… Simply by the way you think, you can create a good energy. You can create something that’s a gift to others. And of course, you benefit. If you have goodwill for all beings, you’re very unlikely to do unskillful things. You’re very unlikely to harm them. In that way, you protect yourself.
So this is a basic pattern of the path …
… So the middle course here is to stick with the breath. Remember that the pleasure is created by the flow of the breath, the stillness of the mind, working together. Both of these conditions depend on the focus of your mind on the breath, alert and mindful. You don’t want to drop your alertness; you don’t want to drop your mindfulness, because …
… As for the particular ways we do that—as Tolstoy once said, “Happy
families are all alike. Unhappy families are all unhappy in their own
way.” We all create suffering for ourselves in different ways based on
different assumptions, different ideas of what happiness would be and
how we can go about finding it. Meditation gives you a good
opportunity to look at exactly …
… If
you learn to look at these things in the right way, you can work with
them in a productive way.
So regardless of what raw material your past karma keeps popping up in
the present moment, as long as you’re not in the hell of totally
unpleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, ideas,
and as long as you’re not in …
… No one can tell anyone else
what’s the right way or wrong way to think about and react to the
impermanence of things.
But the Buddha points out that it is possible through our actions to
put an end to suffering. That changes the equation. It’s no longer a
matter of personal preference. The question is: Here this opportunity
is there. Are …
… Death can come at
any time, zapping you right in the middle of a nice sleepy meditation.
Would you be prepared to go? No, especially not if you’re sleepy. So
try to put in some more energy, try to find some way of stirring your
energy up, so that if you were suddenly called upon to die right now,
you’d be prepared …
… Let the breath at the base of the throat spread down the central nerve at the front of the body, past the lungs and liver, all the way down to the bladder and colon.
Inhale the breath right at the middle of the chest and let it go all the way down to your intestines.
Let all these breath sensations spread so that they …
… The ways of the world don’t offer any way out, but this
path of developing the mind does offer a way out. As the Buddha said,
it’s good in the beginning, good in the middle. It’s even better in
the end. So look at each opportunity to meditate as just that—an
opportunity, and not a task, not a chore. A …
… This is why reflecting on the eight ways of the world is a helpful practice. What does the world have to offer? Just those eight things: material gain, material loss, status, loss of status, praise, criticism, pleasure, pain. That’s it. And what is there of any lasting value in any of these things? The only value is if you find a way to …
… That way, instead of fighting back-and-forth between indulgence
in pleasure and then self-affliction, you’ve got this other place to
go which is much better than either one. This is the Middle Way.
Having this sense of well-being that can come simply from being
centered changes the equation, changes the balance of power in the
mind. You get less tied …
… The question is, how
do you relate to the body in such a way, how do you relate to the
breath in such a way, that you can actually bring this out? You have
to look at the way you breathe. The problem is that you’re used to
your way of breathing, and it’s hard to think, “Maybe there might be
other …
… Watch that for a while until everything feels easy and open
there, and then move up to the solar plexus, the chest, the base of
the throat, middle of the head, and then move down the spine, past the
hips, down the legs to the tips of the toes. Then start again at the
back of the neck and this time, go down the …
… the nose, the middle of the head, the base of the throat, the tip of the breastbone, above the navel—but there are other possible spots as well. Focus attention on wherever the breath seems to originate, and think of breath energy radiating effortlessly from that spot. If there are any feelings of tension that seem to get in the way of that radiating …
… Then the
Buddha says, there is this middle way that is noble and does lead to
awakening.
So the Buddha set the five brethren onto the noble path before saying
anything about not-self at all. First, he got them to develop their
actions. As we know from other suttas, the eightfold path is a path of
action that leads to the end of …
… Messages get sent up through the bureaucracy
and some of them get blocked, say, at middle-level management. Others
make their way all the way through to the president of the
corporation. But when they get blocked half-way up, you have to
wonder: “Is there a good reason for blocking them, or is there a bad
reason for blocking them?”
If you’re …
… How can I inflict on others what is displeasing & disagreeable to me?’ Reflecting in this way, he himself refrains from taking life, he gets others to refrain from taking life, and he speaks in praise of refraining from taking life. In this way, his bodily behavior is pure in three ways.1
“Further, he reflects thus: ‘If someone, by way of theft, were to …
… They say, “Do a moderate
amount of practice”—which is the middle way of the defilements. They
say, “Well, do it a little bit but don’t take it too seriously.”
So the practice is always going to be countercultural. This is why, as
Ajaan Mun said, you have to replace the culture you were raised in
with the culture of the noble ones …
There are two ways you can have doubts about the practice or doubts
about your own ability to do the practice. One is from caring a lot,
and the other is from not caring at all. The second kind is not
encouraged, of course. You say, “Well, I doubt that anyone could
overcome sensuality or I doubt that I could overcome my anger or …
… tip of the nose, the base of the throat, the middle
of the chest, just above the navel—anyplace where you can clearly
notice now the breath is coming in, now it’s going out. You breathe
with a sense of refreshment.
We’re trying to master this skill because it opens the way to other
skills as well. As the Buddha says, you …
… So that if, in the middle of a task, you suddenly realize you can’t
stay in your body any longer, you can drop the work outside, focus on
the work inside, and prepare yourself to go. To go well. That’s the
whole purpose of this.
Because the way the Buddha teaches mindfulness of death, it makes
sense only in the context of …
Method 2 | Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samādhi
… Let the breath at the base of the throat spread down the central nerve at the front of the body, past the lungs and liver, all the way down to the bladder and colon. Inhale the breath right at the middle of the chest and let it go all the way down to your intestines. Let all these breath sensations spread so that they …
SN 55:7 Veḷudvāreyya Sutta | The People of Bamboo Gate
… How can I inflict on others what is displeasing & disagreeable to me?’ Reflecting in this way, he himself refrains from taking life, he gets others to refrain from taking life, and he speaks in praise of refraining from taking life. In this way, his bodily behavior is pure in three ways.1 “Further, he reflects thus: ‘If someone, by way of theft, were to …
