Search results for: "Mindfulness"

  1. Mindfulness
    Mindfulness July 23, 2011 When the Buddha lists the factors for awakening, he says that there are some that are appropriate when the mind is sluggish. Those factors are analysis of qualities, rapture, and persistence: the qualities that energize the mind. Then there are qualities appropriate when the mind is overly excited, overly energetic: calm, equanimity, and concentration. Those calm the mind down. You … 
  2. Right Mindfulness
    The term mindfulness on its own is something neutral. It can be put to good uses or bad. All it means is simply keeping something in mind. You can keep in mind the fact that you want to put an end to suffering, or you can keep in mind a decision to rob a bank. In either case, it’s mindfulness. Mindfulness becomes right … 
  3. A Connoisseur of the Breath
    The term “mindfulness” on its own is something neutral. It can be put to good uses or bad uses—because all it means is keeping something in mind. You can keep in mind the fact that you want to put an end to suffering, or you can keep in mind a decision to rob a bank. And in either case, it’s mindfulness. So … 
  4. Strength of Mindfulness
    Back in the 19th century, when the word “mindfulness” was coined to translate the Pali term sati, it was the perfect word for the job. It was related to a phrase that’s often repeated in churches: to be ever mindful of the needs of others. In other words, you keep their needs in mind; you take them into consideration as you go through … 
  5. Right Effort & Right Mindfulness
    There’s a difference between mindfulness and right mindfulness. Mindfulness on its own is an ability to keep something in mind, to remember things, as the Buddha said, that were done or said long ago. Right mindfulness is a more complicated activity. You’re using your powers of mindfulness to stay with certain phenomena in and of themselves—like the breath—right now. You … 
  6. Factions in the Mind
    Factions in the Mind September 14, 2003 When you stop to look at your mind, you begin to realize that there’s a whole committee in there: lots of different opinions, lots of different agendas. You see this especially when you’re trying to get the mind to settle down. One part of the mind decides to focus on the breath, but other parts … 
  7. The Four-in-One Establishing of Mindfulness
     … This is why mindfulness and the establishing of mindfulness are so different. Mindfulness can be keeping anything in mind. Establishing mindfulness, making it right mindfulness leading to right concentration: That’s your ticket out of here. So hold on. Maintain this focus and realize that everything you need for safety is right here. The Buddha gives many different analogies for the establishing of mindfulness … 
  8. The Seven Factors for Awakening
     … Of these factors, the Buddha said that mindfulness is the one that’s always appropriate. Mindfulness here means both mindfulness and alertness. Mindfulness is the ability to keep something in mind. Like right now: You’re trying to keep the breath in mind. Then there’s alertness, watching what the breath is doing and watching how the mind is relating to the breath. These … 
  9. Heightening the Mind
    Heightening the Mind June, 2001 The Buddha concluded one of his most important talks with the phrase, adhicitte ca ayogo, commitment to the heightened mind. What this means is that we lift the mind above its ordinary concerns, as when we come here to practice meditation. Our normal cares of the day — looking after our own bodies, feeding them, looking after other people, being … 
  10. Mindfulness Defined
    What does it mean to be mindful of the breath? Something very simple: keep the breath in mind. Keep remembering the breath each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out. The standard translation for sati —mindfulness—is probably derived from the passage in the Anglican Prayer Book that says, “Be ever mindful of the needs of others.” In other words keep their … 
  11. Mindfulness the Seamstress
     … Here we’re talking about mindfulness as a seamstress, but that shouldn’t be strange, because there is an element of desire in your mindfulness. You have a purpose. This is what the ardency is all about: You’re trying to get the mind to settle down. And for it to settle down, you need to have mindfulness so that you can make the … 
  12. The Mind Comes First
    The first verse in the Dhammapada—“All things are preceded by the mind”: It’s good to take that seriously. You’re sitting right here, right now, with the body, the mind, and the breath. Put the mind first. Otherwise, you find yourself getting worked up because the breath doesn’t seem to be the way you want it to be, or the body … 
  13. Start the Year Right Here
     … Just keep staying, staying, staying right there with this combination of persistence and mindfulness. Mindfulness here covers both mindfulness and alertness—keeping the breath in mind and being aware of the mind along with the breath. You’ve got these qualities working together. The nature of your awareness begins to change and you start seeing things you didn’t see before, because before, your … 
  14. Directing & Not Directing the Mind
     … In other words, there’s no clear line between mindfulness and concentration. And mindfulness is very much directed. None of the Buddha’s analogies for mindfulness suggest a mind open and accepting. They all suggest a very focused on its task, acting within clear boundaries, doing what needs to be done to get the mind centered. Take, for instance, the Buddha’s analogy for … 
  15. The Power of the Mind
     … Phenomena are preceded by the mind, ruled by the mind, made of the mind. This is the Buddha’s assertion of the power of the mind. We’re not simply on the receiving end of things. The mind is what shapes our experience. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations do come in through the senses, but we wouldn’t experience them if it … 
  16. A Position of Strength
     … Sometimes you hear that mindfulness is one thing, concentration is something else, but they really do go together. Mindfulness means keeping something in mind. And, of course, you can’t be concentrated unless you have something in mind and you stick with it. The topics of mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of your feelings, mindfulness of your mind states: Those are the objects of … 
  17. Strong & Heedful
     … But as the Buddha points out, these things are not dangerous to the mind unless we latch on to the things that age, grow ill, die, and are subject to separation. Then that danger infects the mind. But if the mind doesn’t go out and latch on to these things, the mind itself is safe. So the real danger lies inside, in the … 
  18. Delighting the Mind
    When you sit down to meditate, you’ve got all four of the frames of reference for establishing mindfulness right here. You’ve got the body—the breath—and feelings, which would be a mixture right now of pleasure and pain. You’re trying to work, though, for pleasure. There’s the mind, and then there are mental qualities. Even though your focus is … 
  19. How to Feed Mindfulness
    How to Feed Mindfulness August 3, 2008 We sit here with a lot of potentials: potential sensations in the body, potential qualities in the mind. The practice of meditation is learning how to put aside the unskillful potentials, how to develop the skillful ones, and how to take advantage of the skillful ones—learning how to feed them, to give them strength, so that … 
  20. Wisdom Through Training
    When you focus on the breath, know when it’s coming in and when it’s going out, and keep watch over your mind at the same time, noticing if it’s staying with the breath or not. If you catch it slipping off, bring it back. Slips off again, bring it back again. Slips off ten times, a hundred times, bring it back … 
  21. Load next page...