… We’re looking for patterns—patterns in our behavior that
are unskillful—and for ways in which we can change our behavior so
it’s more skillful. For that, you have to look at your actions over
time and try to do them well, which is why there’s the ardency in
there.
There’s a strange passage in the Commentary, where it tries …
… Find some way to psych yourself up for this.
And one of the ways to do that, of course, is to think about the fact that the Buddha really was an admirable human being and there are so few admirable people in this world. You should treasure those who are. Think of the passage we chanted just now: “The Buddha is immeasurable.” The qualities …
… But the question is, where
does the teaching actually make a difference? Where does it really
help? Probably the most useful formulation of emptiness is one of the
earliest ones, where the Buddha talks about emptiness being a way of
perceiving in which you don’t add to or take anything away from what’s
really right here, right now.
We spend most of …
… From the skin all the way into the bones, it’s
breath. You’re sitting here in the middle of it, allowing it to come
in and go out like the waves at the edge of the ocean. There’ll be
some variety. You notice with ocean waves that they don’t all come
regularly; there’s an irregular rhythm to them. And the …
… He talks about the
middle way, developing all the eight factors of the noble path from
right view on through right concentration. Right view starts right in
with the issue of suffering. There is stress, there is suffering,
there is pain. He’s not saying life is suffering. He’s just saying
simply that there is suffering. We can’t deny that. And from …
… This way isn’t the path; that way isn’t the path—so we take the middle as our constant preoccupation.
If we can gain release from pleasure and pain, this will appear as the path. Our mind will step into it and know, but it can’t yet go all the way. So it withdraws to continue practicing.
When pleasure arises and we …
… It’s in this way that you learn how to use your perceptions—and how to change your perceptions so that they actually are conducive to settling down.
As you work with the breath in this way, you’ll find that there are lots of different levels. It’s like the water table at Wat Asokaram. They dug their wells in a very unlikely …
… But there is a middle way between intending and telling yourself not to intend, and that’s the escape. What allows for the escape is dispassion. It’s the point where you lose interest in this mud house, and you make it unfit for play. In other words, you take the mind to where it’s not going to build mud houses anymore.
You …
… You do it because this is the only way
to escape the suffering that can come when aging and illness start
closing in.
When the results aren’t coming as fast as you’d like, you find ways of
encouraging yourself. This is where the conviction comes in again.
When the results do go well, you try to figure out ways of putting
them …
… There’s the way you breathe,
there’s the way you talk to yourself, the images, the perceptions you
hold in mind. You have to realize that you can breathe in different
ways, you can talk to yourself in different ways, you can hold
different perceptions in mind.
I was listening to a “Dhamma talk” a while back where someone was
saying that if …
… I want my feelings to be like that,” and expect them to be that way.
Simply telling them to do things doesn’t necessarily make them do it.
You can tell the body not to grow old, but it doesn’t listen to you.
If you gain a sense of peace in the concentration and you say, “I want
this to last. I don …
… It’s a good way to get out of your head and down into the body. Give yourself a good comfortable place to stay and be aware of the breath coming in, aware of the breath going out. Notice how the breathing feels in different parts of the body, because the breathing is a whole-body process. If it’s not a whole-body …
… See what different kinds of breathing there are, and which
ways of breathing have the best effect on the body, best effect on the
mind. This gives you something to explore, something to get interested
in, something to get intrigued about. Something as simple as the
breath can have such an impact on your health, your body, the mood of
the mind. And as …
… Part of the middle way that he ultimately formulated was the set of principles expressed in MN 101:
You don’t load yourself down unnecessarily with pain.
You don’t reject pleasures that are in accord with the Dhamma.
You’re careful not to be infatuated with those pleasures.
But you’re willing to endure pain when you find that pursuing even seemingly innocent …
… So staying in touch with the breath is an excellent way of getting yourself in touch with what’s going on with the mind.
At the same time, being in touch with the breath is the best way of staying in touch with how the body’s faring. If, when you’re eating, you stay in touch with the breath, you get a better …
… My father accompanied me as far as the middle of a field. There, when we had said our goodbyes, we parted ways.
That day I walked, passing the town of Muang Saam Sib, all the way to Ubon. On my arrival, I was told that Ajaan Mun was staying at the village of Kut Laad, a little over ten kilometers outside the city. Again …
… Even though the present moment
may not be all that good, you can’t let that get in the way. In fact,
that’s a lot of what it means to dig down into the present moment:
getting past the things that are not good, and finding what potentials
you have there that really are worthwhile.
Think of the breath—who would have thought …
… the middle of the head—or wherever you feel that the breath, as you breathe in, seems to come from that spot. After all, the breath is not so much the air coming in and out of the lungs. The air on its own wouldn’t be doing anything. No matter how strong the wind outside, the air can’t push its way into …
… And this is one way
of analyzing things. Try to figure out what way of breathing is
skillful right now, what way is not skillful. That’s the Buddha’s
basic recommendation for how to analyze qualities: to ask that
question of what’s skillful and what’s not.
A couple of years back, I was talking to a group of people from up …
… I’d be embarrassed to die
in the middle of this thought or this concern or this worry,
whatever.” It helps you step outside.
Then you can develop the alternative potentials. You can breathe in a
soothing way. You can remind yourself of topics that calm you down.
And those potentials are always there. That’s what you’ve got to
remember. We tend …
Becoming a Samaṇa | Still, Flowing Water: Eight Dhamma Talks
… This way isn’t the path; that way isn’t the path—so we take the middle as our constant preoccupation. If we can gain release from pleasure and pain, this will appear as the path. Our mind will step into it and know, but it can’t yet go all the way. So it withdraws to continue practicing. When pleasure arises and we …
