Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. Renunciation Isn’t Deprivation
     … the skill of getting the mind centered, getting the mind to settle down, and to find satisfaction in being with one thing—undisturbed, just being able to enjoy the pleasure of having the mind settle in. So, when thoughts of sensuality seem attractive, you have to remind yourself that there’s a better way of finding pleasure. And it’s right here, right here … 
  3. Success Through Maturity
     … Breathe in a way that steadies the mind, gladdens the mind, or releases the mind, depending on what the mind needs. What all of these steps have in common is that they’re very proactive. They’re aimed at giving rise to certain states, getting the mind into right concentration. There is a purpose to all this. The Buddha’s instructions on mindfulness, if … 
  4. Free Like a Wild Deer
     … You’ve found the qualities of mind that come with contentment and frugality. They’re much more nourishing for the mind than having a lot of things, and they don’t involve fighting with anyone else. So, try to make your wisdom the wisdom of qualities of the mind instead of the wisdom of things—knowing this thing is that way and that thing … 
  5. The Power of Intention
     … The question came up yesterday, How is it possible that people can have evil intentions and still get the mind into concentration? Well, it’s possible with all kinds of intentions to get the mind focused, but if you want your concentration to lead to awakening—in other words, you want it to be honest and really conducive to true happiness, i.e., right … 
  6. The Forerunner of All Things
    There’s a passage at the beginning of the Dhammapada, that the mind is the forerunner of all things. Everything you experience, everything you do, is shaped first by the mind. Usually people read that and say it’s a nice idea, but they don’t realize how deeply it goes into the Dhamma. When the Buddha explains the very complex causes for suffering … 
  7. The Uses of Concentration
     … If they don’t happen, it doesn’t matter, for they’re not necessary for purifying the mind. The next purpose of concentration is to develop mindfulness, which the Buddha defines as the ability to keep things in mind; and alertness, which he defines as being able to see thoughts as they arise, as they stay, as they pass away; perceptions as they arise … 
  8. Expand Your Expectations
     … Some people, when they start watching the mind, realize that they have a tendency, say, when the breath has gone out and before it comes back in again: That’s the time when the mind tends to wander. It goes off just a little bit and then it’ll come back. How about making up your mind that you’re going to stay with … 
  9. The Joy of Renunciation
     … Even if you live at home and have a family, when you’re observing the eight precepts, your mind has gone forth. And a mind that’s gone forth, as the Buddha said, is like a polished shell as compared to a mind that’s a dusty road. It’s wide open, as opposed to narrow and confined. Another comparison is between a swan … 
  10. The Breathing Game
     … In the course of doing this, you develop some important qualities of mind. One is mindfulness, the ability to keep something in mind. The second is alertness, the ability to watch your actions and see their results. And the third is persistence: You just stick with it. One of the secrets of persistence is not that you just grit your teeth and push, push … 
  11. When the Mind Is Still
     … In the beginning, that’s not hard because there’s a lot to be done in getting the mind to settle down. Sometimes it takes a while, takes some strategizing: “What can you do to get the mind to be willing to settle down, stay with one thing, the breath, with a sense of ease?” Ajaan Lee gives some advice. You can notice where … 
  12. Immediate Knowledge
     … Yet the things that are going on in the mind, what the mind is doing, all these activities, all the events in the mind right now, what’s the intention, which one is shaping things in the present moment, and what are the things being shaped: Those are things we very rarely know. As for the pleasure and pain that’s coming from our … 
  13. Smoothing It
     … The only thing he could do was to use his discernment to figure out how the mind takes a physical pain and brings it into the mind and makes it a mental pain. He found himself cornered, and that caused him to come back out of the corner with his discernment. That was the lesson he learned that night—how much the mind is … 
  14. Exploring What You’ve Got
     … But the message of the Dhamma is, “Look at what you’ve already got and make the best use of that.” What have you got sitting here right here, right now? You’ve got the body and the mind. That’s all you need: the body sitting here breathing, the mind thinking and aware. You put all those things together so they develop. It … 
  15. A Basis in Well-being
     … The mind has to be in a well-balanced state of well-being for you to be able to trust its insights. So this is what we’re doing as we meditate: working toward that well-balanced well-being. You work with the breath to make it comfortable, you want the mind to be comfortable with the breath, you want the mind to be … 
  16. A Heart Wider than the World
     … You keep in mind the possibilities there. As Ajaan Lee says, “Before you make yourself large, you have to make yourself really small, focused inside. What’s happening right here with the breath, at the mind? What’s happening in the mind, right at the breath? Looking at the details, because the details will grow into larger things. You’re making your choices. That … 
  17. A Meditative Life
     … The mind produces lust. The mind starts hankering to feel lust and so it goes out looking for something to incite the lust, and grabs hold of whatever little details it can find, even when those details are surrounded by all sorts of unclean things. So keep watch on what comes out of the mind and what comes in. For lay people, this means … 
  18. Right Effort
     … So if you find that sensual desire is taking over your mind, try to figure out: What are the causes of that desire? You can’t attack the desire directly. You’ve got to attack the causes. When you want to give rise to mindfulness, you can’t just think, poof, mindfulness. You’ve got to ask yourself: What are the causes of mindfulness … 
  19. Days Fly Past
     … how to keep the mind from being shaken. And this is what we’re working toward, what they call the unshakeable release of the mind. To get there involves virtue, concentration, discernment: heightened virtue, heightened mind, heightened discernment. With heightened virtue, you really are meticulous about your precepts, you really are meticulous about your actions. The heightened mind is the development of strong concentration … 
  20. Things As They Function
     … In other words, we practice generosity, we observe the precepts, and that trains the mind. Then we use that trained mind to look deeper into the mind. But it’s never a question of just sitting there and looking at whatever comes up in the mind. You’re trying to get the mind to act in as skillful a way as possible in its … 
  21. The Community of the Wise
     … Keep them in mind. When they talk about the Buddha being a saraṇa, a refuge, the word saraṇa is also related to something you remember, something you keep in mind. So always try to keep the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, and the values that they represent in mind. Remember, they’re your community, because it’s a community that’s formed not simply … 
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