Search results for: middle way
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- Admirable Intentions… But you look at the world of the path and you realize, as they say, “It’s admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end.” Good all the way through.
- The Best News in the World… the conviction that there must be something deathless, and that there must be some way it can be attained by human effort. So he cast about for another possible way. He came across right concentration. He had entered right concentration spontaneously when he was a child. He recollected that. Could this be the way? Something inside him said, “Yes.” So he stuck with it …
- Mindfulness the Gatekeeper… And the best way to keep those duties in mind is to simply be with the body in and of itself, how it feels to be with the body right here right now. For example, the breath: If you’re concerned about the duties of the world, the breath has only one function for you, which is to keep you alive. So when you …
- Balancing the Bases for Concentration… So breathe in a refreshing way, breathe in a comfortable way, in a nourishing way. After a while, the mind will settle in, and both body and mind will begin to feel refreshed. When you’re refreshed and nourished like this, it’s a lot easier for the mind to look at things in an unbiased way. The concentration is necessary, but sometimes it …
- Toughen & Tenderize the Mind… end; sometimes it landed splat in the middle. It all seemed pretty random. It wasn’t until he had enlarged his view and was able to see the process happening to all beings that he could see a pattern. So to understand your mind, you have to be willing to sit with it in the same way that you have a child and you …
- Being Right… He said that it’s like seeing someone out in the middle of the desert by the side of the road, sick, unable to care for himself. Regardless of who he is, you’ve got to feel compassion for him. In other words, the person who’s horrible in every way is creating a lot of bad karma for him or herself. You’ve …
- In Training… In the same way, when does the mind need to be gladdened? When does it need to be chastened? You’ve got to work on this teacher inside. Otherwise, the mind just goes with its moods. We were talking this afternoon about how the middle of the afternoon is like a big valley full of marshes and swamps. If you just wallow in your …
- Why We Meditate… Which was how he then came back to the middle path, avoiding the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-torture: in other words, using this state of mind—calm, clear, easeful, that we’re trying to work on right here right now—as a way of observing the mind to see what it does to create suffering. He realized that the cause of suffering …
- More than Just Letting Go… It may be built into the way you’re acting, but it can be removed from the way you act. And tackling that kind of suffering is an area where you can make a difference. That’s where the Buddha focused. He didn’t take on all the suffering in the world—which is another misconception you hear around: that the Buddha said he …
- Three Levels of Effort… Stay with them all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-. This is where mindfulness gets developed because you have to keep remembering you’re going to stay right here with the sensation of the breathing. You’re not going to allow yourself to slip off. If you do slip off, then as soon as you notice it, come …
Dhammapada
Introduction to the Dhammapada
… between heedless and heedful ways of living, and ends with the final attainment of total mastery. On the other hand, the plot must not show smooth, systematic progress; otherwise the work would turn into a treatise. There must be reversals and diversions to maintain interest. This principle is at work in the fairly unsystematic ordering of the Dhammapada’s middle sections. Verses dealing with …Show 2 additional results in this book- Fabrication at the Breath… There’s the way the energy flows in your body when you’re angry, as opposed to the way it flows when you’re feeling lust, or how it flows when you’re feeling fear. There are the thoughts that contribute to that particular emotion. The way you evaluate the situation around you: That’s contributing to your emotion. And the feelings and perceptions …
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Karma Q & A
Basic Principles
… Sometimes it lands on its base, sometimes on its tip, sometimes smack on its middle. We’re slippery characters, changing roles all the time [§41]. 20. As a summary, what would be a good way to teach children some healthy lessons about kamma? You might try the lessons the Buddha gave to his own son, Rāhula [§42]. First he taught Rāhula how important it …Show one additional result in this book
- The Power to Transcend Suffering… Learn to open your mind to other ways of conceiving and perceiving the breath. Ajaan Lee talks about the breath coming in and out of the back of the skull, in and out the middle of the chest, lots of different spots in the body. Allow yourself to conceive the breath in that way and see what happens to your experience of breathing as …
- The Four Bases of Success… That required an act of imagination, not only in memory but also in coming up with that particular memory and deciding that he wanted to try that approach next—realizing that it was the middle way between two extremes. He’d been thinking only in extremes. And all too often, when we’re faced with issues coming up in the meditation, we tend to …
- Customs of the Noble Ones… So think your way to settling down. Take a couple of good, long, deep in-and-out breaths and notice where you feel the breathing. Where it seems to be most prominent, focus there. And allow your attention to stay there all the way through the in-breath, all the way though the out. This part of the meditation requires training because the mind …
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The Paradox of Becoming
Introduction
… If you’re a painter, a skier, and a miner, you will see the same mountain in different ways depending on what you want from it at any given moment—beauty, adventure, or wealth. Even if you stay focused on nothing but the desire to paint, the beauty you want from the mountain will change with time—sometimes over years, sometimes from one moment …Show one additional result in this book
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Merit
Dana: Giving
… That’s the way it is. The donor does not go without reward.” “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master …Show one additional result in this book
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Skill in Questions
Chapter 4: Analytical Answers
… Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathāgata—producing vision, producing knowledge—leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. “And which is the middle way realized by the Tathāgata that—producing vision, producing knowledge—leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding? Precisely this noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech …Show 4 additional results in this book
- Lessons in Fabrication… This is one of the ways in which the meditation gets up off the cushion and actually helps with your life. Remember the word for meditation in Pali is bhāvanā. It means to develop. Whatever good qualities you can develop in the mind, it’s all part of meditation. Whether you’re sitting here with your eyes closed, or in the middle of an …
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