Search results for: middle way

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  2. A Sense of Yourself
     … When Ajaan Lee got back to Bangkok and started looking into how this might succeed, he found out there was a senior monk in Bangkok who stood in the way, saying that if he—the senior monk—was not involved in the project, it wasn’t going to succeed. Ajaan Lee knew that he didn’t have that many connections in the bureaucracy, so … 
  3. Right Inner Speech
     … Exactly how much renunciation is involved? Where is that Middle Way right now? That takes experience to see. You experiment and then see what results you get. Everybody wants to hear the quick and easy formula for figuring out how much is enough. Well, there is no quick and easy formula. You have to experiment; you have to be willing to try different approaches … 
  4. Eyes in the Back of Your Head
     … This way makes it easier to develop that balance between the center and the full-body awareness. First you have to go through the body. Notice where the blockages are. But before you look at the blockages, first you’ve got to get at least one spot that feels good. Maintain that steady sense of fullness all the way through the in-breath, all … 
  5. Page search result icon Non-Reactive Judgment
     … They can dress themselves up and disguise themselves in all kinds of ways. Laziness in particular can dress itself up like the Dhamma and say, “Well, the Buddha said for you to follow the middle way. It’s leads to a sense of ease, so the path itself should be easeful, too.” But then you think of all the paths you’ve encountered in … 
  6. Three Recollections
     … the fact that someone was able to find the way to the end of suffering and able to teach it to others. You can take heart in that. You can also reflect on the Dhamma. The Dhamma is available to all. And it teaches us a path that, as they say, is good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end … 
  7. Holding On to the Path
     … And there’s a way in which you could say that there are things you have to be attached to, things you have to desire. Desire does play a role in the path. It’s a part of right effort. You have to want to let go of unskillful qualities and you have to want to develop skillful ones. It’s written in the … 
  8. Birth Is Suffering
     … The purpose of this is to pull you out of the different sides of conflicts in a way that’s not escapist, in a way that actually is good for the people involved in the conflict. If you can help get them out, too, then you’re happy to do it. Then finally, resolve on harmlessness, which the Buddha basically says is equivalent to … 
  9. Guardian Meditations
     … You have to think your way to stillness, think your way to a place in the mind where the mind is willing to stop its thinking and settle down. There are lots of different lists of topics in the commentaries—40 different meditation topics in all. And there’s a standard list that’s very popular in Thailand. It’s called the guardian meditations … 
  10. Significance
     … You show some responsibility when you do, when you’ve acted in a way that doesn’t harm anyone. That’s really significant. That’s something we should learn how to appreciate more and more. There is room for individual expression. You look at the different perfections, and generosity in particular: There are lots of different ways you can be generous. The Buddha placed … 
  11. Book search result icon Ten Perfections II. Truth
     … the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. In the same way, the statement of the brahmans turns out to be a row of blind men, as it were: the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. So what do you think, Bhāradvāja: this … 
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  12. Calm in the Storm
     … down through the head, down through the neck, the torso, and right in the middle of the body. As you breathe in, the breath goes into that line from all directions, and as you breathe out, it goes out from that line in all directions. So see what way of conceiving or perceiving the breath energy is helpful for you right now. The breath … 
  13. Things Aren’t as They Should Be
     … Let those with ears show forth their conviction.” When he went to teach the five brethren, even before he said anything about the middle way or the four noble truths, he said, “The deathless has been attained, and if you follow what I teach you, you can attain it, too.” When Sariputta heard a very short synopsis of the Buddha’s teachings and gained … 
  14. A Frame of Reference
     … The more sensitive you are to the breath, the more you stay with the breath all the way in, all the way out, trying to make it comfortable, all the way in, all the way out, then the better the meditation will go. If any part of the breath starts getting too long, just allow it then to turn around. If it’s been … 
  15. Conviction in Charge
     … He finally comes to a big bull elephant in the middle of a clearing. When he actually sees the elephant, that’s when he knows he’s got the elephant.” The same way, the Buddha said, there are footprints and scratch marks all along the path. There’s a sense of well-being that comes when you get the mind in a strong state … 
  16. On Deserving to Be Happy
     … You don’t know when you’re going to get there, but you know that you have to follow this path very carefully, because it is a middle way. If it were a path of extremes, it would be easy. Just go for extreme effort. Pull out all the stops. Those who are the strongest would win. But it’s not that way. As … 
  17. All-around Eye
     … Don’t try to boil things down to one idea and then just run with that all the way—because you may run off the side of the road. Remember, this is a middle way; it’s balanced. And finding balance is one of the most difficult things to do. It requires the most discernment. If this were simply a practice of running off … 
  18. A Noble Path
     … As the Buddha says, it’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end. As with any path, there are going to be difficulties along the way. He never promised that it would be easy. But it’s always good. That’s why it’s worth sticking with it. As he said, even if tears are running down your cheeks … 
  19. On Not Twisting the Cow’s Horn
     … There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way. The right way is to pull on the udder. The wrong way is to twist the horn. Now, suppose you’ve been twisting the horn for a long time and somebody says, “Hey, twisting the horn doesn’t get any results.” So you stop twisting the horn and say, “Well, this is pretty … 
  20. A Larger Perspective
     … You can interpret that statement in lots of ways. What it comes down to is that we have a lot of similarities in terms of the big issues. But in terms of how the particulars of those big issues get worked out, we have our individual issues, which is why the Buddha had to have so many different ways of teaching the path. There … 
  21. Book search result icon Mindful of the Body III. The Advantages of Mindfulness Immersed in the Body
     … Whenever the Tathāgata merges his body with his mind and his mind with his body, and remains having alighted on the perception of ease and buoyancy with regard to the body, then his body becomes lighter, more pliant, more malleable, & more radiant. “Just as when an iron ball heated all day becomes lighter, more pliant, more malleable, & more radiant; in the same way, whenever … 
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