Search results for: "Form"
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- Feeding Instructions… You’ve got the form of the body, and you’ve got the form of the food out there. You’re going to put that food into your body. There’s the feeling of hunger when you don’t get enough to eat, the feeling of satisfaction when you get enough, and the feeling of being stuffed when you get too much. Then there …
- Bewildered… There’s feeling in fabrication, there’s feeling in name and form, and there’s feeling that arises immediately after contact. Then there’s the pain that comes with aging, illness, and death and all the different forms of craving. So, you have to ask yourself, which is it this time? Have that range in mind, because it helps give you some idea of …
- Go, Do Jhana… In other words, tranquility and insight together form the two sides of the practice we’re doing, and the Buddha recommends that you get them balanced. So it’s not the case that you just do tranquility practice and then you drop it to do insight practice. A lot of people think that way, though, and so the question often comes up, “How much …
- Concentration… to give us a better standard of pleasure, a pleasure that comes not from sensuality but from form, i.e., the body as you feel it from within. This pleasure doesn’t require that the world outside be a certain way. All it requires is that you pay attention to what you’ve already got here—which means that there’s a lot less …
- Merit: Actively Happy… The Buddha also calls goodwill a resolution and a form of mindfulness. It’s something we have to make up our mind to do and to keep in mind. Because, usually, goodwill is something we have for some people but not for everyone. So it requires an act of will that you then remember— which is what mindfulness means. You remember that you’re …
- The Gift of Spiritual Materialism… These four form a set. You believe in the power of action: that the Buddha really was awakened, and that his awakening depended on his own actions. You also are convinced that the qualities he developed to gain that awakening are qualities we all have in potential form. It’s through our actions that we can foster them and bring them to that same …
- The Brightness of Life… There’s form: the form of the body that needs to be fed and also the form of things outside that can feed the body. There’s the feeling of pain that comes with hunger, and the feeling of pleasure that comes when we’ve been able to satisfy the hunger. There’s our perception of what kind of hunger we have and also …
- In the Mood… You’re looking for a form of happiness that doesn’t take anything away from anyone else. At the same time, you’re looking for a form of happiness that you can depend on, because it doesn’t have to depend on anyone else. It comes from your own inner resources. And that form of happiness is a special sense of security. It’s …
- The Heightened Mind… You can see where they’re forming, what spot in the body is tense as the thought begins to form. Well, breathe right through it. If a picture appears in the mind, blot it out with the perception of light—anything to remind yourself that these things are little states of becoming that you could enter into, but if you waste your meditation entering …
- Generosity First… So this is why, when the Buddha talked about the forms of merit, he said, “Don’t be afraid of merit, for merit is another word for happiness.” The first of the three main forms of merit is dana, giving, which is the expression of generosity. The gift of being virtuous builds on the simple act of giving, and the gift of meditation builds …
- Pain & the Middle Way… There’s the pleasure of form: the pleasure of the mind in concentration, focused on the breath with a sense of ease, well-being, and refreshment that spreads throughout the whole body. That’s the other alternative to pain. And it’s a good alternative for several reasons. One is that it keeps us from simply being bounced back and forth between our pleasures …
- Control… So you work with form, the form of the body, in other words the breath. Learn how to relate to the form of your body so that you can have a good place to stay. Try to give rise to feelings of ease. Even though there may be pains in one part of the body, they don’t take over the whole body. If …
- Joy in Getting It Right… Generosity, virtue, and developing universal goodwill are the traditional forms of puñña, which is usually translated as “merit,” but is better translated as “goodness.” All too often, these forms of goodness are treated as something totally separate from the practice of meditation. But goodness and meditation are closely intertwined. Acts of goodness prepare the mind for meditation by developing good habits, particularly the habit …
- Dealing with Pain… For example, when you’re feeding on physical food, you’ve got the form of the body. Also, there’s the form of the food out there. Then there’s the feeling of hunger, the pain that goes with the hunger, and then there’s the desire to find something that will give rise to a feeling of pleasure once that hunger is satisfied …
- Unlimited Mind, Limited Resources… The first three form a set. You have goodwill for all. When you see that beings are suffering or are doing things that are going to lead to suffering, your goodwill leads you to have compassion for them. If you see that they’re happy or doing things that lead to happiness, your goodwill leads you to feel empathetic joy. But then the fourth …
- To Know the Noble Truths… But then he says what all those forms of suffering have in common is the five clinging-aggregates: form, feeling, perceptions, thought constructs, and consciousness. That’s something less familiar. You can say, “How can I know about suffering if it’s something I’m not familiar with?” Well, the Buddha says the clinging is the real problem, and he says we cling in …
- The Buddha’s Tools… When you’re getting the mind into concentration, you find that you’re dealing with form, the form of the body, of the breath; feelings of pleasure and pain, neither pleasure nor pain; your perceptions: the images you hold in mind as you try to get the mind to settle down. What way of perceiving the breath, or imaging the breath to yourself, is …
- Undividing the Mind… It’s not a matter of how many hours you put into swimming, but more a matter of maintaining proper form all the way throughout the time you do swim. If you put in lots of hours but your form is bad, it’s actually going to be bad for your swimming. Sometimes it’s better to put in just a few laps but …
- Good Eating… Recollection of generosity, recollection of the gifts you’ve given in the past, is actually a form of meditation. It’s useful for the days when the meditation seems dry and you begin to wonder if you’re ever going to get anywhere with the breath. You can think back, “Well, I do have these good things in my background, these good actions that …
- Work & Play… It’s called the pleasure of form, which comes from fully inhabiting your body from within—having a sense of being in the body and finding it pleasant. This more refined sense of pleasure enables you not only to withstand pain and not go running off into sensual pleasure, but also to see more refined forms of stress that you wouldn’t have seen …
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