Search results for: "The Mind"

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  2. Nostalgia for Suffering
     … Think of all the different variations of what the mind can do—and as the Buddha said, the mind is more variegated than the animal kingdom. Think of all the different species out there and all the different types of animals: They all came from mind. A mind thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to be a lizard… wouldn’t it be cool to … 
  3. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … And also in the mind: We’ll see the stages by which the mind creates a reaction, creates a worldview and then reacts within it, or responds, or is more proactive. The more quickly we can pick up on these things, the more clearly we can see the steps in the process. The purpose of this is to see how arbitrary a lot of … 
  4. One Thing Clear Through
     … As we get the mind into concentration, that too is a gift to ourselves and to others. We allow the mind time to rest, time to get to know itself. When the mind settles down, it’s like water that’s been murky. As it settles down, settles down, it finally becomes clear. All the mud settles to the bottom and the water becomes … 
  5. Mature Happiness
     … But then the teachings go from outside actions into your actions of the mind. It’s easier to see your outside actions and it’s easier to see the harm of outside actions. But the training isn’t complete until you take it inside, because the mind is the source of all these things. This is another reason why we bow down to the … 
  6. Timeless Practice
     … So we work on getting the mind to settle down, and in the course of getting the mind to settle down—developing mindfulness, developing concentration—we begin to abandon some of our cravings. We begin to comprehend some of our suffering, comprehend our clinging. This is how the duties of the four noble truths help one another along. This is the framework for understanding … 
  7. To Comprehend Craving
     … In the same way, the mind clings to craving as it goes from this body to another one. And we know what wind is like. It can blow anywhere. So you want to train the mind so that it’s not fooled by any kind of craving. We do work with the desire to get the mind to settle down. We work with the … 
  8. Endurance
     … You’re going to be looking at your own mind as the mind is looking at the breath. In the beginning, you want to pay most attention to the breath, and pay attention to the mind mainly when it’s not with the breath. When it’s wandering off, bring it back. Try to breathe in a way that will make the mind want … 
  9. Clinging
     … When something moves in the mind and there’s a tightening up in the body, the mind is holding on to something. When we meditate and breathe through patterns of tension in the body, we’re doing symptom management, because what often makes it seem so oppressive is the fact that it tightens up the body, and we’re carrying it around. So it … 
  10. Outside the Box
     … It’s the mind. The body can live perfectly fine without getting involved. It’s the mind that wants these things.” That was a way of looking at the issue that had never occurred to me before, because I was always justifying my desires by saying, “Well, this is what the body needs.” But as he said, “The body doesn’t need sex at … 
  11. Noble & True
     … When the mind has a good sense of the present moment and how to stay with the present moment without letting other things get in the way: Seeing that as something to be developed is a noble act, too. So the truths really are noble. Ajaan Suwat often said to regard the suffering of the mind as a noble truth, something that’s really … 
  12. Persuasion
     … It’s thinking about your emotions—What makes you want to do something? After all, the mind is really good at persuading itself to do things that it likes to do but it knows will yield bad results. It’ll try its best to ignore those long-term results, saying they don’t matter; or that your actions don’t matter anyhow; there’s … 
  13. Technique & Attitude
     … Some people find this to be a good way of getting the mind to settle down in the present. Whatever the technique, as long as you find that it helps you get the mind still and centered in the present, and sensitive to what’s going on right here and now, it’s a useful concentration technique. But there’s more to the meditation … 
  14. In Alignment
     … People bring flowers, he’s not disturbed; if people created a mess here in the hall, he wouldn’t be disturbed.” Try to have that same sense as you’re sitting here, both with regard to things outside and to things happening inside the mind. You want to find the point of awareness that’s aware and that’s it: knowing these things as … 
  15. Death Without Drama
     … We want to learn to keep the mind from being overwhelmed. The Buddha talks about feelings invading the mind and remaining. What he means is that the feelings overwhelm you. He trained himself so that he was not invaded by the feelings and he was not overwhelmed. They didn’t remain. A feeling would come and it would just slip away, like water off … 
  16. The Meaning of Happiness
     … So as we meditate, we’re here partly for the sake of the sense of ease and well-being that comes as you get the mind to settle down, but also for the sake of using that settled well-being as a tool to gain greater insight into the mind, and to strengthen our generosity, strengthen our virtue, strengthen all good qualities in the … 
  17. Taking Stock
     … As you give rise to a sense of well-being inside, a lot of the hardness in the mind begins to soften up. All the walls inside the mind—the areas where you’re in denial about this, that, and the other thing—begin to soften up as well. Your resentments about other people, those get to soften up too. As a sense of … 
  18. True Friends & False
     … Why does pain have so much power over the mind? And the same with the pleasure: Why does pleasure have so much power over the mind? You want to look into these things so that eventually you can get beyond their power. But in the meantime, before you can get to that point, you’ve got to develop this foundation where you can watch … 
  19. Training Your Inner Teacher
     … the mind—but then, of course, there’s part of the mind that’s going to act as the teacher. The teacher has to learn how to deal with the student: when to give the student a little bit of slack; when to tighten up the leash; when to be stern; when to have a sense of humor. Try to think of all the … 
  20. Categorical Truths
     … Notice if you’re feeling a lot of energy or not much energy—in other words, seeing in what ways the mind may be out of balance right now. If its thoughts are going any place aside from the present moment, bring them back in. Then you put these things together—the mind and the body—right at the breath. Take a couple of … 
  21. Doubt vs. Discernment
     … You do both of those things by looking into the mind and asking yourself, “What’s skillful in here? What’s unskillful in here? What qualities in the mind, when I act on them, lead to stress and suffering? What qualities lead away from stress and suffering?” Immediately after that, you act on what you see, to put it to the test. That’s … 
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