Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 97
  2. Metta Means Goodwill
     … This way your goodwill becomes honest. And it actually does have an impact, which is why we develop this attitude to begin with: to make sure that it actually does animate our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. As the Buddha said, the development of goodwill is one of causes for true happiness, a happiness that’s good for everybody. And that kind of … 
  3. What You Can’t Change, What You Can
     … Where are these subtle movements? Where’s the movement of craving? Where’s the movement of ignorance? Can you detect when the level of stress in the mind is going up, when it goes down? The greater the sense of ease you can develop with the meditation, the more sensitive you become to these things. When the level of stress goes up in the … 
  4. Overcoming Delusion
     … This can actually become a major problem in the practice, especially when you start developing a sense of ease, concentration, spaciousness in the mind. You might get to a point where you say, “This is good enough,” or “This is as good as it can get.” You see this all over the place. People saying, “Well, if there’s any stress left in this … 
  5. Between You and Your Eyes
     … Be sensitive to that, so that each breath becomes your goal, in and of itself. And try to find the most delicious breath, the most comfortable breath, the most gratifying breath, not because you’re going to keep it and put away in storage, but because the process of looking for these things is what clears up your ignorance.
  6. The Buddha’s Good News
     … The Buddha teaches him, and he becomes a noble disciple. The Buddha looked for every opportunity to encourage people. So, yes, you can do this. As he said, if it were impossible to abandon unskillful qualities, he wouldn’t have taught it. If it were impossible to develop skillful qualities, he wouldn’t have taught that. But it’s because it’s possible, and … 
  7. Bodies & Minds Outside
     … This then becomes a very useful instruction in that it reminds you to compare what you’ve got with what other people have, and there are lots of different ways you can benefit from this kind of contemplation. For instance, with the body: You reflect that your body is made out of the four properties. And it’s the same with other people’s … 
  8. Training in Happiness
     … You realize okay, what should you do? What’s the most skillful thing to do right then? That way, your breath becomes your friend. And you learn to identify which voices in your mind are your true friends, as in the chant just now. You’ve got true friends inside and you’ve got false friends inside as well. The training lies in learning … 
  9. Recollection of Hell
     … Only when we bring that knowledge to the process can it become a path that really does lead away from stress and suffering, does really lead to security where there’s no more potential for any more stress. When the Buddha described those hells that can open up to us if we don’t reach that security, he said at the end of the … 
  10. Delight in Persistence
     … They’ve done studies about people who become really, really good at certain skills. In every case, those people have a very live sense of the advantages that come from mastering the skill, and the dangers that come from not. If you feel that “It doesn’t make much difference whether my mind is concentrated or not, whether I understand my mind or not … 
  11. Break Things Down
     … Separate things out like this, and the job becomes a lot easier. So when you tell yourself, “I’m bad,” remember that the Buddha said that kind of thinking is not helpful at all. When you tell yourself, “I’m good,” that’s not helpful, either. After all, if you were really good, you wouldn’t be suffering. Our problem is that we glom … 
  12. All Winners, No Losers
     … And your self becomes trustworthy and reliable as well. That’s the kind of self you can use on the path. Like the raft: You hold onto it as you go across the river. When you get to the other side, that’s when you let it go. But, in the meantime, make sure the raft is good and hold on tight. Look for … 
  13. The Challenge
     … The deeper the concentration becomes, then the easier it is to withstand the thoughts, and the more clearly you can see the process of how a thought lures you in, or how you lure yourself into jumping on a thought. You get more skillful in evading unskillful thoughts. Either you see their drawbacks or you simply don’t follow them. You learn how to … 
  14. The Solvent for Sticky Narratives
     … If you allow yourself to stew in thoughts likes this, it becomes more and more of a habit, and the mind gets more and more bent in that direction. Then you may find that as you’re dying, you’re suddenly going to take birth with the intention of getting revenge, seeking justice, seeking a settling of old scores. And that’s a miserable … 
  15. To Know the Unconditioned
     … So, what can you do to find genuine rest? Become unconscious? Well, no. The Buddha says it’s possible to understand the processes of consciousness and to peel them away until all the passion for everything that is fabricated in this way gets uprooted or ended. Then something remarkable is revealed: a consciousness without fabrications, a consciousness without suffering, without limits. That’s the … 
  16. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
     … But as you become more alert and sensitive, what used to be unconscious or subconscious gets brought into the light of day. You see that you do have choices, and your choices are informed by your understanding. This is why teaching yourself the right attitude toward distraction is an important part of the meditation: realizing it’s not you, it doesn’t necessarily have … 
  17. A Happiness Based Inside
     … And it will, but there comes a time, as you get more and more used to being centered here, that it becomes more natural. You find that you’re coming from a more solid place, so that after walking meditation, you can try other more complicated activities until eventually you can do just about anything in your daily life and stay centered with this … 
  18. Take Nothing for Granted
     … the causes in line and maintain as consistent an alertness as I can.” In this case, the verbal fabrication is there to encourage you, but at the same time it, itself, becomes an object of inquiry. This mind talking to itself: Who is it talking to? Who’s doing the talking? Why does there have to be talking? There’s a little bit of … 
  19. Factors for Stream-entry
     … If you want to become a noble one, you can’t practice in line with those. You can’t practice in line with defilements because that just leads to more defilements, leads to more trouble, leads you away from any hope for awakening. You practice in line with the Dhamma, in line with the customs of the noble ones. When the Dhamma says, “Meditate … 
  20. A Much Better Place
     … Often, as you get more and more focused on the breath, there’s a very strong sense of becoming one with the breath. You’re in the same place together. And for the time being, that’s fine. Because as you get to know this place, you get to know all kinds of things. But you want your awareness to fill this place. How … 
  21. The Joy of the Battle
     … That’s when the language becomes yours. It’s the same with the practice as you begin to see the patterns, not the patterns that have been pointed out in Dhamma talks or pointed out in books, but from your own observation, “Oh, this is how lust overcomes my mind. This is how ill-will overcomes. When sleepiness comes, this is what I give … 
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