midst of movement, in the midst of activity. That’s where walking meditation comes in. When you get up from your sitting … 
  17. Perceiving the Breath
     … The Buddha says to stick your tongue against the palate of your mouth and just crush your mind with the mind, as he puts it. And what does it mean to crush your mind with the mind? It means that you focus down on one spot and you stay there and just blare out every other thought that might come up. You might use … 
  18. Respect for the Path
     … You look at your mind objectively, to see where you’re causing suffering, where you’re causing stress, even the least little bit of stress. You ask yourself, “Why am I doing that?” Usually it’s force of habit. The mind has its old pathways that it keeps following again and again and again. They become like ruts in the mind. And because they … 
  19. To Be Trustworthy
     … You’re alert to what’s actually going on in the mind with regard to the body. And you keep in mind the determination you want to get the best things out of the body before you have to let it go. The same with your feelings, the same with your mind states: You look at these things just in reference to themselves, and … 
  20. Immersed in the Body
     … They can hit the mind with a lot more violence, with a lot more force than the wobbling or sudden braking of a subway train. So the mind needs a really solid stance. This is why we work on providing this support for the mind not only while we’re sitting here meditating but also throughout the day. Some people complain that it’s … 
  21. Tranquility & Insight
     … You’ll also see that the way you breathe creates feelings that will have an impact on the mind. The mind is also shaped by the perceptions you have about the relationship between it and the breath and the body, and all the other things coming in and out: in through the senses, out through your activities and intentions. As you practice the steps … 
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