… So staying in touch with the breath is an excellent way of getting yourself in touch with what’s going on with the mind.
At the same time, being in touch with the breath is the best way of staying in touch with how the body’s faring. If, when you’re eating, you stay in touch with the breath, you get a better …
… I’d be embarrassed to die
in the middle of this thought or this concern or this worry,
whatever.” It helps you step outside.
Then you can develop the alternative potentials. You can breathe in a
soothing way. You can remind yourself of topics that calm you down.
And those potentials are always there. That’s what you’ve got to
remember. We tend …
… You’re strict in your observance of the precepts but, at the
same time, you observe them in such a way that you don’t grasp at
them. In other words, you don’t develop any pride around them. And you
practice them in a way that’s conducive to concentration. This
requires skill, because a lot of people, when they’re strict about …
… Work your way up
through the torso, the neck, the head. Then with the arms, start with
the fingers, up the arms to the shoulders. See if your mind is willing
to settle down with the sensation of the body as it relaxes here into
the present moment. If it is, fine.
If it’s not willing to settle down, you have to ask …
… the middle of the head—or wherever you feel that the breath, as you breathe in, seems to come from that spot. After all, the breath is not so much the air coming in and out of the lungs. The air on its own wouldn’t be doing anything. No matter how strong the wind outside, the air can’t push its way into …
… And this is one way
of analyzing things. Try to figure out what way of breathing is
skillful right now, what way is not skillful. That’s the Buddha’s
basic recommendation for how to analyze qualities: to ask that
question of what’s skillful and what’s not.
A couple of years back, I was talking to a group of people from up …
… Often they had to go out of their way and face a lot of
difficulties. For that they deserve your gratitude. If everything were
predetermined, there’d be no need to be generous, because things would
just happen on their own. You wouldn’t have to go out of your way to
be generous. As for the people who helped you, they had to …
… The image the Buddha gives is, again, of a river flowing, and you’re
creating an island in the middle of the river, an island above the
flood, through your practice of mindfulness, being mindful in a way
that leads to concentration. The flood can go by, but the island isn’t
washed away. You can see these currents for what they are, but …
… But the Buddha
pointed out that neither way succeeds in finding true happiness.
He said the true path was a middle way between these two extremes,
starting with right view, all way through right concentration. Then he
explained right view in terms of four noble truths: suffering, its
cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. His teaching was
like a doctor’s …
… The way in which this sutta raises a number of questions about the cessation of perception and feeling and its relationship to awakening but then leaves them unanswered has a parallel in AN 9:36. That sutta details how the various concentration attainments up through the dimension of nothingness can be used as a basis for the ending of the effluents. Beyond that point …
… down around the navel, the tip of
the breastbone, the base of the throat, or right in the middle of the
head at the palate.
When the breath energy starts spreading in your body as the air starts
coming in, where does the energy in the body start? And does it feel
okay? Does it feel like it has to battle its way through …
… There’s goodwill, kindness—those are two separate things,
by the way, goodwill and kindness—and then patience and equanimity.
Goodwill, of course, means you want them to be happy. Kindness means
you go out of your way to do good things for them. In going out of
your way, you learn how to develop right effort. You don’t just see
somebody working …
… You’ve got to see how it performs, because you can describe the world in all kinds of ways, but which description is going to be best at giving rise to dispassion? There’s that sutta where a group of monks are going abroad to a part of India that wasn’t in the Middle Country in India and before they go, the Buddha …
… for the protection of those within and to ward off those without; in the same way, the disciple of the noble ones has heard much, has retained what he has heard, has stored what he has heard. Whatever teachings are admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end, that—in their meaning & expression—proclaim the holy life that is entirely …
… In this way, meditation is partly a preparation for the dangers of
daily life, because the most dangerous people out there are the ones
who are not prepared, the ones who live with a false sense of
security. Things are going along okay, and all of a sudden something
happens, and they thrash around. They feel like they’ve been violated,
and they get …
… Daily Life
For the Survival of Your Goodness
June 20, 2011
Try to notice what way of breathing seems most refreshing. Notice where in the body you’re most sensitive to how the breathing has an impact on your feelings. These sensations may be around the heart, in the throat, in the middle of the head. Where are you most sensitive to the impact …
… This image would have special resonances with the Buddha's teaching on the middle way. It also adds meaning to the term samaṇa—monk or contemplative—which the texts frequently mention as being derived from sama. The word sāmañña—“evenness,” the quality of being in tune—also means the quality of being a contemplative: The true contemplative is always in tune with what is …
… Having sown it there, he
would sow it in the middling field. Having sown it there, he
might not sow it in the poor field—sandy, salty, with bad soil—or
he might. Why is that? It would at least go toward cattle
fodder.”
“In the same way, headman, like the excellent field are the
monks & nuns to me. I teach them the Dhamma …
… This is important, too, because the way we make
our livelihood tends to blind us to the harm that we’re causing. If,
in order to feed, we need to do this or do that that’s harming someone
else, we usually find ways to justify the harm. In that way, we create
a lot of bad karma along with a huge patch of …
… This is a path that’s good in the beginning, good in the
middle, and good in the end—good all the way through. As for yourself,
remember that you’re not stuck with any particular innate nature. If
you find yourself thinking any petty or unwise or selfish thoughts,
that’s not necessarily your nature. Those are just habits you’ve
picked up …
Sensitize Yourself | ePublished Dhamma Talks : Volume I
… So staying in touch with the breath is an excellent way of getting yourself in touch with what’s going on with the mind. At the same time, being in touch with the breath is the best way of staying in touch with how the body’s faring. If, when you’re eating, you stay in touch with the breath, you get a better …
AN 5:166 Nirodha Sutta | Cessation
… The way in which this sutta raises a number of questions about the cessation of perception and feeling and its relationship to awakening but then leaves them unanswered has a parallel in AN 9:36. That sutta details how the various concentration attainments up through the dimension of nothingness can be used as a basis for the ending of the effluents. Beyond that point …
