Search results for: "Becoming"

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  2. Wilderness Lessons
     … This is a classic case of bhava , or becoming. It’s based on a perception, which in turn is based on an intention—in this case the desire to get up on the mountain and let down some of the burdens and responsibilities of being here at the monastery. So there’s a lesson you can learn right there: the power of perception over … 
  3. The Bowl of Oil
     … It’s not specifically a Buddhist holiday, but it’s become Buddhist here in the West, as people take it as an opportunity to practice generosity. That’s something for which we should have some empathetic joy. It’s all too easy to get irritated when you’re trying to find some quiet here, and this tornado of activity comes through for a couple … 
  4. Delight in the Breath
     … When you get a sense of how to make the breath energy really good in the body and learn how to appreciate it, that becomes your defense against a lot of your other cravings that would pull you out and get you to do unskillful things. So take some time. The breath isn’t something you simply step on so that you can climb … 
  5. Pain
     … They’re the bridge by which the physical pain comes into the mind and becomes a mental pain. As I’ve often recommended, think of the pain as going away from you: One, it’s individual moments of pain. It’s not a solid block. And two, as each moment arises, it’s disappearing. It arises to disappear, going away from you, not coming … 
  6. Respect for Tranquility & Insight
     … In that way, your practice becomes solid. It’s on a sure footing. Then there’s a chance for the message to get through.
  7. After the Fire
     … But you need to get it balanced, because stillness without mindfulness can just become dull, sleepy, deluded, drifting off. There has to be an element of interest in the stillness to keep it awake, to keep it alive. This is why, as things begin to settle down in the mind, you can’t just allow the mind to drift off anyway it wants, or … 
  8. Disenchantment
     … Learn to become a connoisseur of your breathing, so that you can pry yourself loose from your other attachments, the things you used to feed on. We choose this feeding, the feeding on concentration, because it’s relatively innocent. A lot of other feeding depends on feeding on other people—emotionally, mentally. As long as the mind is in the feeding mode, then even … 
  9. The Buddha’s Tools
     … This way, it becomes a lot easier to let go of a lot of conflicts you’ve had, turn around, and look inside. As the Buddha said, when you look inside, you see there’s an arrow in your heart—and it’s to pull out that arrow that we’re here. But here again, you look inside the mind, and you see that … 
  10. Looking for Happiness Inside
     … So you give rise to what’s called the state of becoming, the sense of you right here in the world of the body right here right now. You try to nurture that, you try to feed that, breathing in a way that feels good. You can ask yourself, “What feels good, what’s good about it?” You can try different ways of breathing … 
  11. The Power of the Will
     … Those are the people we focus on so that we can become one of them. We remember how they went about it. You read the stories of the ajaans. If they hadn’t had a strong will, they probably would have just ended up tilling the fields, having families, dying, and they would have disappeared. But they had that will to figure out what … 
  12. Your Inner Ally
     … It’s like becoming a true friend with someone. You’re not the one doing all the talking all the time. You’ve got to listen to see what that person needs, to see what that person wants, to get a sense of not only what the person is saying, but also what the person is doing. Be observant. Is this someone you can … 
  13. A Practice, Personal & Social
     … In fact, as the Buddha said, it’s only when you become an arahant that you eat the alms food of the country without incurring a debt. At the very least, you want to get your practice really good so that if they want advice, you can give them good advice. If they simply want the merit of being generous to someone who is … 
  14. Your Inner Mob
     … Wait for the craziness of the mob psychology to run its course, but the important thing is that you don’t become part of the mob. If you can gain this kind of perspective on your thoughts, you can save yourself a lot of grief. As that bumper sticker says, “Don’t believe everything you think.” Don’t identify with everything that’s coming … 
  15. Staying in Position
     … It’s to be expected that you’re going to fall off, but learn how to get back into balance as quickly as possible, so that this balanced state of mind—centered but full throughout the body, with the breath comfortable, the mind awake—becomes more and more your second nature, your normal way of operating. Upasika Kee talks about the state of mind … 
  16. Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
     … It becomes pretty obvious that this is a universe without a purpose. A lot of people find that thought chilling, but it’s directly related to the issue of suffering. If this universe had a purpose, and your suffering were part of the purpose of the universe, there’d be no way out. You’d have to continue suffering. But here, there’s no … 
  17. Doing Nothing
     … Mindfulness turns into directed thought, alertness turns into evaluation, and ardency becomes singleness of preoccupation. You really stick with your object and you learn how to stick with it skillfully so that it gives rise to a sense of rapture. This is where you get energy in your practice. That sense of rapture is your food. Ajaan Fuang compared it to the lubricant for … 
  18. Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity
     … They can often become even more and more unskillful. So, ideally you’re hoping that they develop an understanding, along with the willingness and the ability to act on the understanding. At the very least, the understanding is the important part. Think about what that means. We’re wishing for happiness and what it comes down to is that we’re wishing that people … 
  19. Let Pleasure & Pain Fall Off the Plow
     … All of a sudden, the whole hour becomes an hour of pain. Even though it’s only one moment that you’re feeling the pain, you’ve already sketched out the rest of the hour as being a painful hour. And however long the pain’s been there in the past, you carry that around in your bag as well. No wonder you get … 
  20. The Wall of Discernment
     … The clearer you are, the more precise you are in understanding what is really worth doing in terms of giving rise to long-term happiness, the more useful your discernment becomes. This is where you have to keep in mind the Buddha’s statement that there is no happiness apart from peace. We may think of other kinds of happiness and pleasure that are … 
  21. Two Hands Washing
     … You’ll know the antidote has worked when the mind finally does become willing to settle down. Then once you’re with the breath, you can ask questions on a different level: “Exactly what sensations are breath? How does the body relate to the breath? Where does the in-breath begin? How do you tell if the breath is comfortable or not? What are … 
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