Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Page 97
  2. Dissolving Narratives
     … When you can think in those terms, it’s a lot easier to settle down, because every time the mind starts to leave the breath again, you run into that same big, immense body of pointlessness. We’re here; we have a point. There’s a purpose. We’re trying to train the mind, realizing that the only way out of that whole mass … 
  3. The Mind Undefined
    The Buddha’s teachings are all about training the mind, but he never defines what the mind is. This is, apparently, a deliberate strategy on his part, because as he says, if you define yourself, you limit yourself. If you have a certain set idea of what your mind is or what you are, and you hold on to that idea, it places limitations … 
  4. Part III : Daily Life
     … Because having a sense of well-being that you can tap into whenever you need it is essential to your survival, i.e., the survival of the goodness of your mind. When the Buddha says that heedlessness is the path to death, he’s not talking just about physical death. He’s also talking about the death of the mind’s good qualities, its … 
  5. Dissolving Your Thoughts
    Many of Ajaan Fuang’s students were firmly convinced that he could read their minds. And so they’d get very embarrassed if they found themselves thinking critical thoughts about him, because they thought he would know what they were thinking. So they’d come to confess and to apologize. And he’d tell them, “The mind can think all kinds of thoughts. It … 
  6. Truths of the Will
     … You look at your mind and see which events in the mind fall into which truth. Where is the suffering in your mind? It’s there. You don’t have to look for it anywhere else. The cause of suffering is right there as well, It’s right there in the craving. Look for that, too. And in doing the looking, you’re developing … 
  7. Dhamma in Vinaya
     … For instance, as you go through the day, you have to be mindful to keep the rules in mind. That’s mindfulness, the first of the factors for awakening. At the same time, you have to be able to analyse your action: What was the intention? What was the perception? That’s analysis of qualities, the second factor. Then there’s the effort that … 
  8. Urgency & Contentment
     … All kinds of dangers face the mind. Remember: You’re born with a body. That body is open to all kinds of things happening to it. What are you going to do if you suddenly find your body in a really bad situation? You’ve got this mind. And again, lots of things can happen to you. As long as there’s attachment, the … 
  9. When You Hit a Plateau
     … Now, what you see as you look at your mind is going to vary from person to person. Which link is the most meaningful for you? Read through the different links and ask yourself, “Do I know what this is in my mind right now? Do I know what that is in my mind right now? Where are the blanks?” You don’t want … 
  10. Testing Insights
     … So even in the process of getting the mind to be still, getting the mind to be concentrated, there already has to be an element of discernment. Then, once you really are settled in there—you’ve gotten to the point where you’re skilled at getting the mind into that state, getting it to stay there, getting it settled in—then see if … 
  11. Helping Yourself by Helping Others
     … You have to accept the fact that you do have your faults, but you also have to accept that your mind can be changed. You accept your faults with a calm mind so that you can actually see where they are, what causes them, and how they can be turned into something good. So by showing some endurance in your dealings with other people … 
  12. Sensitivity & Skill
     … And as you care for this, the mind is very clear, which is very different from the pleasures that depend on sensuality. With those, the mind gets clouded with sensuality. And a lot of our desires for sensual pleasures require that we take something from somebody else. When we’re nice, we do it when they’re willing. But there are a lot of … 
  13. The Roles of Equanimity
     … What this means is that sometimes you make up your mind you want the mind to do this, you want the mind to do that, and it’s just not working. So you get as still as you can and watch whatever is unstill in the mind. And you begin to see little things you didn’t see before. That’s where the equanimity … 
  14. The Dangers of Sensuality
     … Look at them from the point of view of what’s called “metacognition,” where part of the mind steps back from another part of the mind and observes it. You look for the origination of the fantasy. What sparks it? The problem is that all too often we’re aware of the fantasy only well after it’s been sparked, because there are subterranean … 
  15. Unraveling the Present
     … So once the mind is still and you feel it’s time to look at the rest of your life from that perspective, look for that issue of inconstancy and stress, to give you the proper perspective on things: proper in the sense of leading the mind to release. Always keep this in mind. The Buddha is teaching us skills to bring the mind … 
  16. Meditation as a Skill
     … You give it all of your mind—the word for “mind” here also meaning being intent on something, giving it your all. So you’ve got three factors there in right effort: desire, persistence, and your full intent, bringing your entire mind to bear on this project. Those are qualities you need to develop a skill. The project of developing skillful mental states and … 
  17. Sense Pleasures & Sensuality
     … Sensual pleasures are intoxicating, and they certainly don’t help you observe your mind with any clarity, whereas the pleasure of jhana is not intoxicating in that way. It doesn’t require anything unskillful, and it helps you see your mind very clearly. As the Buddha said, when the mind settles in like this, you can begin to see that the concentration itself is … 
  18. Breath Energies
     … It’s not just that you get the mind still and then you start seeing things. As you get the mind still and then learn how to ask questions in that stillness, you learn how to keep re-framing the questions. Starting with simple things like the breath and then moving on to pain: Why is there pain in the mind? And what do … 
  19. Three Parts of Right View
     … We’re making changes in the mind as we develop the path. All too often you hear people saying, “Well, I know my mind is supposed to be free of craving, but if you’re trying to develop one thing in the mind and abandon something else, isn’t that craving?” The answer is: That’s not the craving the Buddha was talking about … 
  20. Noble Happiness
     … As for the mind, though, there’s a question: Does it have to feed or can it be independent? So we look inside to see. We start out with something really basic. Focus on the breath. Notice when the breath is coming in; notice when it’s coming out. Think about the breath. Keep the breath in mind. That’s mindfulness. And then be … 
  21. Asking the Right Questions
     … And then, secondly, when you come up with the issue in your own mind, how would you bring it to stillness and how you develop dispassion? Those are the two big questions in the meditation. The first one has to do, of course, with getting the mind concentrated. How do you center it? How do you get it to indulge in its concentration?—in … 
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