Search results for: middle way

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  2. It’s Good to Talk to Yourself
     … Ajaan Maha Boowa had a very useful analogy for different ways of getting the mind to settle down. In some cases, he said, your mind is like a tree standing out in the middle of a meadow. If you want to cut the tree down, you can cut it down in any direction, and you don’t have to think too much about which … 
  3. Hindrances to the Heightened Mind
    We sometimes think of the middle way as halfway between sensual pleasure and self-torture, but that’s not quite right. It’s halfway between two forms of devotion: devotion to sensual pleasure and devotion to self-torture. And the middle way is not devotion to a middling pleasure, a middling pain. It’s devotion to the heightened mind—in other words, to the … 
  4. Book search result icon Noble Strategy A Guided Meditation
     … A very concrete way of learning how to provide for your own happiness in the immediate present—and at the same time, strengthening your alertness—is to let yourself breathe in a way that’s comfortable. Experiment to see what kind of breathing feels best for the body right now. It might be long breathing, short breathing; in long, out short; or in short … 
  5. An Exercise in Sensitivity
     … So you’re learning about feeling, and you’re learning about feeling in terms of the middle way. Remember, the Buddha said the middle way avoids the extremes of sensual indulgence and of self-torture. That doesn’t mean it’s a middling feeling. It means looking for pleasure in another way, not on the continuum: one, pleasure that has nothing to do with … 
  6. Path & Goal
     … Remember, this is the middle way, and finding the just-right point in the middle is a lot harder than going to extremes. With extremes you just push, push, push. It doesn’t require much discernment. But finding and maintaining the just-right point in the middle: That requires a lot of discernment. You’re going to be going back and forth, back and … 
  7. The Mind in Good Shape
     … Are you doing things in an awkward way? Are you do things in an efficient way? In this particular case, it means noticing how you breathe: Does it really feel good? Or could it be better? Which parts of the body are not feeling good? How could you make them feel better by the way you breathe? Which parts feel like they’re being … 
  8. Defeatism? - Anything But
     … The Buddha talks about the middle way, this unexcelled victory in battle, as being a middle way between two extremes. If we could find our way to true happiness simply by being extremely accepting or extremely effortful, again it would be very easy. It wouldn’t take much discernment. But to get results requires finding the middle way between those two extremes. What’s … 
  9. Take Nothing for Granted
     … So, what way of breathing would lead to that sense of refreshment and ease? What way of thinking about the breath would lead to that sense of refreshment and ease? This is where it’s useful to perceive the breath as a full-body process, something that can saturate all the nerves. That way, when the sense of ease comes, say, in the middle … 
  10. Book search result icon Khuddakapāṭha Khp 9 Karaṇīya Mettā Sutta — Goodwill
     … Whatever beings there may be— weak or strong, without exception, long, large, middling, short, subtle, gross, seen & unseen, living near & far away, born or seeking birth: May all beings be happy at heart. Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or resistance-perception wish for another to suffer. As a mother would risk her life to protect her child … 
  11. Bigger than the World
     … In this way, you have a home wherever you go. And keep remembering that while you’re here, this is the middle way. And where does the middle way lead from here? It just leads deeper and deeper in here, more and more solidly in here. This is the place where everything you’re going to need to know, everything you’re going to … 
  12. Tranquility, Insight, & Concentration
     … Then move up to the solar plexus, the middle of the chest, base of the throat, middle of the head; then down the shoulders, starting at the back of the neck; going down the back, through the hips, out through the legs. Focus, relax. You can make this survey a couple times, and then see if you can focus your attention in one spot … 
  13. Book search result icon The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee The Autobiography of Phra Ajaan Lee
     … In the middle of the mountain the ground opened down into a deep chasm. Going down into the chasm, I came to a piece of teakwood placed as a bridge across a crevice. Edging my way across to the other side, I found myself on a wide rock shelf. As I walked on a ways, it became pitch dark, so I lit a lantern … 
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  14. May I Look After Myself with Ease
     … From the solar plexus you can go to the middle of the chest, the base of the throat, the middle of the head; then down the spine, out the legs; back to the back of the neck and then go down the shoulders and out the arms. This way, you gain a sense of how the breathing feels in the different parts of the … 
  15. Fighting off Ignorance
     … But if you realize even when things get difficult that you have the power to change the way you breathe, change the way you think, change the way you label things, change the way you evaluate the potentials of your situation, so that even in the midst of difficult situations you can be free from suffering, then you can make a difference, because you … 
  16. Successful Desire
     … Of course, the problem with desire is that sometimes it gets in the way. You have to learn how to temper your desire. You realize that there are causes and there are effects, so you focus your desire on the causes. In the case of getting the mind to settle down, the causes are thinking about the breath, evaluating the breath, and being with … 
  17. Cheerfully Ardent
     … I’m out here miserable in the middle of the forest. I can’t get anywhere in my meditation.” A deva appears to him and says, “Do you realize how many people are on their way to hell right now, and how much they really envy you, your chance to practice?” So think in ways that lift your spirits and keep focused on the … 
  18. The Uses of Pleasure
    When the Buddha called his path of practice a middle way between the extremes of indulgence in sensual pleasure and indulgence in self-torment, he didn’t mean that it was going to adopt a neutral feeling-tone. He was offering a different kind of pleasure and a different way of relating to it. The different kind of pleasure is the pleasure of concentration … 
  19. Apart from the World
     … Fortunately, we have the Dhamma which teaches us that we don’t have to follow in the ways of the world. The world can spin around as it wants, but we don’t have to spin with it. Ajaan Lee’s image is that there has to be some point in the middle that doesn’t spin around. So you stay there. And then … 
  20. Peace of Mind
     … Try to breathe in a way that feels really good. The parts of the body that are tense: Try to breathe in a way that’s relaxing and soothing for them. If there are parts that feel weak, try to breathe in a way that feels more energizing, because well-being isn’t just relaxation. There also has to be energy—not nervous energy … 
  21. Keep Things Simple
     … But the Buddha’s focus in the practice is on being skillful in doing - keeping mindful, keeping alert, being ardent in the practice, finding a sense of “just right.” When they talk about the Middle Way, the middle-ness lies in the amount of effort that’s just right for where you are right now, which sometimes may require a lot of effort, sometimes … 
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