Search results for: "Mindfulness"

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  2. The Choice Not to Suffer
     … Sensual thoughts simply don’t impinge on the mind at that point. You’re not interested. You’ve got something better. But the Buddha’s description of his way of dealing with these thoughts also parallels the seven factors for awakening. You keep in mind that you don’t want to get sucked in to your thoughts, and so you develop mindfulness but staying … 
  3. All Fabrications Are Stressful
     … Only then can you do the real therapy, analyzing what’s going on in the mind so that you can come to some resolution—finding out, “Where in the mind is the mind telling itself stories that are harmful, hurtful? Why is the mind so rough with itself?” It’s got lots of assumptions, and many of these assumptions go *way *back: back to … 
  4. Long-Term Welfare
     … The Buddha talks about using concentration to gladden the mind, to steady the mind, to release the mind. You do that in the course of learning how to use the concentration, so that it really feels good for whatever ails you. For example, if you’re feeling tired, there are certain ways of concentrating that give you more energy. If you’re feeling stressed … 
  5. Remembering Ajaan Suwat
     … You want to see how stress arises and passes away in the mind. You want to see how its causes arise and pass away in the mind. You want to bring the framework of the four noble truths to your thoughts, your words, your deeds. What’s going on in the mind? What’s going on in your actions? Take the Buddha seriously. This … 
  6. Helping Others Is a Battle
     … To face up to those things, you have to get the mind in a state where it’s really at ease with itself, where you feel comfortable in your own skin and not easily knocked over by unskillful thoughts that come through the mind. Then you can deal with them. This is why we put so much emphasis on getting the mind into concentration … 
  7. Success by Approximation
     … The factor of mindfulness is always useful, but the other factors are meant to be emphasized at some times and not at others. The calming ones are useful for when the mind is feeling frenetic; the energizing ones, for when the mind is feeling sluggish. So even with skillful qualities, you have to learn how to make distinctions. Beyond that, there are levels of … 
  8. Action & the End of Action
    The Buddha’s teachings are basically instructions on how to train the mind to put an end to suffering and to find true happiness. It’s interesting that in that précis right there, a lot of the terms are undefined: In the Pali Canon mind is not defined; suffering is not defined; happiness is not defined. In fact, the Pali words for those things … 
  9. The Image of the Raft
     … It’s based on mindfulness, and mindfulness is based on right view and also on virtue. Why is that? Because following the precepts teaches you to be honest. If you’re really going to stick with the precepts, you have to keep them in mind. That’s mindfulness. You have to be alert to what you’re doing. That’s alertness. And you have … 
  10. What You’re Bringing
     … This is why Ajaan Lee would often start his meditations with a vow, “I’m going to sit here and I’m going to stay with the breath.” Or, “I’m going to sit here and focus on this or that issue and not let the mind waver from it.” So make up your mind: You’re going to stay with the breath and … 
  11. Respect
     … But also in our ability to bring the mind back from distraction: As you pay more and more attention to this process of trying to stay with the breath, you begin to notice that there are warning signs for when the mind is about to leave. It all happens very quickly, but the more carefully you pay attention, the more respect you have for … 
  12. The Power of Intention
     … He’s more concerned about the power of the mind. Mano-pubbaṅgamā dhammā: All experiences have the mind as their forerunner, they’re shaped by the mind, the mind is in charge. This is precisely where it’s in charge: in your intentions. So we’re learning how to use that power for good. As for equanimity, that’s only one aspect of the … 
  13. Carrying Your Duties Lightly
    Ajaan Suwat often called the monastery here, “a quiet corner,” a place where people can get away from the cares of their lives and just be with the body in and of itself; feelings, mind, mental qualities in and of themselves—to drop the general context of work, family, all the narratives that get built up around work and family and other issues outside … 
  14. Artillery All Around
    Artillery All Around August 16, 2011 The mind is such an old hand at fabrication that it doesn’t really notice all the fabrication it’s doing all the time. You sit here watching the breath and you think it’s just awareness with the breath, pure and simple. But the type of awareness you bring is already fabricated, and the breath itself is … 
  15. Admitting Mistakes
     … These are things we really have to be on the lookout for, because often they’re the things nobody else can see, the things that go on inside our mind. Other people may be able to see some of the outside effects but they can’t be sure about what’s going on in the mind: what thought, what intention lies behind an unskillful … 
  16. Patience & Curiosity
     … To what extent can this breath be related to rapture or pleasure? How do you perceive the breath? How do you adjust the rhythm and texture of the breath so that you can breathe in and out sensitive to rapture and pleasure? He says to learn how to breathe in and out gladdening the mind, steadying the mind, releasing the mind. He provides those … 
  17. Help Others, Help Yourself
     … The Buddha uses this as an analogy for the practice of mindfulness. Of course, mindfulness doesn’t just stop with mindfulness. It goes into concentration. You train your mind to stay with one thing, like the breath in and of itself. Then you try to maintain a steady focus there, so you stay away from any thoughts about the world. You’re ardent, alert … 
  18. Minding Your Own Business
    When you meditate, you’re learning to mind your own business, to focus on where your real responsibilities really lie. Normally, we’re like people whose own houses are in a mess but, instead of cleaning up their own houses, they go out and they tell other people to clean up theirs. They’re afraid of a rat infestation or a bug infestation, so … 
  19. Inconstancy
     … The factors for awakening begin with mindfulness. Once you’re mindful of the breath, for instance, you begin to see that there are skillful and unskillful qualities arising in the mind and that you’ve got to learn how to distinguish them. That’s called analysis of qualities, the second factor for awakening. Then you foster the effort to do away with the unskillful … 
  20. A Promise to Yourself
     … That’s why the precepts require mindfulness, alertness, and ardency. You’re mindful to keep the precept in mind. You’re alert to see what you’re actually doing. And if you see that your behavior is slipping away from the standard set by the precept, you have to be ardent in getting it back. Ardency here is basically another word for right effort … 
  21. Wild Horses
     … But failing that, if you have some control over your cravings, you’re like the image in the Dhammapada of the person who can control the chariot—the wild horses of your mind. The person who can exert control over the mind: That’s the true charioteer. Other people just hold the reins. In other words, they let the horses go wherever they want … 
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