Search results for: "The Mind"

  1. Page 84
  2. Encourage Yourself
     … It’s when we come out to a quiet place like this, where not much happens in the course of the day, that you really get to see the mind jumping around. In the beginning, it’s pretty discouraging. You read the texts about how the ideal meditator brings the mind to the present moment, settles down, and experiences rapture, pleasure, and singleness of … 
  3. An Island of Concentration
     … Real alertness is watching what you’re doing as you’re trying to get the mind to be still. That’s the kind of alertness you’re trying to develop. And that takes practice—particularly, as you’re dealing with the parts of the mind that say, “This is getting boring. Nothing’s happening.” A lot of things are actually happening, it’s just … 
  4. Equanimity as a Factor of Awakening
     … Where do they get their skills? Where do they get their ideas? From the way the mind ordinarily fools itself. A thought comes in, and it’s not so much the actual content of the thought that pulls you in. There’s a lot of power of suggestion around it, a lot of hype in the mind. This is what you’ve got to … 
  5. Sensitive to the Breath
     … You have to learn how to read not only the breath, but also the body and the mind. Learn to read the times when the mind is exerting too much control over the breath. Those times when, no matter how you breathe, it always seems wrong. In a case like that, you have to use a psychological trick. Just say, “Okay, I’m going … 
  6. The Precepts
     … So what you’re doing as you show respect for the training, or give weight to the training, is that you give the training of the mind priority in your life. You realise: This is the most important thing you can do, to straighten out the mind. Because if the mind isn’t trained, it’s going to create all kinds of problems. It … 
  7. Things as They’ve Come to Be
     … You can breathe in ways that give rise to pleasure, give rise to rapture, that can gladden the mind, steady the mind, release the mind. There’s a lot of potential just in the way you breathe. Then there’s verbal fabrication, the way you talk to yourself. Again, something very ordinary. We all know how to talk to ourselves. But the question is … 
  8. The Freedom to Give
     … Because when you give a gift that doesn’t harm yourself, doesn’t harm other people, it is food for the mind, food for other good qualities in the mind. This is why, when you look at the history of Buddhism across the centuries, you see that when people misunderstand the idea of generosity, the Dharma gets twisted as well. There is a series … 
  9. Discerning Actions
     … And where do our actions come from? They come from the mind, activities in the mind. This is why we have to train the mind to develop the mindfulness and the alertness it’s going to need to watch its actions and really see what we’re doing and the results of what we’re doing. Then we develop the ardency to try to … 
  10. Respect for Tranquility & Insight
     … You want to be able to see that, and you can’t see that unless the mind gets really still. You can see the blatant levels, but there’s a lot more going on more subtly in the mind. You’ve got to get the mind still to see that, so learn how to give yourself pep talks while you work at concentration and … 
  11. Your Inner Teacher
     … That’s one part of the mind. The other part of the mind is the teacher, keeping watch over the student, to make sure that he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. What you’re supposed to be doing right now is staying with the breath. Try to notice in which part of the body the breath is most obvious—in other … 
  12. Producing Discernment
     … You’re the one who intends to get the mind to settle down and you do what needs to be done: working with the breath, working with the way you talk to yourself, working with the perceptions you hold in mind. See how these things can get the mind to settle down and be with the breath as consistently as possible with as much … 
  13. Fighting the Defilements
     … But first give the mind work to do—like going through the parts of the body, getting up, walking around, washing your face, looking up at the stars if it’s at night, imagining a bright light in front of you. You try these various techniques to see if it’s simply a subterfuge of the mind, the mind’s way of avoiding its … 
  14. The Dhamma Wheel
     … Then all the other factors of the path are aimed at getting the mind into right concentration. You try to let go of thoughts of sensuality, ill will, and harmfulness. Bring the attitudes of the mind in line with the precepts. In other words, you’re going to be honest with yourself, truthful with yourself. And then, to get the mind into concentration, you … 
  15. Honoring the Noble Ones
     … So, right now we’re focused on the breath, not because we want to *get *the breath—although by focusing on the breath you find that you can breathe in ways that are really satisfying for the body, settling for the mind—but because you want to get the mind, and once you’ve got the mind then you want to put it to … 
  16. Hold on to Your Frame of Reference
     … In the beginning, you’re sitting here directing the mind to the breath and you’re evaluating how it’s going. If it’s not going well, you try to figure out ways to make it go better: changing the way you breathe, changing the focus, changing your perception of the breath. This perception that you hold in mind is essential to the mindfulness … 
  17. Choices
     … It can provide a sense of well-being, a place where the mind can settle down and gain some concentration. That concentration can be your food. So breathe in a way that feels refreshing, that creates a sense of fullness in the body. That is possible. Then when the mind settles down, you can start seeing things in the mind more clearly. The little … 
  18. The Stages of Meditation
     … This way you don’t have to engage in a conversation with every thought that comes into the mind. Just take the thought apart before it forms and that makes it a lot easier to stay here for long periods of time. As you stay here longer and longer, one, the mind gets stronger, your awareness of the present moment gets stronger, the sense … 
  19. Past & Future in the Present
     … If you’ve meditated before, how did you get the mind to settle down? What worked? What didn’t work? Okay, remember those things. This is how we train the mind. It requires these three functions: your willing, which is your intention that moves into the future; your intention to stay here in the present; and your intention to be discerning. One of the … 
  20. Full-Body Breath
     … So the mind needs to rest. This is where he recommended resting in concentration. You seclude the mind from sensuality, you pull it away from your desire for sensual pleasures, you seclude it from unskillful mental qualities, and you focus it on one of the four establishings of mindfulness. Those, the Canon says, are the proper topics of concentration, right concentration. You can focus … 
  21. 1. The Entertaining Breath
     … This is what the mind likes to do. It like to see relationships. It likes to figure things out. So give it something good to figure out. What’s the best way to breathe right now?—best being defined as what’s most nourishing for the body, feels most comfortable for the mind. Comfortable here can mean either relaxed or energized. What would you … 
  22. Load next page...