… 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 …
… through the middle of the torso. As
you breathe in, the breath comes into that cord from all directions,
and it goes out from that cord in all directions. You just hold that
perception in mind. You don’t have to do anything to force the breath
that way. Just hold the perception in mind, and it will change the way
you feel the …
… Think about the way he taught body contemplation. It’s good for you while you’re alive, and it’s good to keep in mind when you die. It’s a good practice to have done when the mind is trying to figure out where to go. While you’re alive, it’s good for dealing with lust or with any sense of pride …
… The Teacher’s Dhamma, like a lamp,
divided into Path, Fruition, & the Deathless,
both transcendent (itself) & showing the way to that goal:
I revere that Dhamma with devotion.
Saṅgho sukhettābhyatikhetta-saññito,
Yo diṭṭha-santo sugatānubodhako,
Lolappahīno ariyo sumedhaso:
Vandāmi saṅghaṁ aham-ādarena taṁ.
The Saṅgha, called a field better than the best,
who have seen peace, awakening after the one gone the good way …
… It’s like the watering hole in the middle of a desert or savannah. If you want to see what’s living in the savannah, go to the watering hole, for all the animals have to go there in the course of the day. So watch there at the pain, at the suffering, to see what else comes around. See what arises together with …
… But then you remind yourself that the Buddha found a way
out that’s not just a sour-grapes way out. He says that there is an
ultimate happiness that we can find through our own efforts. And,
fortunately, there’s nobody to prevent us from trying to find it.
Nobody in the cosmos has a bigger plan, saying, “This is where you’ve …
… Other times, it feels like there’s a column of energy running
down the middle of the torso, and the breath comes in to and out from
that column in all directions.
You wonder why it is that you can experience the breath energy in so
many different ways. Well, look into that, because in some cases it’s
because the breath is already …
… That way, it gives rise to a sense of pleasure and
rapture. That’s the food.
Because as we’re practicing, there are lots of things we have to give
up. Like right now, you’re taking the eight precepts. Ways in which
the mind used to go looking for food outside are suddenly cut off. But
you’ve got better food inside, to …
… What you need is what the Buddha calls, “penetrative” knowledge, in
which you understand some activity of the mind, good or bad; notice
what’s causing it; notice its diversity—as the Buddha calls it—which
means seeing what ways it’s good, what ways it’s bad; what’s the range
of suffering or happiness that this particular phenomenon—like
feelings or perceptions …
… If something’s not working, can you think up another
way of applying the principles that would work?
In other words, you don’t throw out the principles, but you explore
them, you probe them, think them through. As Ajaan Lee once said, “The
ways of the mind are so many there’s no way any book could ever
contain them all”—and that …
… The air can’t force its way in on its own.
Where does that energy originate? Ajaan Lee lists a couple of what he calls “resting spots” of the breath: above the navel, at the tip of the sternum, the base of the throat, the palate, the middle of the head, the top of the head. Experiment to see which of these centers is …
… Instead, he found the middle way that led to true happiness inside, a deathless happiness, a happiness that doesn’t depend on any conditions at all. And he was able to do it not because he was some special divine being, but because he took the issue of happiness really seriously and he developed whatever qualities of mind were needed. So you want to …
… Aging, illness, and death are its shadows or effects that show by way of the body. When we want to kill our enemy and so take a knife to stab his shadow, how is he going to die? In the same way, ignorant people try to destroy the shadows of stress and don’t get anywhere. As for the essence of stress in the …
… In the beginning we’re born, then in the middle we change, and in the end we fall apart and die. Death is something no one aspires to, and yet no one can escape it. We all have death at the end of our path.
Thinking about death gives rise both to benefits and to harm. For shortsighted people it’s harmful, because it …
… And you, monks, are very helpful to householders, as you teach them the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, and admirable in the end, as you expound the holy life both in its particulars and in its essence, entirely complete, surpassingly pure. In this way the holy life is lived in mutual dependence, for the purpose of crossing over the flood …
… It may take a while for the energy to start coming back down,
but you’ve got to be strategic in this way. Otherwise, it’s like
getting out in the middle of freeway and telling all the cars to turn
back. What happens? You get run over. But if you figure out a way to
route them through a neighborhood, turning here, turning …
As you practice, there’s a way in which you have to think that the
path is the goal, and there’s a way in which you have to think the
path is not the goal. The path leads to the goal, so they’re two
separate things. The way in which the path is the goal is that you
have to pay full …
… It’s because we’re stupid in so many ways that we suffer so much. When craving arises, it damages people all around us. This is why we should develop the causes for happiness and ease, so as to prevent these kinds of dangers—for when difficulties arise, the mind will start spinning in all sorts ways that will cause us to suffer.
For …
… Lord, just as in the Middle Country (we use) eraka grass, moragū grass, majjāru grass, and jantu grass: In the same way, lord, in Avantī and the Southern Route, (they use) hide-coverings: sheepskin, goatskin, deerskin.
appevanāma bhagavā avantidakkhiṇāpathe cammāni attharaṇāni anujāneyya eḷakacammaṁ ajacammaṁ migacammaṁ
“‘Perhaps the Blessed One would allow, in Avantī and the Southern Route, hide-coverings:
sheepskin, goatskin, deerskin.
(Mv.V …
… You have to be
willing to look at ways in which you’ve been dishonest with
yourself—ways in which you’ve been lying to yourself, ways in which
you’ve been careless, heedless—and not get knocked over by them. You
need to have the strength inside to admit the truth of these things so
that you can actually deal with them. Because …
Generating Desire | Bases of Success : Six Dhamma Talks on the Iddhipādas
… 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 …
MvV: cammakkhandhako
… Lord, just as in the Middle Country (we use) eraka grass, moragū grass, majjāru grass, and jantu grass: In the same way, lord, in Avantī and the Southern Route, (they use) hide-coverings: sheepskin, goatskin, deerskin. appevanāma bhagavā avantidakkhiṇāpathe cammāni attharaṇāni anujāneyya eḷakacammaṁ ajacammaṁ migacammaṁ “‘Perhaps the Blessed One would allow, in Avantī and the Southern Route, hide-coverings: sheepskin, goatskin, deerskin. (Mv.V …
