Search results for: "Feeling"
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- Metta Through Samvega… That image describes the feeling called samvega, a sense of dismay—or even terror—over the way life is lived, and an urgency to want to get out of it. But it’s also a useful image to hold in mind when you’re thinking of spreading thoughts of goodwill. Goodwill is one of the guardian meditations, in the sense that it guards you …
- Fully Absorbed… If you feel blocked, you can ask yourself, “Where’s the blockage?” If you’re feeling ill at ease, what’s causing that? If you’re anxious, what’s causing the anxiety, what can you do to drop that? And see what comes. Don’t do too much analysis, just pose the question and see if an answer comes. And if an answer comes …
- The Wear & Tear of Life… Try to breathe in a way that feels healing for the body and refreshing for the mind—smoothing over any rough spots, and helping to fill up some of the gaps. Life has a lot of other reflections to remind us that it’s unsure, full of aging, illness, death, and separation. And we still have a lot of craving for the things that …
- Freedom from Beliefs… So if you find that it’s not happening, you can remind yourself, “Maybe my idea of the breath is not as skillful as it could be.” You hear about Ajaan Lee talking about the different ways that the breath energy can flow in the body, and you ask yourself, “Where do I feel that? What would it be like if I could feel …
- The Joy of Curiosity… When you breathe in, where does the breath energy feel like it’s coming in? Does it feel like it’s coming in or does or does it feel like it’s radiating out from within the body? Look for that. This is one of the reasons why the Buddha lists directed thought and evaluation as among the first necessary steps in getting the …
- Think Calmly about Death… When you see courageous people, it’s not that they don’t feel fear. They feel fear but they don’t let it take over. You have to rewire yourself so when the thought of death comes, you don’t feel desperate. In Thailand, when people are startled, they tend to say, taai laew, which means basically “I’m dead”—which is one of …
- Suffering Starts Before Life… You’re more aware of what you’re creating out of those aggregates—in the same way that when you’re drinking water, you’re drinking hydrogen and oxygen, but you don’t feel hydrogen, you don’t feel oxygen, you feel the water. Water is what you see. But the hydrogen and oxygen are in there. Now, as you crave, you’re looking …
- Xtreme Drama… When she was feeling down, she could breathe in a way that would add more breath energy, make the body lighter, lighter, lighter, so she didn’t feel so weighed down all the time. And without the physical experience of being weighed down, her depressive mind states didn’t have so much to latch onto. This began to cut through the pattern. Similarly, when …
- Getting Untangled from Thorns… your attraction to a particular image, to particular details in what you see, your fantasy narratives, your role in the narratives, your attraction just to the feeling of having lust. Then there are all the little details. That’s why the Buddha said, when he was describing restraint, that you notice the details or the themes and variations—the general themes and the little …
- The Treasure of Equanimity… Politicians can say that they feel your suffering, but that’s politicians. They’ll say anything. You know that your suffering is your suffering. Other people can sympathize with it and give you condolences and try to do the best they can, but they can’t come in and take your suffering away. It’s like a child, crying uncontrollably. You hold the child …
- Kindfulness… But as you get more and more skilled, you find that you can carry the sense of being well-centered—having an awareness that fills the body, that feels at ease with the body, feels at ease with the breath—into all kinds of situations. Where in the past you felt threatened, nervous, or ill at ease, now you have a solid center. You …
- Hindrances… But there can be parts of the body that feel nourished by longer breathing, shorter breathing, deeper, more shallow, whatever feels good, down around the heart, in the stomach, in the throat, or wherever you’re really sensitive. Remind yourself that that pleasure is a lot less harmful. Remember the Buddha after his years of self-torture. He saw that he was going to …
- The Skill of Patience… If you have trouble gaining a sense of the breath, just hold your breath for a while until you feel you can’t hold it any longer and then you’ll notice, when you breathe in, where you feel the breathing. Focus on that sensation. All of this is to help ground you in the present moment, to give you a place where you …
- Why It’s Good to Know Why… You can ask yourself, “Why listen to them when it feels so good to be with the breath?” If the breath is not comfortable, it’s very easy to tell yourself, “Well, those other intentions might be a better way to find happiness. Let’s follow them.” But you can strengthen your original intention by taking an interest in the breath, finding joy not …
- Limitless Compassion, Limited Resources… You give what’s extra and sometimes you give enough to really feel it, that you are giving something up—but not to the extent that you’re actually harming yourself. That’s one of the rules in the monks’ rules. If they see that a family has newly gained faith and they’re being extravagantly generous to the point where the monks are …
- A Gentle Touch… There’s the mental chatter, there are feelings and perceptions, and they could either be directed outside, directed to the past, directed to the future, or the same process can be acting right here, hovering around here. It’s in hovering around here that you bring your awareness where it really ought to be, because if you want to understand how you shape your …
- Clinging & Feeding… We convert our form, feelings, perceptions, fabrications, and consciousness into a state of concentration. We use the fabrication of thoughts to develop wisdom, the perceptions that the Buddha recommends to develop wisdom—the purpose of that wisdom being to develop dispassion and disenchantment. Then we feed the mind with conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment, all of which are good food for the mind …
- A Heart & Mind of Goodwill… Ask yourself what kind of breathing would feel good for you right now. You want it to be clear enough so you can keep your attention focused on it. Sometimes heavy breathing feels good, it’s energizing. Other times you want something lighter, longer, shorter, faster, slower, deeper, more shallow. Try to find what feels good right now and then keep your attention focused …
- The Elephant in the Clearing… They don’t want to commit too much because they feel they’re already fine, which is why we get easygoing Dhamma—the Dhamma that says, “Hey, don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.” Or the teachings saying, “What you do doesn’t really make any difference anyhow, so lay back. Take it easy.” Or, “There’s nobody who …
- A Skillful Heart… We develop virtue to make sure that our goodwill doesn’t get swayed by ideas that are short-sighted, saying, “Well, it would good for so-and-so if I lie to them a little bit and make them feel good.” You have to realize that, in the long run, that’s not going to be good for anyone at all. They’re going …
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