… 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 …
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 …
… But if the middle pilings—a centered mind—aren’t firmly in place, how will you ever be able to bridge the flood of suffering?
There is only one way we can properly reach the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and that’s through the practice of mental development (bhāvanā). When we develop the mind to be centered and still, discernment can …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… Ajaan Lee recommends some ways of imagining the breath energy moving
through the body. This doesn’t mean moving the air though the body;
you’re moving the energy. Think of the energy coming in the back of
the neck right at the base of the skull, going down the spine; coming
in at the middle of the chest, going down through the heart …
… Avoiding both of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma via the middle:
“From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
“From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness.
“From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form.
“From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media.
“From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact.
“From contact as …
… We’ll find a way to take you up with us.” So they got a stick. The male swan took one end of the stick in his mouth, the female took the other end in hers, and they had the turtle hold on with its mouth to the middle. When everything was ready, they took off.
As they flew up into the sky, the …
… your nerves, all the way out to
every pore of your skin. That’s breath as well.
So you’re dealing with your whole experience the body as you breathe
here.
Now, there are different nodes of this energy system in the body, such
as the middle of the head, the palate, the base of the throat, the
middle of the chest, or the …
… That way you keep your views straight,
you keep your opinions straight, and things don’t get skewed by the
spinning of the world. Have a clear sense of what’s up and down, and
north and south, and don’t get your directions all mixed up.
So try to have a sense of this solid, stable point in the middle of
all the …
… So why act in ways that lead to suffering?
You’re convinced in your power to make a difference by the way you
think, by the way you speak, and by the way you act. That’s a
strength, because people who don’t have that belief are weak and
evasive. If you’re weak in that way, all kinds of pressures—pressures
from …
… As things begin to get lax—say, in the middle of the
afternoon, when the afternoon seems awfully long—remind yourself that
you don’t know how much longer the afternoon’s going to last, you do
know you have this moment right now. What’s the best thing you can do
with this moment? To train your mind. That’s a way of …
… Leather footwear
A bhikkhu in the middle Ganges Valley may wear new leather sandals only if the soles are made from a single layer of leather. He may wear multi-layer sandals if they are cast-off, which according to the Commentary means that they have been worn (presumably, by someone else) at least once. Outside of the middle Ganges Valley, one may wear …
… The
middle level is when you start gaining some control over your sense
doors. You have to be careful about how you look at things, how you
listen and relate to all your other sensory input. You begin to see
certain ways that you relate to sounds and sights, etc., that give
rise to greed, anger, and delusion in the mind.
So you’ve …
… the solar plexus, the middle of the chest, base
of the throat, middle of the head.
Then start at the base of the skull at the back of the neck.
Think of the breath energy entering there, from behind, and then
going down through the shoulders, the arms, to the tips of the
fingers.
And then going from the back of the neck down …
… This is the meaning of the middle way in dealing with pleasure and pain. The term “middle way” doesn’t mean that we go for middling pleasures or middling pains. Instead, we regard only one pleasure—the pleasure of nibbāna or unbinding— as the true goal, and we try to perceive or attend to other pleasures and pains in terms of whether they lead …
… What’s required in the middle way is that you figure out what’s just right for you right now, what’s appropriate for you right now—just as in the middle way, sometimes intense effort is right and sometimes very gentle effort is right, depending on what’s needed. In seeing that, in ferreting out that point of “just right,” you develop your …
… We want to know it all the way
in, all the way out, and to see the different things the breath can do
until we get familiar with all its potentials, and then skilled in
using those potentials in different situations.
Even though this is the same place, the state of the body is going the
change. The state of your mind is going …
… It may happen that the way
you’re breathing is getting a little bit too calm, in which case it’s
good to think of breathing in long out short. That’ll give yourself
more energy.
You can try deep breathing; you can try moving the spot of your focus
around. Three breaths, say, in the middle of the chest, three breaths
down by …
Introduction | Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samādhi
… But if the middle pilings—a centered mind—aren’t firmly in place, how will you ever be able to bridge the flood of suffering? There is only one way we can properly reach the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and that’s through the practice of mental development (bhāvanā). When we develop the mind to be centered and still, discernment can …
SN 12:46 Aññatara Sutta | A Certain Brahman
… Avoiding both of these extremes, the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma via the middle: “From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. “From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. “From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. “From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media. “From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. “From contact as …
