Search results for: "Thought"
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- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- In Tune… His thoughts, his words, his deeds were not the ones he originally started out with. His understanding of the Dhamma improved. His behavior improved. Everything about him changed. He was willing to submit himself to the customs of the noble ones and as a result became a noble one. So there is this element of willingness in the practice. There’s a point where …
- The Energy in the Body… directed thought and evaluation, in which you’re directing your thoughts to the breath, and evaluating the breath as it comes in and out. And mental fabrication: feelings and perceptions—feelings of comfort or discomfort, and your perception of how those relate to the breath. These are all the raw materials for insight. So you’re right here where they’re all present. It …
- The Fool & the Wise Person… Unskillful thoughts hide unskillful intentions, and where do these unskillful intentions come from? Have you really looked into them? Sometimes they come from some very basic flaws in our character. So we’ve got to watch out. We have to be very careful. Remember the Buddha’s final words: “Don’t be complacent.” Remember that he found the Dhamma out in the wilderness. And …
- Framing the Body… He thought of a very beautiful body clinging to his as he walked around, as he sat, as he lay down. He tried to see what reaction there would be. For the first three days there was no reaction at all. But finally, on the fourth day, there was a slight movement in his mind that he’d like it. He realized lust was …
- Think Like a Thief… All those connections of dependent co-arising are things he observed because he thought like a thief, didn’t expect the truth to be handed to him on a platter. The thing is the truth is there, to be seen at all times, if only you have the mind to observe it. So as I stayed with Ajaan Fuang, it wasn’t just a …
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