Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. To Know the Unconditioned
     … That’s why the very first verse in the Dhammapada says, “The mind is the forerunner of all things. *Mano-pubbaṅgamā **dhammā. Mano-seṭṭhā *mano-mayā. All phenomena are excelled by the mind. They’re made by the mind.” The problem is, our ordinary consciousness is something that’s fabricated, something we fabricate, and everything fabricated has to be stressful. That’s the nature … 
  3. The Power of Present Kamma
     … He talks about how your state of mind right now is what really matters. This is one of the reasons why we meditate, to develop a good state of mind so that when results of past bad karma come, they don’t have to make an impact on the mind. The Buddha talks about the qualities you want to develop to counteract the impact … 
  4. A Strong Sense of Self
     … That’s a lesson to keep in mind. So as I said, the Buddha gives lots of analogies like this, lots of stories, so that you can remember them easily. They enrich your mindfulness, and through your mindfulness they promote your persistence. Based on mindfulness and persistence, you get the mind into concentration, and the concentration becomes a new source of strength. Based on … 
  5. Discernment Through Right Effort
     … sati (mindfulness) and pañña (discernment). In other words, it’s the ability to keep things in mind, and then know what you should be keeping in mind and why. You watch for distinctions to understand things—to see what’s a cause and what’s an effect. Which causes are connected to which effects, and which ones are not connected to any effects? Or … 
  6. The Science of Meditation
     … that the mind can be trained, that your actions can actually make a difference, and that it’s worthwhile to train the mind, because the mind is what determines what actions you’re going to take. You’re also assuming that there’s a pattern to the way action plays itself out. Certain actions are going to be skillful. In other words, they lead … 
  7. Pro-self, Pro-help
     … You see this in the third strength as well, which is mindfulness. Mindfulness requires three qualities: mindfulness itself, which is the ability to keep something in mind. Then there’s alertness, which is watching what’s you’re actually doing. Then finally, there’s ardency, which again is the principle of persistence informed by heedfulness. You want to do this well. Ajaan Lee, I … 
  8. A Refuge from Death
     … Even then, though, there’s still the possibility you might start thinking about things back on the things you did before you took on the precepts and you have no control over your mind. It’s very easy to focus on all the cruel or harmful things you did. So ultimately, meditation is needed to deal with all four fears. One, bring your mind … 
  9. Be Precise
    Be Precise March 9, 2019 We’re here to observe our minds. But we start by observing the breath, because the breath is like an object we’re working on, and you see the results of your actions in the object. That way you get more sensitive to what you’re doing. Say, for instance, you see a basket. Looks pretty easy; shouldn’t … 
  10. Focused on Your Duties
     … What was the appeal of that thought? What was the appeal of this thought? Why does the mind go for these things? Here you are sitting, and everything is perfectly still, perfectly calm, and yet you can still fall for random cravings. Why is that? Which part of the mind is lying to another part of the mind? You want the mind to be … 
  11. Neither Here nor There
    The Buddhist definition of concentration is singleness of mind, cittass’ekaggatā. Eka means one. Agga can mean point, or gathering place. You’ve got the mind gathered around one place. It could be the tip of the nose—any place in the body that you feel comfortable staying centered. And even though we try to develop a full-body awareness as we get deeper … 
  12. Distraction & Drowsiness
     … Our two main problems as we try to get the mind to settle down are distraction on the one hand and drowsiness on the other: what the Buddha calls a scattered mind as opposed to a constricted mind. The scattered mind is beset with thoughts going all over the place, while you try to follow them, either out of interest or exasperation: “Here I … 
  13. The Lessons of Equanimity
     … When the mind is ready, it can go in and ask questions about the pain, particularly, “Why is this pain having an effect on the mind?” The effect on the mind comes through your perceptions around the pain. How do you visualize the pain to yourself? What images come to the mind with the pain? This applies both to mental pain and to physical … 
  14. Learning How to Learn
     … Even with states of mind, he says, look at them as actions, not that you are a particular state, just tell yourself there is this particular state going on in the mind. In order to look at mind states in a more impersonal way, without identifying with them, you ask a series of questions: Is this mind state constant? Is it something you can … 
  15. Fangs in the Static
     … The idea of dispassion, cessation, peace in body and mind may not sound all that attractive now, but as you practice meditation, you get more sensitive to what really is the mind’s well-being, what really does weigh the mind down. You find that you get more and more attracted to the idea the mind’s not being weighed down by anything at … 
  16. Permission to Play
     … This way you get a sense of when you should try to change things, and when you shouldn’t; which problems in the body or in the mind respond to active intervention, and which ones respond better when you simply watch them with equanimity. As you put the mind in a better mood through giving it a good comfortable place to stay, or giving … 
  17. Delight in the Path
     … Delight in the fact that you’re able to get the mind in a place where it’s no longer fooled by the false, dark values of the world. Delight in the fact that you’re able to develop skills in the mind that you never anticipated before. Seeing through a lot of the ways of the mind, gaining some mastery over them: That … 
  18. A Well-Thatched Roof
    A Well-Thatched Roof December 25, 2008 There’s a short verse in the Canon where a monk’s sitting in his hut during a rainstorm and saying, “My hut is well-thatched, so go ahead and rain as much as you’d like.” That’s a symbol for a mind that’s well trained. It can deal with any situation. No matter how … 
  19. On an Even Keel
     … But for the purpose of getting the mind to settle down, you want to make them one. Have them all occupy the same place: your awareness, the breath, the sense of pleasure. But keep that perception of breath in mind. Otherwise, you zone out. If you can’t make the breath comfortable, well, again, remember: Make the mind like earth. Tell yourself, “If I … 
  20. Only Your Best
     … When that happens to meditation, though, you’re missing one of the important qualities—citta, which means giving your whole mind to this, giving your whole heart to this. There are lots of words the Buddha uses for this quality. In the practice of mindfulness, it’s ardency. When he talks about the qualities that he brought to his awakening, it was resolution along … 
  21. In Training
     … It points you inside to what your mind is doing. And its main terms of analysis are basically the processes of the mind. We’d like to produce lots of things in the mind, but we’re not really that sensitive to the process of production in and of itself. But that should get us fascinated. Why is the mind so fascinated with creating … 
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