Search results for: "Thought"

  1. Page 82
  2. Fully Here
     … Little thought worlds can develop. Have you ever noticed the fact that when a thought world appears in the mind, there’s also going to be a pattern of tension someplace in the body? That part of the body tends to get obscured. But if you’re fully inhabiting the body and staying on the level of the body, those thought worlds don’t … 
  3. Inner Wealth
     … If the mind wanders off, just drop that thought and come right back. It wanders off again, drop the thought, come back again. Don’t get discouraged. Each time you come back, don’t come down hard on yourself for having wandered off. Instead, reward yourself for the fact that you’ve come back, by breathing in a way that feels really good. Think … 
  4. Chanting on Your Own
     … In India, in other teachings, it was often thought that the words themselves had power—the syllables had power—but from the Buddha’s point of view, the power is in the intention behind the chant. In that case it’s goodwill, and goodwill expresses itself in different ways—in this case, a wish for safety. One of the chants, the Ratana Sutta, has … 
  5. Slowing Down to Look
    If anything I say is relevant to what you’re doing as you meditate, it’ll come into your awareness without your having to direct your thoughts to the words. If it’s not relevant to you, it may be relevant to someone else, so just let it pass. There’s a tendency in mindfulness practice to slow things down, to be more deliberate … 
  6. Cooking Food for the Mind
     … Then you can do what Ajaan Lee did when he thought he wanted to disrobe. Think about it: What would it really be like? Run the whole thing through your imagination but be very honest with yourself about what’s involved in following through with that particular type of lust. You watch it die. And when it dies, you can come back to the … 
  7. The Sublime Attitudes
     … When you spread thoughts of goodwill, test to see where the limits are. Don’t just pretend that your goodwill is immeasurable. Everyone’s goodwill starts out with limits. What are the limits of yours? After spreading goodwill to people you already feel it for — your friends, your family — start spreading it to people for whom you don’t spontaneously feel it. Does your … 
  8. Intoxication
     … They act on impulse and do all sorts of destructive stuff, harming not only themselves but also the people around them, with no thought for the past, no thought for the future. Mindfulness is what helps sober us up, the ability to remember. Even when you get infatuated with something that looks pretty, you remember: How long is that going to last? What would … 
  9. Protection Through Mindfulness Practice
     … What was the first sensation in the body? What was the first little thought in the mind?—the little whisper of thought that suggested that lust might be a good antidote for whatever sense of irritation you’re feeling, or that anger would be an appropriate response for what someone’s done. And how does that work its way through your inner bureaucracy?—influencing … 
  10. The Mind Undefined
     … in your thoughts, in your words, in your deeds. You also listen to the counsel of the wise and the people around you who you know are the wisest—so that you’re not just going on your own lights. You’re learning to raise your standards to theirs. It’s all about action; it’s all about what you’re doing. When you … 
  11. Indecision
     … It’s very easy for the mind to get carried away with the pleasures that come from being generous and being virtuous and to start thinking unskillful thoughts through heedlessness. This is one of the reasons why the life of all beings goes up and down. We work for the sake of goodness for a while and then we start wallowing in the results … 
  12. Freedom
     … All the thoughts and cares about your job, about your family, about all the things that the mind weighs itself down with: You don’t have to think about those things at all. That’s the freedom. The restriction is that you’re asked to stay with one topic, the breath. When you compare the two, the freedom is more important. In the course … 
  13. Bowing & Chanting
     … You don’t want their thoughts, their values, running your life. So, we bow, we chant as a way of reminding ourselves of what our true values are, and that we’re of value, even if the world doesn’t value us. And the Dhamma is something even bigger than we are. It’s a whole way of life. We’re a part of … 
  14. Directly & Indirectly to the Breath
     … So you can either work at the breath directly by directing your thoughts to it or you can work on the breath indirectly by directing your thoughts to something else that’s calming, soothing, and ultimately brings you circling back to the breath. As with those qualities of the devas: Where do they come from? They come from qualities you build into the mind … 
  15. Taking a Stance
     … When you meditate, you want to find a good, solid support, because when your support is solid you can deal with whatever’s coming at you from whatever direction, whether thoughts inside the mind or things people do or say from outside. Your response — if it comes from a solid foundation — is coming from a position of strength. When you come from a position … 
  16. Breath Energies
     … Often when we repress a thought or put it in denial, there’s going to be a physical side to that repression as well. And over time, the traces of these repressions begin to build up. Parts of the body have learned not to trust you, so it’s going to be a while before they open up to you. You’ve got to … 
  17. From Grief to Compassion
     … You might think that the thought of so many deaths and so many people suffering would be depressing, but no, it gives rise to a sense of compassion. And compassion is the emotion that feels right at that time. It’s the taste that’s appropriate for grief, but at the same time helps pull you out. This is why, when people pass away … 
  18. What Is Skillful?
     … Otherwise, you float seamlessly from one thought into another into another. If, on a normal day, you were to draw a map of where your thoughts had been for the previous five minutes, you’d see what a tangle they are. But you don’t notice it until you’ve made up your mind that you’re going to stay in one place. It … 
  19. Dhamma Survivalism
     … Otherwise, the mind tends to go into the worlds of its thoughts. When you’re inside them, you can’t see the process by which they’re created. So as we meditate, we’re actually trying to gain a sense of the mind as something separate from its thoughts, from its perceptions, from all sensory contact, because it’s only when it’s separate … 
  20. The Intelligence of Restraint
     … And, in terms of right effort, you refrain from engaging in unskillful thoughts and then you try to encourage the skillful ones in their place. The path teaches that you want your thoughts, words, and deeds all to fall in line with the principle of harmlessness, at the same time fostering qualities of mind that really allow you to see how you’re causing … 
  21. Why We Train the Mind
     … You see that you really can change the direction of the mind to look for happiness in new places, to look for happiness in new ways—like we’re doing right now, focusing on the breath, getting the mind to stay in the present moment, so that we have a good solid place to look at its thoughts, or a good solid place to … 
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