Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 73
  2. An Environment for Practice
     … One, you find that the more you look at things that are unhealthy for the mind, the more deeply ingrained they become. But more importantly, you get to see your intentions in action. As the Buddha said, if you see any unskillful mental qualities being developed by your looking or your listening, you can tell yourself, “Don’t look there. Don’t listen there … 
  3. Objectivity
     … So even though the mind tends to be partial, you can find common ground among all your desires, and use that common ground as a basis for becoming more impartial, more objective, more clear-seeing, so that you can bring yourself to the point where you let go of the last attachment, the last bit of ignorance that stands in the way of total … 
  4. Emulating the Truth
     … It’s in imitation of truthful people that we become true ourselves. The fact that we see their example and appreciate it gives rise to the desire to have that kind of truth as well, so that ultimately it’s not just imitation. They inspire us, but it’s though the honesty of our inner search that we find the honest truth for ourselves.
  5. Exploring Possibilities
     … Is it possible, as he said, to find true happiness, a happiness that doesn’t change? As we explore, all the answers we arrive at then become questions we use to keep the mind pointed in the right direction. As you sit and meditate, you often come up with interesting insights, uncover things about the mind that you never noticed before, possibilities that you … 
  6. Mindfulness the Seamstress
     … The Canon talks about craving as being the seamstress—the seamstress that ties different thoughts together and turns them into a state of becoming. Here we’re talking about mindfulness as a seamstress, but that shouldn’t be strange, because there is an element of desire in your mindfulness. You have a purpose. This is what the ardency is all about: You’re trying … 
  7. Anapanasati Day
     … As you allow the in-and-out breathing to calm down, you become more and more sensitive to this other level of breathing, which is always there. You get a clearer sense of these waves of breath energy going through the body. Then you allow those to calm down as well and you come to a subtle or profound breath that’s actually still … 
  8. In Training
     … As he said, if you have no shame at telling a deliberate lie, then what’s to keep you from doing other things that you shouldn’t do? All kinds of things become open to you. You’ve really got to be on top of your precepts. The more you are, the more you learn about your own intentions, because we’re not following … 
  9. A Doctor’s Strategies
     … The king said, “You can keep your wealth but stay on here as my doctor.” Eventually he becomes the Buddha’s doctor. One of the people he treats on the way back is a millionaire who’s got horrendous headaches. Doctors have come and looked at him, and some said he was going to live only two more days. Others say, “Well, he is … 
  10. Audacious & Undaunted
     … We hear so much that the Buddha was against craving, and it’s true, as he said, that three types of craving—craving for sensuality, for becoming, and non-becoming—cause suffering. But the desire to be skillful, which is the desire that drove him on his path all the way to the deathless, is part of the path. So try to nurture that … 
  11. Karma in the Present
     … The worst thing you can do to somebody is to persuade them to do something really unskillful, because that karma then becomes theirs. If you hit them, it may be something in their past karma but now it’s gone, it’s been paid off. It’s now your karma. But if you get them to do something unskillful, the impact of that on … 
  12. But Not Sick in Mind
     … As long as you perceive things in this way and you hold on to these perceptions, there are going to be stories around all this: “Why is this body doing this to me? And what’s going to become of my life?” You can think about things you can’t do while you’re sick, all kinds of things: the possibility that the illness … 
  13. On the Surface of Things
     … As you get quicker, things will seem to slow down, so that what sounded like a raucous squawk actually becomes a series of notes. You can see: Oh, this follows on that, that follows on this, and it’s all right here. You’re learning how to watch more carefully what’s right here, to look for patterns right here. In the beginning, of … 
  14. Do Jhana
     … That’s how the meditation actually becomes successful. It is something you can succeed at. You focus your desire on the causes. You try to fine tune your efforts so that they’re just right. You’re intent on what you’re going—you’re not just going through the motions. And you learn how to be judicious in figuring out, if the mind … 
  15. Worth
     … If you can’t depend on your own mind, that’s the biggest thing to fear, because everything then becomes a danger. So to live a life without fear, this is what you’ve got to do.
  16. Stick with It
     … And a part of concentration is a sense of ease and well-being, a sense of fullness, so that the mind is willing to settle down to become one with the breath. Then as you develop that sense of ease, the sense of being centered, try to maintain it. That’s one of the more difficult parts of the meditation—sticking with it—because … 
  17. Karma & Not-self
     … That way, you become more and more skilled as a meditator. One of the things you begin to notice as you meditate is that thoughts come up in the mind totally unintended. It’s important to realize that you have the choice to get involved with them or not. That choice is the present intention. It takes a thought on and moves with it … 
  18. Factors for Awakening
     … These are qualities of mind you develop in order to become awakened. You can’t take awakening and develop it. You can’t clone the awakened state. But you can work on developing everyday factors of the mind that eventually will lead to awakening. This is one of the important aspects of the Buddha’s teaching: The path to awakening is built out of … 
  19. Prepare to Die
     … As you focus more and more on the breath, and the breath gets more and more still, a state of awareness just in and of itself becomes more and more clear. When that’s solid enough, then you can switch your focus there. You realize that there’s a sense of intense well-being that can come when the mind is really focused, settled … 
  20. Unparadoxical Happiness
     … But as the skill becomes more and more second nature, you find you can carry that sense of ease, that sense of well-being, fullness, and refreshment, into any situation. It goes deep down inside. As the Buddha said, once you gain a sense of ease from a concentrated mind, a sense of ease from, say, staying with the breath, you can allow that … 
  21. Advice for a New Monk
     … sensual craving, the craving to be become this or that, or the craving to destroy what you’ve become. That’s where your look to put an end to suffering. You look using the leverage of the concentration and the discernment you’ve developed here as a meditator. Once you understand that, it’s much more likely that your meditation will get results, because … 
  22. Load next page...