Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 72
  2. A Good Foundation
     … Sometimes the energy’s been held in for so long that it’s going to take a while for the new habit to become habitual. If we’re not alert, we automatically go back to our old ways of holding the body, holding the energy, and doing this pretty unconsciously. Part of the problem is the fact that our society, our culture, doesn’t … 
  3. Negotiating with Death
     … It’s invaded you and it’s become solid like the body. And you can get all worked up about it. But if you can see the actual feelings of pleasure and pain are one thing and the warmth of the body and the solidity of the body and the energy are different things, then the pain’s not so oppressive. For one thing … 
  4. A Friend to the World
     … You can dress up compassion in any way you want to make it seem worthwhile, but that becomes an easy excuse for breaking the precepts and unskillful behavior. This is why in the Karaniya Metta Sutta the Buddha talks about being virtuous as a prerequisite for developing goodwill, so that your goodwill isn’t hypocritical, and so you have a good idea what it … 
  5. Change Your Perceptions
     … If it’s a visual perception, this is where Ajaan Lee’s instructions become handy, because remember, when we talk about the breath, we’re not talking about the air coming in and out at the nose. It’s not the tactile sensation at the nose that we’re interested in; we’re interested in the breath element in the body, the movement of … 
  6. Always Willing to Learn
     … It becomes a little movie you want to follow and then you’re off wherever it takes you. But if you want to stick with the meditation, you need to see those processes right as they begin forming and to figure out ways of nipping them in the bud: questioning the perception, dispersing that little stirring of energy with the breath, getting more alert … 
  7. True Freedom of Speech
     … Realizing that groups can become disharmonious very easily, you have to be really careful about what you say. Whereas over here, people seem to value harmony a lot less. They say, “If this person wants to leave the group, that’s perfectly fine with me.” But that’s destructive and selfish. This is where we’re holding to our culture’s attitude toward freedom … 
  8. The Allure of Self
     … They become not-self, the other. Then they become a good friend, and they’re part of your circle of friends again. The Buddha’s saying to look at the things you hold on to. Then apply that analysis of the five steps. This is why it’s so important that he talks about self not so much as a thing, but as a … 
  9. Playing Your Lute
     … He sat down and started thinking about how maybe he should just give up, go back home, become a lay person, make merit but otherwise give up on the practice. The Buddha read his mind, disappeared from Vulture’s Peak, and appeared right in front of him. I don’t know about you, but if the Buddha appeared in front of me while I … 
  10. Hold on to Your Frame of Reference
     … The ease becomes so pleasant, so blissful, that you just let go. You forget your frame of reference; you lose your frame of reference. So you’ve got to hold it in mind, the body sitting here. This is one of the most important things in the meditation: Once there’s a sense of ease, you’ve got to expand your awareness to fill … 
  11. Three Stages in the Practice
     … Learn to become more and more sensitive to how you can read the needs of the body and compensate for any bad habits you may have picked up in the way you breathe. The breath, when it’s handled properly, is medicine. It can give you energy when you need energy; it can calm you down when you need calming down. It can help … 
  12. An Auspicious Night
     … Ask questions: “How can I use this teaching to help me along the path?” That way, your knowledge of the Dhamma actually becomes a help rather than a hindrance. The fifth quality is ingenuity. How ingenious are you in taking the basic principles of the Dhamma and applying them to your specific circumstances? You don’t have to look very far away: Look at … 
  13. Calm
     … If you’re focusing on one that’s energizing and becomes unpleasant, then—after you’ve opened up all the escape channels—try to tune in to a calmer energy in the same spot where the excited energy is. It’s like digging a well. When I was living in Wat Asokaram, they had a constant problem because the monastery was right at the … 
  14. Beyond Inter-eating
     … Once you’ve got those good qualities going, and the mind is in a good state of concentration, that concentration becomes your second kind of food. The Buddha compares the different levels of jhana to different types of food, all the way through the fourth jhana, which he says is like honey, oil, ghee, sugar. These things nourish the mind. In other words, even … 
  15. How to Use the Three Perceptions
     … There’s craving for sensuality, for becoming, and for non-becoming. Sensuality means the stories we tell ourselves about how great some sensual pleasure is going to be or how great some sensual pleasure was—the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations. Our fascination with all those stories: What does it get us? In Ajaan Lee’s image, he says that thinking about … 
  16. Death Is All Around
     … But when you cut them, they just become dirt on the ground, something you want to sweep away. This shows you how arbitrary the idea of “me” or “mine” is. It’s good to reflect again and again and again: These things that you claim as yours, exactly how long are they going to lie in your power? And even before they leave you … 
  17. Don’t Just Do It
     … So as you’re committed to the practice, as you’re doing it, you have to become more and more sensitive to levels of stress, levels of well-being. Ultimately, yes, you get to the point where you let go of all karma, and you let go of all feelings. You let go of all reflections. But don’t short-circuit the practice by … 
  18. Simple & Basic
     … When you keep it basic, keep it simple, keep it down to earth like this, everything becomes very clear.
  19. Death Is Normal
     … When you think about this, then any ceremonies around death become auspicious. As the Buddha said, heedfulness is an auspicious sign for the mind. So, as the Buddha told the king, once you’ve expressed your grief, remind yourself that you have work that needs to be done. If there’s no work in the world outside, there’s still plenty of work inside … 
  20. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … He, though, was interested in becoming a noble one, which meant that he had to follow the customs of the noble ones. That’s why he was very strict in his observance of the Vinaya and the ascetic practices—and it caused a lot of controversy. I was recently reading a conversation between Ajaan Chah and some lay people. He talked about how Ajaan … 
  21. Toughen & Tenderize the Mind
     … That becomes ignorance—a big wall in the mind, which blocks off a lot of things so that we can’t really see what’s going on: what we’re doing or the results of what we’re doing. So you want to train the mind to be sensitive enough to see problems inside itself that it didn’t see before and to make … 
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