Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 66
  2. The Care & Feeding of the Mind (Reading of Ajaan Lee)
  3. Adbusting the Mind
     … You’ll find that part of the mind resists that. In that way, you learn some really interesting things about the different parts of the mind. One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s a part that engages in magical thinking, believing that if you can fantasize about something, it’s going to happen. And that’s absolutely crazy. We’re not living … 
  4. Sensitivity & Skill
     … And as you care for this, the mind is very clear, which is very different from the pleasures that depend on sensuality. With those, the mind gets clouded with sensuality. And a lot of our desires for sensual pleasures require that we take something from somebody else. When we’re nice, we do it when they’re willing. But there are a lot of … 
  5. Overwhelmed by Freedom
     … all these huge defilements of the mind. But they don’t come as an avalanche of huge boulders all at once. They’re little tiny things, one by one by one, as they come through the mind. And they come in lots of different guises. Anger for instance: There’s not just one reason why we’re angry, which means that when you work … 
  6. Analysis of Dhammas
     … Which thoughts side with the dark side of the mind? Which ones side with the bright side of the mind? Here again, there’s an assumption—that the mind is the cause of the actions, and you do have choice. There will be some actions that lead to good results, and others that won’t lead to good results. If you pay appropriate attention … 
  7. One Hand Clapping
     … Sometimes it’ll switch to the mind. Is the mind steadily with the breath? Or is it beginning to waver a bit? And again, as long as you’re focused on how the mind relates to the breath and what can be done to make it relate in a better way, that’s fine as well. You’ll be going back and forth among … 
  8. For the Cessation of Dukkha
     … We get the mind quiet so that we can see the mind. The mind has so many things going on. It’s like a corporation: a big building with lots of people. And for the most part, as with any corporation, nobody really knows everything that’s going on in the corporation. So things that are important and things that are unimportant all get … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. Acceptance
     … You learn how to get the mind into concentration, how you get the mind to become more mindful, more discerning: all these skills that we work on as we meditate. So when we find that the mind is not getting concentrated, we don’t just sit there and accept it. We say, “Okay, what’s wrong?” We try to figure things out. If the … 
  11. Make Yourself Reliable
     … Ajaan Chah once said that one of the first things you notice when you really look at the mind with all honesty is how dishonest it can be. So, both the mind and the body can be dishonest, but they also have their potential for honesty. Particularly the mind. It’s the mind that we’re training. We use the body to get more … 
  12. Mindfulness
    Mindfulness July 23, 2011 When the Buddha lists the factors for awakening, he says that there are some that are appropriate when the mind is sluggish. Those factors are analysis of qualities, rapture, and persistence: the qualities that energize the mind. Then there are qualities appropriate when the mind is overly excited, overly energetic: calm, equanimity, and concentration. Those calm the mind down. You … 
  13. The Skill of Not Suffering
     … But here you’ve got a diffuse light that spreads throughout the body, so that if any thoughts come up in the mind—any intentions, any questions, any comments, any complaints—you’re going to see them. And you have to learn how not to run with them. You see them and think of them going right through the mind, like a breeze going … 
  14. Step Back & Watch
     … Most people just start going with whatever impulse comes into the mind, whatever picture comes in the mind, thinking that it must be true. But the Buddha saw that that was not the best use of that knowledge. What’s important about the knowledge of seeing beings dying and being reborn was what determines the good rebirth, what determines unfortunate rebirth. It was their … 
  15. Injustice
     … Even though anger doesn’t come from the body and it’s not going to be solved at the body, when an emotion like this comes up it affects both the body and the mind, and you get into a vicious cycle. As thoughts of anger come into the mind, they trigger certain hormones in the body, and the effects of those hormones last … 
  16. Dispassion Is Freedom
     … But look at the things that the mind actually goes for, and then ask yourself, “Is that putting the mind in a position of freedom, or is it putting it in a position of slavery?” In every case, you’ll find that it’s a slave to those activities. This is when you start thinking that it might be good, as a first step … 
  17. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … What helps the mind to settle down? The Buddha says, “views made straight and purified virtue.” Those are the bases for right mindfulness, and then right mindfulness is the basis for right concentration. So make sure your views are straight: that if there is suffering in the mind, it’s caused by the mind. No matter how much you may be suffering over bad … 
  18. A Sucker for Random Memories
    When the mind has long opportunities to be quiet, you find yourself in the same situation as a lot of older people as they approach death. There’s nothing much happening in the present moment, and old memories start barging in. Things dating back decades that you’d totally forgotten suddenly have an opportunity to come up to the surface. If your days are … 
  19. Suffering Is a Feeding Addiction
     … One is because the mind is getting more and more quiet, and you’re right here. You can detect the little things going on in the mind much more easily. Two, you’re going to need practice in not following your distractions. This is one of the most common problems everybody encounters. You sit down to meditate and all of a sudden you find … 
  20. The Uses of Right Concentration
    The Uses of Right Concentration December 2, 2014 It takes a fair amount of effort to get the mind into right concentration—so much so, that many of us don’t want to hear that there’s still more to be done. We’d rather stop right here and rest. But while it may be true that right concentration is the last factor of … 
  21. Equanimity & Exertion
     … the pleasure of concentration, in which you get the mind totally focused on an object that has nothing to do with sensuality. You start out by directing your thoughts—which is a fabrication—toward a single object, and evaluating the object so that the mind can settle down with it. Like we’re doing right now here with the breath: You work with the … 
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