… Or
it might be right in the middle of the head in the area just above the
eyes. Whichever part of the body seems most sensitive to the energy
flow, focus there.
Try to maintain a rhythm of breathing that feels really good right
there so that it feels good all the way through the in-breath and all
the way through the out …
… Developing strength of mind is in some ways very much like developing
strength of body. To develop strength of body, you have to remember to
exercise it and to nourish it with rest and good food. In the same
way, the mind needs to be exercised. You need to remember to keep it
exercised and to nourish it well.
The remembering there is mindfulness …
… And as they say in Thailand, many times when the
middle-level management sends something up, they’ve already mixed it
for you. In other words, they present it in terms that are pretty much
going to force your decision one way or another. So if you don’t get
the mind really clear, really still, really constant in its gaze,
you’re not …
… actions make a difference and you want to act in
ways that are skillful, the precepts are a good test for your
conviction—and also a good training in maintaining that conviction.
But the precepts on their own are not enough. You’ve got to train the
mind. That’s what the three middle strengths are about.
Persistence basically means right effort. Anything unskillful …
… When
you’re still in the middle of the river, don’t be too quick to let go
of the raft or you’ll drown. Wait until you’ve gotten to the shore.
Then you let go.
But all the way across the river, from this shore to the far shore,
it’s a matter of developing attention and intention. You let go of …
… This way, when the mind and body are in harmony like
this, both sides benefit. The mind has a good place to stay. The body
has someone looking after it.
One of Ajaan Lee’s images is of a parent looking after a child. The
parent has to make sure the child doesn’t get sick, doesn’t do
anything wrong. And as long …
… When you begin to see, though, that the way you put things together is
causing suffering, and you don’t have to put things together that
way—there’s another way—this is how insight cuts through. You see it’s
not necessary, that suffering. You have an alternative. Go for it.
When you develop the mind in this way, you’re getting the …
There are a lot of ways in which the Buddha compares the activities of
the mind to fire. Greed, aversion, are delusion are fires that burn
away in the mind, and as we chanted just now, they set fire to our
eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and to the things we know
through the senses. It’s almost as if our minds …
… By the time we come to the Dhamma, we’re already in the middle of all
this. What makes the Dhamma special is that it shows us a way out,
because a lot of those muddling mistakes we make create a lot of
suffering for ourselves or the people around us. An important part
about choosing a life of the Dhamma is that you …
… When you’re still in the middle of the river, don’t be too quick to let go of the raft or you’ll drown. Wait until you’ve gotten to the far shore. Then you let go.
But all the way across the river, from this shore to the far shore, it’s a matter of developing attention and intention. You let go …
… But the question is, do
you do it skillfully? There’s a skillful way to breathe in, a skillful
way to breathe out. There’s a skillful way to relate to the breath as
you breathe in, breathe out. If it’s nourishing for the body, if it
feels good inside, down to the more sensitive parts of your body, the
mind will respond …
… In the same way, when the breath energies in the body are very still,
you can sense the movements of the mind very clearly, and that’s what
we’re here for. The breath is like a thread that you follow through a
maze to get to the mind in the middle. When the breath gets still, the
mind becomes more and more clear …
… Look at the way you think, look at the way you breathe, look at the way you hold your body. See if there’s anything you can change. Any ways of thinking that are keeping you down, learn to question them. Any ways of breathing that are stifling your energy, just drop them. Ask yourself: Which parts of the body are getting starved of …
… Look at the way you think, look at the way you breathe, look at the way you hold your body. See if there’s anything you can change. Any ways of thinking that are keeping you down, learn to question them. Any ways of breathing that are stifling your energy, just drop them. Ask yourself: Which parts of the body are getting starved of …
… You make them at the end of the year, you make them at the beginning of the year, you make them in the middle of the year. So try to become timeless in the way you hold on to the path, so that regardless of which day of the year the question is asked—“What am I becoming right now?”—the answer is, “I …
… And to help sensitive
you to them, there are various ways of conceiving them.
Sometimes Ajaan Lee talks about breath channels in the body. There’s
one that goes down through the spine. Another breath channel goes
through the front of the body, right down the middle. There are breath
channels in your head, breath channels down your legs and your arms.
Some of …
… This is one of the main ways that we develop discernment in the practice. If the practice were simply a matter of going to a far extreme, whatever that extreme may be, it wouldn’t require much thought or discernment. It would require just a lot of pushing. As the Buddha said, his path is a middle path, and it’s “middle” in lots …
… The way out was not to buy into it, to have a more sensible attitude toward the whole thing. Whatever ups or downs there may be, you don’t have to take them all that seriously. You just stick with your practice. You have to find the middle way between the extremes that the dramatic side of our personality likes to read into things …
… Think of it going up
and down a line drawn right down through the middle of your body from
the head down to the base of the spine—in front, in back, down the
legs, out the arms—in whatever way it’s going to flow. If you find
there’s a sense of blockage in any part of the body, think of the …
… Say you’re focused in the middle of the chest. Keep that sense of the middle of the chest wide open all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out, and then think of that sense of openness spreading throughout the body, wherever it’s going to go. Get in touch with the awareness that already fills the body as …
Attention & Intention
… When you’re still in the middle of the river, don’t be too quick to let go of the raft or you’ll drown. Wait until you’ve gotten to the shore. Then you let go. But all the way across the river, from this shore to the far shore, it’s a matter of developing attention and intention. You let go of …
Generating Energy | Gather ’Round the Breath
… Look at the way you think, look at the way you breathe, look at the way you hold your body. See if there’s anything you can change. Any ways of thinking that are keeping you down, learn to question them. Any ways of breathing that are stifling your energy, just drop them. Ask yourself: Which parts of the body are getting starved of …
