Search results for: "Thought"

  1. Page 68
  2. Truths That Are Noble
     … He first thought of teaching his two teachers from very early on during his time in the wilderness, but then he realized that both of them had died and gone to the formless realms, where they were unreachable. They had totally withdrawn from the five senses. There was no way he could contact them. So he then thought of the five monks who had … 
  3. Freedom, Conditioned & Not
     … For instance, when the Buddha himself was getting on the right path, he divided his thoughts into two kinds: thoughts imbued with sensuality, ill will, and harmfulness on one side; and those that were free of sensuality—in other words, dealing with renunciation—free from ill will, free from harmfulness on the other side. Then he watched his mind. When it was going to … 
  4. Dhamma Intelligence
     … Any thoughts that go for more than a few inches outside of your skin, you’ve just got to let them drop. If you want to think inside the body, that’s fine. After all, directed thought and evaluation are factors of the first jhāna, but you want to make sure that they don’t refer to anything beyond the limits you set for … 
  5. Death Without Drama
     … Rather than “my narrative,” it’s, “This is an unskillful thought of this particular variety.” And then three, once you recognize what variety it is, then you know what to do with it. You remember how to deal with unskillful thoughts in an effective way, and how to effectively give rise to skillful qualities. That’s what mindfulness does. It protects the fortress at … 
  6. In Context
     … As for any other thoughts that come up, you just tell yourself, “I don’t have to identify with those thoughts.” They can be not-self. Kearn how to use these concepts in context. Learn to use them at the right time, the right place, and they won’t bite you. The Buddha talks about the Dhamma as being like a snake. You want … 
  7. Part III : Daily Life
     … Because as soon as you find your thoughts wandering off in that direction, you remind yourself, “Hey, remember I don’t need to go there.” Then you’ll begin to notice how often your thoughts tend to wander in that direction. No wonder you feel frazzled by the end of the day. You have to be especially careful with the things that tend to … 
  8. Fabricating Goodwill
     … That’ll give you practice so that you can breathe calmly when the situation actually arises, and then that calm breath will become a key to the doors of your memory so that you can remember, “Oh yes, I did think about this already, and this is what I thought might work.” Then you try it out. If it doesn’t work, you go … 
  9. Owning Your Actions
     … When the Buddha was talking to Rahula about thoughts, words, and deeds, the section on thoughts had to do with the meditation. Are you getting the results you want out of your meditation? If not, what can you change? Do you want to change the breath? How about changing the point where you’re focused? Or if the mind is unwilling to settle down … 
  10. Intelligent Restraint
    There’s a saying in Thailand: “You wait until your cow disappears, and then you build a corral for it.” That’s the way most of us are with our speech, our actions, and our thoughts. We do something and then we realize, “Whoops, that was a mistake.” We decide we need to exercise a little restraint. But then we forget again. This is … 
  11. Conserving Your Strength
     … We’re responsible for our own actions, our own thoughts, our own words. Other people say and think and do things, but you’re not responsible for their choices. You can influence them to some extent, but you’re the only person whose thoughts, words, and deeds you can really control. So that’s what your first priority should be: making sure that your … 
  12. Observe Your Concentration
     … You realize that to maintain the mind in the first, you have to use directed thought and evaluation. In other words, you have to talk to yourself on a very subtle level about what’s going on. But the directed thought and evaluation is not a constant drone. There’ll be some comments, and then you’ll watch. There’ll be some comments, then … 
  13. Adjust the Flame
    The mind’s like a fire, with flames shooting out, thoughts shooting out, in all directions. When we meditate, we’re trying to adjust the flame so that it’s steady, focused on one thing: the breath here in the present moment. Try to stay with it consistently. Start with a small flame. Find one spot in the body that’s sensitive to the … 
  14. Facing Your Responsibilities
     … And the whole point of the meditation is to take responsibility for your intentions and learn how to shape them into something better, something more responsible, more harmless—to admit that not every thought that comes into your head is a good thought, and that you are responsible for creating a lot of suffering for yourself and sometimes for people around you as well … 
  15. To Purify the Heart
     … Which is why, when the Buddha taught Rahula, he taught him to look at his actions throughout the day, his speech throughout the day, his thoughts throughout the day. You want to watch yourself not only while you’re meditating, but also as you go through the day, to see what you’re doing, see what you’re saying, to see what you’re … 
  16. Positive Right Speech
     … You put extra thought into your true speech. Is it beneficial? Is this the right time to speak in terms that are pleasing, or terms that are displeasing? You’re showing respect for your own speech. You want it to have a good effect. And you’re showing respect for others. You don’t want to waste their time with words that you think … 
  17. Freedom Undefined
     … You let go of the patterns of thought, speech, and action that get in the way of clear knowing. You develop the qualities that encourage clear knowing: Right View, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. You learn to take enjoyment in these things. You let them capture your imagination. They’ve done studies of people who are expert in fields involving skill and dexterity … 
  18. Patience & Consistency
     … And it’s the same with us as a thought arises. We’re were so used to just going into the thought and inhabiting it. It requires a real training in new habits for the mind not to get pulled in, for us to stay and just watch these things as events coming and going in the mind. So you’re trying to get … 
  19. Fire Escapes
     … The four brahma-viharas are another way of getting the mind into jhana, because even with them, you have to practice developing concentration with directed thought and evaluation, without directed thought and evaluation, with a sense of pleasure, with a sense of rapture, with a sense of equanimity. In other words, you take these attitudes through the jhanas. The three formless attainments—infinite space … 
  20. Metta Means Goodwill
     … There are three places in the Canon where the Buddha recommends what you might call metta phrases—phrases for directing thoughts of goodwill. These are a good guide for gaining a clear idea of what metta means. One is that set we chant every day: “May all living beings be happy, free from stress and pain, free from animosity, free from oppression, free from … 
  21. Breath Meditation
     … It’s easy to get lost in other worlds—worlds of thought, worlds of emotion, issues of the past and the present—but the breath is always there, waiting for you. Whenever you feel a need to let the mind settle down, it’s always at hand. The important thing is the relationship you develop with the breath. To begin with, it’s good … 
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