Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Think Your Way to Stillness
     … The skill here is getting the mind to be with the breath in a way that the breath energy is nourishing for the whole body, and can become nourishing for the whole mind. Because we’re trying to develop a concentration that is centered but all-around. All the Buddha’s images for right concentration talk about full body, full body, full body. There … 
  3. Giving Meaning to Life
     … You really can cut through and free yourself from the defilements of the mind. When the path comes together in the mind, you see on the one hand that there is such a thing as the Deathless, and on the other hand that you’ve attained it through mastering your own intentions, understanding the process of the mind. There is more to experience than … 
  4. Merit: Goodness of the Heart
     … When you gain a greater sense of control over the mind, that gives you a sense of lightness, a sense of happiness, a sense of ease. There’s the visceral ease of learning how to breathe in a way that’s comfortable. And the mental ease of realizing that when unskillful things come into the mind, you can fend them off. As you develop … 
  5. Fire Escapes
     … Why go out? The mind may come up with its reasons. But when you examine those reasons, you see that a lot of them have little real substance. They may be convincing if you glance at them—and this is how you often fall for a lot of things happening in the mind: A glancing idea comes in and then it’s gone. You … 
  6. Weathering Karma Storms
     … They come roaring in and take over the mind. What you got to learn how to do is not let them take over. Remind yourself that this is just past karma coming in. You can’t do much about it. You can’t go back and undo the past karma. But you can turn your attention as much as possible to your present karma … 
  7. Endurance
     … There’s an area in the mind where you have to learn to be intolerant. When the Buddha talks about the various ways of training the mind, there are some areas where you are tolerant, specifically of things that come from outside: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, ideas you hear from other people, ideas that come up in your mind. But you have … 
  8. Potentials for Energy
     … So we’ve got to find the part of the mind that just doesn’t pay attention to thoughts like that. There is a part of the mind that simply watches what’s going on. Find that part inside you. Hold on to that, and anything that comes up that’s discouraging, anything else that comes up that’s frustrating, don’t be surprised … 
  9. Intro to Breath Meditation
     … But if you spend time with the breath—watching the breath, adjusting the breath, learning from the breath—you get sensitive not only to the breath but also to the mind, what the mind is doing in the present moment. And you begin to get sensitive to the ways that the mind causes unnecessary stress and suffering for itself. This is the big irony … 
  10. Perceptions as Targets
     … This is very important because the mind tends to flow after its perceptions. The Buddha uses the word anusarati, which means to flow after or to drift after. And the Thai ajaans talk an awful lot about the currents of the mind flowing out to a particular object. And we tend to flow out to a target, to something that attracts us. It’s … 
  11. Training in Happiness
     … When you realize that meditating will make you happy, make the mind solid, trust worthy, reliable, then you learn how to talk yourself into wanting to meditate. Even though part of you may say, “Gee, I don’t like this,” remember that the mind is like a committee. There are lots of voices in there. You don’t have to trust every voice that … 
  12. Filling in the Buddha’s Outline
     … In what direction is the mind headed? Is it sleepy? Is it drowsy? There are ways of counteracting that. If you find that a particular topic puts you to sleep, change the topic. If you’re focused on the breath, try changing the way that you breathe—or changing to another topic, something that engages the mind more, such as the contemplation of the … 
  13. Trading Up
     … Now, simply meditating, getting the mind into concentration, will not be enough to go past sensuality. Even with this pleasure, it’s very easy to fall back, because our sensual attachment is very deep rooted. This is where another quality has to come in, which is tenacity—realizing that even though the mind may slip back, that’s not the end. Even though the … 
  14. Turn Off the Automatic Pilot
    Turn Off the Automatic Pilot December 5, 2011 The part of the mind that keeps shaping experience is something that lies very deep. And it’s something we often don’t pay attention to. We’re more interested in the effects outside—so interested in things outside that we lose touch with where they come from. The part of the mind that shapes things … 
  15. Discernment Through Ardency & Evaluation
     … You notice that what we’re doing here as we get the mind concentrated is that we’re pushing against those three characteristics, trying to find something that is constant, full of ease and well-being, something you have under your control. You keep pushing and pushing, and you find that you can get the mind quite still, very still, very solid, with a … 
  16. Working Through the Breath
     … One is that you want a place for the mind to stay as it goes through aging, illness, and death. And, of course when you die, the breath won’t be there to focus on after death. So they say, “Why don’t you focus directly on the mind?” Part of the reason is because it’s hard to focus directly on the mind … 
  17. Like an Athlete in Training
     … So look at things that encourage good qualities in the mind. Listen to things that encourage good qualities in the mind. As for things that will be bad for you, you can close the windows, close the doors. Be careful about what you let out into the world as well, because that’s the other side of restraint: restraint in body, speech, and mind … 
  18. Willing & Observing
     … You’ve got to keep watch over the mind to see when it wanders off, and then bring it back. And in the mean time, you’ve got to learn what the mind likes to stay with. Ask yourself: “How can I keep the mind fully engaged in the present moment?” And here you’ll find that there are two aspects to the concentration … 
  19. The Economy of Goodness
     … It soothes the body and it can also soothe the mind. When the mind is here with a sense of well-being, then when any thoughts come up that would lead to anything unskillful, you see them clearly as they arise. And you see them for what they are: something you don’t want to get involved in because you’re feeding the mind … 
  20. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
     … You don’t have to sing along with what Ajaan Mun calls the mind’s song. The fact that an idea or a thought comes through the mind doesn’t mean that it has any real meaning or any importance. Sometimes it’s caused simply by the way the blood flows through the body or through the brain, or by a certain rhythm of … 
  21. Your Inner Coach
     … So the part of the mind that’s always looking for excuses or wants to blame things on the past, blame things on things outside of you, that’s the part of the mind you just can’t let be in charge. You have to realize, if the training is going to happen, it’s going to happen right now. And right now. And … 
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