Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 78
  2. The Bridge to Concentration
     … You begin to see certain ways that you relate to sounds and sights, etc., that give rise to greed, anger, and delusion in the mind. So you’ve got to learn how to relate in different ways. If you don’t, these things take root in the mind and then grow. Every time you look in those unskillful ways again, it’s like adding … 
  3. Where Perceptions Can Take You
     … When something comes up in the mind—perception, feeling, thought construct—ask yourself, “What is this for? Where does this lead?” Have a clear idea that it can lead in these different directions: Either it can pull you down, or it can stabilize the mind, or it can lead the mind to even more distinctive levels of being stable, or it can take you … 
  4. Your Main Foundation
     … Those stories come from perception and fabrication in the mind, which gets you more into the framework of mind states or mental qualities. Also, the line between mind states and mental qualities is very hard to pin down. You might think of the mind state as being when the whole mental committee has agreed on something, whereas the mental qualities are the specific members … 
  5. Location, Location
     … That effort is directed here at getting the mind into concentration. As you give the mind a location, you give your craving a location. You’re going to stay here with the breath and you’re going to watch over it to make sure it doesn’t move. And, of course, it will move, but you want to be alert to its movements. You … 
  6. For Your Benefit Here & Now
     … how to bring the mind into the present moment in a way that’s alert and quiet at the same time. You come to the breath because that’s your anchor in the present moment, and you try to stay here. To stay here solidly, figure out how to keep the mind interested in the breath. This is one of the reasons why Ajaan … 
  7. Old Movies & New
    One of the best ways to get the mind to stay with the breath is to realize that there’s a lot going on here when you breathe. It’s not just in and out. The energy flow of the whole body is involved. For most of us, it’s terra incognita, a place we don’t know, unexplored jungle. But then as you … 
  8. Food Insecurity
     … This need to feed is what keeps the mind anxious: Where is the next meal coming from? Is it safe? Can you guarantee there’s going to be food? As long as you feel secure about the answer, the mind is at ease. When you begin to realize that it’s very tenuous, this network of systems that have to work in order to … 
  9. Comparing Mind
     … Otherwise, you start drifting off, getting kind of drowsy, trying to force the mind to stay with one thing, and as it stays with one thing it begins to get dull—because the mind is used to jumping around: liking this, liking that, then deciding it doesn’t like this, running over there to something else. And it gets entertained as it jumps around … 
  10. Isolating the Aggregates
     … When the mind is really still, you can see this as it’s happening. You can see it more clearly because you’re intent on not allowing it to take over your concentration. So it’s through your mastery of these different processes of the aggregates that you can actually get the mind to settle down—which is why when the mind has settled … 
  11. Inner Critics
     … One of the reasons we meditate to get the mind still is to start seeing our own unskillful habits and to put the mind in a mood where it’s willing to admit them. This is why concentration is an important part of the path. But it’s not the whole path. Sometimes you hear the mistaken notion that when you reach a certain … 
  12. The Brahmaviharas Are Not a Complete Practice
     … You want to take your life in your hands and say, “I can make something good out of this.” You do that by training the mind. So, goodwill is a preliminary practice for getting the mind into concentration focused on the breath. But there are also passages where the Buddha talks about it as a topic of concentration in and of itself. He doesn … 
  13. Wisdom for Dummies Revisited
     … Part of the mind can train the rest of the mind. It’s simply a matter of getting the good part of the mind, the part that really does wish for your true well-being, to have more power. This is one of the reasons why, when we meditate, we work with the breath to gain a sense of well-being. The good part … 
  14. Events as Events
     … First, you get the mind really still, and then you look at what’s going on in your experience of the body and the mind here in the present, on their own terms—on the terms of the body, on the terms of the mind, events in the mind, events in the body: what the Buddha calls, on the one hand, name and form … 
  15. Feeding your Attack Dogs
     … that a lot of decisions are going on behind the walls you’ve erected in the mind, and you don’t like to think about the decisions you’re making. But the fact is, you are, and you’ve got to bring your radar down so that nothing can go below it. So prepare yourself for the fact that the mind is going to … 
  16. Dealing with Pain
     … It’s the way the mind communicates with itself through very brief and simple signals. And then there’s fabrication. This is where the emotions are along with your more complex thoughts. Then finally there’s consciousness—awareness of these things. The Buddha says we feed on these activities. And in fact, these activities are the activities that the mind usually uses in feeding … 
  17. Anger
     … But when you’re trying to overcome the anger in the mind, the lastingness of those hormones is not helpful at all. So make sure to see the thoughts and the physical symptoms as two separate things. The mind itself may have calmed down somewhat from the anger, but the physical manifestations are still present, obstructing your view of the mind, so you want … 
  18. Magha Puja: Showing Respect with the Practice
     … The practice of concentration is called heightening the mind. You’re letting go of all your sensual concerns and raising the mind to a higher level. You’re trying to find a sense of peace, a sense of well-being that comes simply from having your awareness settled inside. To focus on the breath, to know when it’s coming in, to know when … 
  19. Part III : Daily Life
     … He’s also talking about the death of the mind’s good qualities, its inner strengths. These are your most important treasures because they determine, on the one hand, what you’re going to do, how you’re going to act, how you’re going to speak, how you’re going to think; and those things, of course, have a huge impact on your … 
  20. Do. Maintain. Use.
     … Get the mind to the breath. Try to keep it with the breath. Experiment with different ways of breathing to see what’s comfortable right now. Experiment with different ways of conceiving the breath that allow the mind to settle down and stay with the sensation of breathing and to connect that with the different sensations in the rest of the body. You want … 
  21. A Good Mood to Meditate
     … If you’re going to find true happiness, you have to find it in the mind. So focus on whatever theme you find helpful to get the mind in a good mood to meditate, and then it’ll be a lot easier to settle down. When the Buddha describes suffering, he talks about clinging to the five aggregates. And we hear that one of … 
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