Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. The Field Hospital
     … The problem is, to get this higher pleasure you have to seclude the mind from sensuality. That’s not quite the Catch-22 it sounds like, because all you have to do is create a little space in the mind, a little space of time, the ability to inhabit the body, at least for a little while—to get the mind to settle down … 
  3. Injustice
     … And it’s a quality of mind that we try to develop. But it’s important to realize that it doesn’t mean being totally passive, totally unable to recognize what’s right or wrong. What it means is being able to keep the mind emotionally on an even keel—recognizing right actions, recognizing harmful actions, preferring skillful actions over harmful actions, but not … 
  4. Seeing Distinctions
    We’re trying to bring the mind to stillness for two purposes, and the purposes go together. One is that when the mind is still, there’s a sense of ease and well-being. The second is that when it’s still, it can see things clearly. These go hand in hand, because if you don’t have a basic sense of well-being … 
  5. For When the World Can’t Help You
     … What would you do then? The best thing would be to work on the good qualities in the mind. As for what effort you’ve put in, leading up to that point in working on the good qualities of the mind, you’d be glad you did it. It’s good to keep that perspective in mind every day, every day, as you sit … 
  6. Understanding Contentment
     … But this doesn’t mean that you’re content with whatever comes up in the mind. This is the first misunderstanding: Some people think that you have to be content with whatever comes up in the mind as well. If the mind is full of hindrances, full of defilements, well, you just accept that fact and live with it. But that’s not what … 
  7. Effortlessness Through Effort
    We hear the ajaans talking about automatic mindfulness: where your mindfulness is so steady that you don’t have to make any effort—it’s just there. It sounds good. It sounds like the kind of meditation we’d like to have. But there are two ways of having an effortless meditation. One is not to put any effort in at all from the … 
  8. Negotiating with the Committee
     … Because the mind does like to feed, and it likes to feed on pleasure. So as you negotiate with all the unskillful thoughts and voices in the mind, it’s really good to be able to throw them a little pleasure. What this comes down to is that every voice in the mind, every identity, every self, you’ve ever created, is created for … 
  9. The Missing Truth
    The Buddha says that when we experience pain, stress, suffering, the mind has two reactions. One is bewilderment. We don’t understand how the suffering has come. The second is a search: “Is there anyone out there who knows a way or two to put an end to the suffering?” This means that we’re looking for three kinds of truth. We’re looking … 
  10. Skilled in Aims
     … That means you’ve got to make your mind like a Brahmā mind. You do that through the concentration. You focus the mind on a pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality. In fact, it’s when the mind gets past sensual thoughts, secluded from sensual thoughts and secluded from all types of unskillful dhammas—unskillful qualities from wrong view all the way … 
  11. Refuge
     … One of the worst things that can happen to you is if you let the values of the world insinuate themselves into your mind and you start doing things and saying things and thinking things that will be for your long-term detriment. When you keep the Buddha in mind, the Dhamma in mind, the Sangha in mind, they protect you from that danger … 
  12. Contentment vs. Initiative
     … This is especially important when you’re dealing with the obstreperous voices in your mind, the ones you know are unskillful. To fight them off, you have to analyze them: Where do they get their strength? In other words, if there’s a quality of the mind that you know is unskillful, what is it that you like about it? Often the mind will … 
  13. Signs Along the Road
     … Then you follow the instructions for breathing mindfulness. Basically, the descriptions of right mindfulness in the Canon are descriptions of what you* *do in order to get the mind into right concentration. The descriptions of right concentration are basically talking about the states you get into. Right mindfulness is the how; the descriptions of right concentration are the what. Then, as you focus on … 
  14. The Four Precepts
     … Remember, the word “meditation” in Pali, bhavana, means developing the mind. And you don’t develop the mind solely when you sit here with your eyes closed, not doing anything. You also have to develop it while you’re doing things—while you’re acting, while you’re moving, while you’re speaking. It’s like learning how to chew gum and to walk … 
  15. Refreshment
     … The same applies to the mind. It’s nourished by its food, but it’s also subject to abrasion and wearing down. We live in a world where there are lots of very unpleasant things, things that threaten to wear the mind down. We have to figure out some way to find the strength not to be worn down by them. With the body … 
  16. Mange in the Mind
     … You see the intentions of the mind, the activity of the mind, because that’s where the suffering comes from. It doesn’t come from your body—although the mind can create a lot of suffering around the body. The body gets sick, you get upset. The body is growing old, you get upset. The body is getting ready to die, you feel abandoned … 
  17. The Power of Your Actions
     … The mind needs to rest. You could spend some time sleeping, but that’s not necessarily skillful. This is why he says that you want to bring the mind into concentration. That’s where we get the third of the strengths, which is mindfulness. What the Buddha calls the establishings of mindfulness are not exercises in simply being aware of what’s happening or … 
  18. A Master of Your Thoughts
     … You want your alertness and mindfulness to be more in charge. This is the meaning of the word faculty: something in charge, or* indriya *in Pali. The word is related to *Indra, *who was the king of the gods—the dominant god. You want to turn mindfulness and alertness into dominant factors in the mind so that they’re in charge rather than just … 
  19. Fire
     … Try to find a spot right now where there’s a sense of stillness in the mind, and do your best to nourish that because, whatever the dangers, what you’ll need to face those dangers will be the quality you build into your mind. When dangers come, you have to think quickly. You can prepare and prepare and prepare and get all your … 
  20. No Extra Arrows
     … Here again, this is why we get the mind into concentration. One, to get the mind still enough to see these three fabrications clearly. And two, to create a sense of well-being, that feeling in mental fabrication. Think back to the discussion of feeling in right mindfulness. The Buddha talks about feelings of pleasure, pain, neither pleasure nor pain. Then he divides feelings … 
  21. The Long-Distance Meditator
     … If your mind obeys only when you come down really hard on it, it’s going to look for times to slip away, because you can’t come down hard on yourself all the time. The mind will rebel. Or if it’s a matter of learning how to read what your mind needs, think of the different kinds of horses that the horse … 
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