Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Precarious Knowledge
     … We learn things because they do have an effect on the mind, a beneficial effect on the mind. We’re not gathering up knowledge of the Dhamma just to decorate our minds, like a library in a den, because when you start opening up the books, you realize that the ink is running off the pages. The message gets all garbled, the nerves in … 
  3. Mindfulness & Perception
     … It develops in the direction of getting stronger and more refined concentration, until the insight comes, not simply in learning how to get the mind to meditate, or learning how to get the mind to settle down into the meditation, but also learning how to gain insight while you’re in concentration. As Ajaan Fuang used to say, there comes a point when you … 
  4. The Noble Truths Come First
     … We’re going to work directly on our minds, because the problem is in the mind. It’s not out there. So focus on what your mind is doing. See if you can bring the mind to a state of stillness, so that you can have a sense of satisfaction being here. One of the reasons we feel so hungry for everything and so … 
  5. The Focus on Suffering
     … But as for whether the mind needs energizing or whether it needs calming down, you have to use the mindfulness and alertness to figure that out. And then apply whatever’s appropriate. In this way, your right view and your discernment gets refined through practice, through developing the mind. The path is something you do, something you work on. Your ability to look at … 
  6. Delight
     … That delight should provide you with energy to keep on practicing to get better and better at training the mind. Ajaan Maha Boowa talks about taking delight in seeing little flakes of defilement getting peeled off the mind, like flakes of bark peeled off a tree. In other words, regard it as a victory each time you’re able to say No to a … 
  7. Breath Meditation: The Second Tetrad
     … As you can maintain this, you begin to realize that these feelings begin to have an impact on the mind: the feeling of ease, the feeling of fullness. You want to take note of that fact. This is what the Buddha calls citta-sankhara: mental fabrication. These feelings have a direct impact on shaping the mind. Other things also are coming into play here … 
  8. Patience & Tenacity
     … The lesson here, of course, is that your perception of the pain has a lot to do with how much it’s going to weigh down the mind. So change your perception. If you notice that there are periods when the pain seems to be bothering the mind more than at other times, okay, what happened? What perception went through your mind that made … 
  9. The Buddha’s Map
     … You may focus on one point that’s more prominent than any of the others, but you do want to spread your awareness out from that point, because you’ll be observing the mind. You’ll be looking for new things in the mind. It’s like going out in the forest. If you’re searching for something in the forest, trackers advise you … 
  10. Painful Thinking
     … How are the two connected? To see this, you have to make the mind very still. And you have to put the mind in a position where it feels confident that it’s not going to be overwhelmed by the pain, or that it’s not going to really suffer from the pain as it sits and watches. That’s why we practice concentration … 
  11. Papañca
    As you sit here focused on the breath, you get some hands-on experience in seeing how the mind relates to objects. On the one hand, you have the object that you intend to stay with: the breath. And you’ve got to ask yourself: Where are you in relation to the breath? And what does it mean to keep the breath in mind … 
  12. Comfortable with Yourself
     … See what really feels good for the body right now—and feels really good for the mind as well. Some types of breathing maybe relaxing for the body but just they’re a little bit too slow and blurred for the mind to focus on. So, make adjustments for that, too. This is a very immediate way of showing goodwill for yourself. There’s … 
  13. A Magic Set of Tools
     … And that’s the whole purpose of getting the mind to stay steadily here in the present moment: so that you can read what’s going on in the mind. In the beginning, the steadiness requires some protection, just like the candle here. If the wind outside started to flare up more than it is right now, we’d have to put a glass … 
  14. Fabrication at the Breath
     … These are the elements that create states of mind that inhabit both the body and the mind. So keep remembering, reminding yourself: It’s just these three types of fabrication. This is how concentration helps you gain insight into the mind, first in the process of getting the mind to have a sense of well-being and fullness and stability in the present, then … 
  15. Noble Contentment, Noble Discontent
     … This is one of the areas where you’re encouraged to develop, as much as you can, the conditions for allowing the mind to settle down so that it does have a good, solid place to stay. Then you apply the same principles to the mind. What in the mind can you change? What can you not change yet? Any unskillful qualities that come … 
  16. The World Does Not Endure
     … You have it within your power to shape your life.” The mind is not just a result of physical events. As the Buddha said in the very first verse in the Dhammapada, the mind is the forerunner of all things. All things are achieved through the mind. It’s the mind that comes first. That’s the opposite of what a lot of people … 
  17. Perception
     … This is one of the reasons why we have to meditate — to get the mind still enough so you can see these subconscious thoughts in action. You have to understand that the mind’s not divided into two sections: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. It’s just that there’s conscious behavior in the mind and unconscious behavior, conscious events and unconscious … 
  18. See Yourself as Active Verbs
     … Even before we see things, hear them, smell, taste, touch, or think about them, there’s already a lot of activity going out from the mind. The Thai ajaans call these the currents flowing out of the mind. Your intentions, your perceptions, your plans for things: All of these have an impact on how you’re going to receive that outside contact. These activities … 
  19. The Uses of Concentration
     … A part of the mind resists this, a very strong part of the mind. We like to think that our intentions are good, that there’s nothing wrong with our intentions. Yet a huge part of the practice requires seeing where our intentions are not skillful. The only way you’re going to look at your own intentions with any degree of fairness or … 
  20. Study to Practice
     … When the mind is sluggish, what do you do to gladden it? When the mind is scattered, what do you do to steady it? When the mind is burdened with anger, what do you do to release it? He gives you ways to think: That’s verbal fabrication, different ways of thinking about anger—like his statement that there’s only one thing whose … 
  21. You Are Not a Textbook
     … Then you take that sensitivity and you apply it to the mind, because in order to have the strength to do the right thing you need to get the mind into concentration. And the question is, where are you right now with respect to concentration? Are you north of it, south of it, east, or west? Left or right? In other words, which direction … 
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