… It’s called the root because it’s a good quality that runs deep and tenacious right down the middle of the heart. It’s called the heartwood because it’s solid and resilient, like the heartwood of a tree that insects can’t burrow into and destroy. Even though insects may be able to nibble away at the tree, they can go only …
… This is what’s special about the Buddha’s teachings in the middle way.
It’s not a middle way between pain and pleasure—in other words a
neutral feeling tone. It’s the realization that you can use pain and
pleasure as means rather than as ends. For example, there’s the pain
of knowing that “There’s work to be done.” But …
… The Buddha complied with the request and defined the outlying districts in such a way that there is nowhere in the world outside of the middle Ganges Valley where this rule applies.
Offenses
For those who live in the middle Ganges Valley, the offenses for bathing more frequently than once a fortnight outside of the proper occasions are these: a dukkaṭa for every time …
… Then King Pasenadi of Kosala approached the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat down to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: “Well now, your majesty, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?”
“Just now, lord, I was engaged in the sort of royal affairs …
… If you want to change the image, you may say the island may be your
way-station on the way across the river, but you finally get across
the river on high ground and you’re safe. This is where total security
lies. It’s doesn’t lie in things outside or people outside, because
those things can get washed away. And they are …
… he was to be left to his own ways without anyone to teach or correct him. According to Cv XI, news of this punishment so shocked Ven. Channa that he fainted. He then went off into seclusion and practiced diligently to the point of attaining arahantship. As Ven. Ānanda later told him, his attainment nullified the punishment. This sutta tells a different version of …
… He comes to the conclusion, ‘That’s the big bull elephant.’
“In the same way, brahman, there is the case where a Tathāgata appears in the world, worthy & rightly self-awakened. He teaches the Dhamma admirable in its beginning, admirable in its middle, admirable in its end. He proclaims the holy life both in its particulars and in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure …
… When the Buddha talks about the right effort of the middle way, it’s
not just a halfway effort or a mediocre effort. It’s an effort
appropriate to whatever is needed. Sometimes it’s a very gentle
effort; sometimes it requires a lot more willpower and strength. But
you have respect for whatever is required and you do your best to
fulfill the …
… Be in the
middle.
When you hold things back, there are big blind spots in the mind.
Those blind spots are ignorance, and it’s precisely because of the
ignorance that we suffer. So as you begin to settle down and the
breath begins to feel good, allow yourself to plunge into the body.
Put the breath on. Wear it. Remember that image of …
… This way you can be at peace and at ease both within and without. As the Buddha said, ‘Happy is the person content in seclusion.’
When this kind of seclusion arises in the mind, all sorts of worthwhile qualities will come flowing in without stop. The heart will keep growing higher and higher, until it no longer wants anything at all. If you used …
… These are the qualities that the Buddha in his previous lifetimes had
been developing, and it was in dependence on these that he was able to
practice in such a way as to gain his awakening. These are qualities
that all of us have in a potential form, all of us can develop them,
so we can find a way of giving meaning to …
… This way, you
don’t have to think of pulling the breath in from outside. You just
think of opening things up so that the energy can spread smoothly from
those spots: from around the navel, or just below the breastbone, in
middle of the chest, the base of the throat, or the middle of the
head. Think of the breath as originating there …
… And then meditate in
appropriate way, so that you can bring the mind into balance.
For example, if things are too active, try to find something that’s
really soothing. You can think thoughts of goodwill, thoughts of
compassion, thoughts of equanimity: These are soothing. You can work
with the breath in a way that feels good for the body, relaxing the
tension in …
… At the same time, when you learn how to get more separated from the pleasure and pain, and not be so affected by them, this is how practice in concentration puts you on the middle way. As you may remember, the middle way avoids the pain of self-torture and also the extreme of sensual pleasure. Now, the fact that it’s in the …
… In normal life, an intention moves in,
pushes another one out of the way, and another one comes in, pushes
that out of the way. We’re like a boat on a river with no anchor.
Whichever way the currents flow, that’s the way we tend to go. If you
were to draw a map of where the mind goes in the course …
… He makes known—having realized it through direct knowledge—this world with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its rulers & commonfolk; he explains the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; he expounds the holy life both in its particulars & in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure. It is good to see such a …
… So, either way, the solution to the problem is to settle the mind down. Think in this way if you’re having trouble getting the mind to stay with the breath. Ajaan Maha Boowa once compared meditators to two types of trees. One type of tree is standing alone out in the middle of a field. If you want to cut it down, it …
… When the Buddha talks about the Middle Way, it’s not necessarily what our preconceived notions of the Middle Way are. You have to test them. And the effort required is not blind effort. Right effort involves using your eyes: knowing what’s skillful in the mind, what’s unskillful, being determined to let go of anything unskillful that arises in the mind, and …
… Allow the flow to be easy all the way through the
in-breath, all the way through the out-, and all the way through the
spaces in between, so that you’re floating on a comfortable breath
energy.
When you can maintain that, the sense of well-being inside begins to
grow. Allow it to become continuous, so that it develops momentum.
And then …
… We’re out in the middle of nature. It’s a comfortable day to
meditate. And the problem is that on the comfortable days to meditate,
we tend to just fall for the comfort and get lazy. We need to remind
ourselves that good days like this don’t often come. We don’t know
when the next one’s going to be, or …
At the Gate of the Cattle-pen | Starting Out Small : A Collection of Talks for Beginning Meditators
… It’s called the root because it’s a good quality that runs deep and tenacious right down the middle of the heart. It’s called the heartwood because it’s solid and resilient, like the heartwood of a tree that insects can’t burrow into and destroy. Even though insects may be able to nibble away at the tree, they can go only …
SN 22:90 Channa Sutta | To Channa
… he was to be left to his own ways without anyone to teach or correct him. According to Cv XI, news of this punishment so shocked Ven. Channa that he fainted. He then went off into seclusion and practiced diligently to the point of attaining arahantship. As Ven. Ānanda later told him, his attainment nullified the punishment. This sutta tells a different version of …
