Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 74
  2. Nuts & Bolts
     … If you understand how the mind creates lots of different senses of self around its different states of becoming, you realize that you’ve got a whole stable in there and you don’t need to keep all the horses in the stable. Some of them are getting old. Some of them are troublemakers: They kick you when you feed them. Those are the … 
  3. Forest Bathing
     … Have the perception of wilderness, and allow the concerns of home life to become small. And appreciate the lack of those concerns. It’s a kind of emptiness. As the Buddha said, you notice what’s present and you notice what’s gone in terms of disturbance. You appreciate whatever emptiness, whatever lack of disturbance there is. That’s one of the original meanings … 
  4. Choosing Sides
     … As the Buddha said, when mindfulness becomes a governing principle in the mind, it sees things that are unskillful and it works toward getting rid of them. It sees things that are skillful and works toward giving rise to them. It actively gets involved in making things arise and making things pass away. So you are taking sides as you practice. Hopefully, you’re … 
  5. Starting from Within
     … You become less and less a prisoner of your old ways of doing things. Learn how to take more advantage of this opportunity you have in the present moment to act in a way that doesn’t cause suffering, to act in a way that’s skillful. Now this is a gift, not only to yourself but also to the people around you. When … 
  6. Self Power, Other Power
     … A little prince can grow up and become a king. If you mistreat him when he’s small, he’s going to remember that.” That principle applies to little tiny defilements in the mind. But it also applies to the good things in the mind as well. Whatever amount of concentration, whatever amount of mindfulness you’re able to muster: If you look after … 
  7. The Value of Concentration
     … Precision becomes an integral part of it. So don’t be careless. When things are bad, don’t get discouraged. Just keep coming back to whatever concentration you have. When things go well, don’t get complacent. Don’t let the concentration fool you into thinking that it’ll always be there no matter what. After all, it’s something fabricated, something intentional. So … 
  8. May I Look After Myself with Ease
     … We have to create good qualities of the mind so that the mind doesn’t get frazzled and frayed, doesn’t become its own worst enemy. You want the mind to be its own best friend. This is one of the reasons why we practice the Dhamma. As we practice the Dhamma, it’s like providing food, clothing, shelter, and medicine for the mind … 
  9. Cleaning up Your Personal Environment
    Yesterday we were talking about becoming. It’s a very deep and sometimes abstract process. But the implications are very immediate: You do play a role in shaping your own identity and you play a role also in shaping the world around you. There are some limitations based on your karma, but there are also possibilities—for greater freedom, for greater happiness—and those … 
  10. A Network of Goodness
     … This is a way in which our goodwill becomes more expansive, because we have a sense of this network of goodness. It’s not something that’s naturally there on its own. It’s there because of choices. Remember kataññu: a sense of what was done. What was done was chosen. Somebody chose to do something good. They didn’t have to. It wasn … 
  11. Appropriate Attention
     … That’s how you can become your own best friend on the path.
  12. Stern Kindness
     … If you let the mind wander into those scenarios, they become more and more habitual, and it becomes harder and harder not to act on them. This is where that second function of mindfulness comes in, the threats, saying “Look, watch out! If you don’t train the mind, there’s going to be trouble.” Even if you don’t get involved in doing … 
  13. A Rare Gift
     … The value of the mind increases as it becomes more and more one. Don’t think that when the mind has just lots of stuff inside that it has more value. I remember in Thailand one time, I was going past a market and there was only one durian, which is a very highly prized food over there. There was one single durian in … 
  14. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … As the mind does settle down, then respect becomes a question of trying to gain more and more sensitivity. You move into a level of stillness. When you first get there, it seems like a huge release from where you’ve been. There seems to be no sense of stress or burdensomeness there at all. But when you stay there long enough, you begin … 
  15. A Skillful Heart
     … You become a skillful-hearted person. That’s when you’re generally trustworthy. You can trust yourself, and other people can trust you, too. In a world of a lot of doubts and uncertainty, a trustworthy person is genuinely a treasure. So make yourself a treasure by being scrupulous in protecting your goodwill. And it’ll protect you in return.
  16. Big Things in Little Things
     … If you do the processes of fabrication with knowledge, they become a path out. So keep your awareness focused right here. This takes time, and it takes focus and patience. Like the carpenter sharpening his saw: Each little tooth on the saw has to be just right. The difference here, of course, is that the carpenter doesn’t have to know the teeth more … 
  17. Feelings of Unworthiness
     … Even Mara is supposed to eventually become a private Buddha. So this is a story in which even the bad guys get their redemption. You’re not nearly as bad as they are, so there’s hope for you as well. So feelings of unworthiness are not encouraged in this tradition. In fact, they’re seen as defilements because we’re not groveling in … 
  18. Getting Out of Karmic Debt
     … Part of the repayment is that we become less of a burden on the world. Think about the customs of the noble ones. This was one of Ajaan Mun’s favorite Dhamma topics. The Buddha describes them as four. The first three have to do with contentment: You’re content with whatever food, clothing, or shelter you have. At the same time, you don … 
  19. Determined to Stay with the Breath
     … If you allow that ease to have some space, it becomes a sense of fullness, refreshment. The potential is here. But we’re too interested in other things—or at least some members of the committee are interested in other things. They want to go off someplace else. They say, “Well that’s nice. You can stay with your breath a little bit. But … 
  20. Past & Future in the Present
     … In cases like that, the desire actually becomes an obstacle. But if you really pay attention to the present moment, you’ve got things to play with here. You can play with the length of the breath, how deep it goes, how heavy or light it is. These are things you can do in the present moment. As for your memory of the past … 
  21. Lavish Goodwill
     … But often we’re challenged by other people’s unskillful behavior, and it becomes hard. Or, sometimes we have difficulty thinking goodwill for ourselves: looking at ourselves, seeing our drawbacks, and thinking that we’re not worthy of our own goodwill. But the Buddha certainly didn’t encourage that idea. Goodwill has nothing to do with deserving. It’s your free creation of the … 
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