Search results for: middle way

  1. Page 26
  2. A Noble Path
     … As the Buddha says, it’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end. As with any path, there are going to be difficulties along the way. He never promised that it would be easy. But it’s always good. That’s why it’s worth sticking with it. As he said, even if tears are running down your cheeks … 
  3. Respect, Confidence, & Patience
     … Step back a bit, learn to laugh at yourself in a good-humored way—not in a sarcastic way, but a good- humored way, a sympathetic way—and then get on with the practice. You’ll find then that things go a lot better. So all of this comes under the issue of right attitude. It’s not listed as one of the factors … 
  4. On Not Twisting the Cow’s Horn
     … There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way. The right way is to pull on the udder. The wrong way is to twist the horn. Now, suppose you’ve been twisting the horn for a long time and somebody says, “Hey, twisting the horn doesn’t get any results.” So you stop twisting the horn and say, “Well, this is pretty … 
  5. A Frame of Reference
     … The more sensitive you are to the breath, the more you stay with the breath all the way in, all the way out, trying to make it comfortable, all the way in, all the way out, then the better the meditation will go. If any part of the breath starts getting too long, just allow it then to turn around. If it’s been … 
  6. On Deserving to Be Happy
     … You don’t know when you’re going to get there, but you know that you have to follow this path very carefully, because it is a middle way. If it were a path of extremes, it would be easy. Just go for extreme effort. Pull out all the stops. Those who are the strongest would win. But it’s not that way. As … 
  7. Inner Negotiating Skills
     … It’s useful, when you see your defilements, to be able to laugh at them—not in a nasty way, but just in a good-humored, “This is the way human nature is” kind of way. It’s always good to have that attitude at the back of your mind. When you’re confident that this battle can be won, then you can approach … 
  8. Book search result icon The Wings to Awakening B. Persistence
     … If a man were to open watercourses leading off from both sides, the current in the middle of the river would be interrupted, diverted, & dispersed. The river would not go far, its current would not be swift, and it would not carry everything with it. In the same way, if a monk has not rid himself of these five hindrances… there is no possibility … 
    Show 6 additional results in this book
  9. Friends with the Breath
     … Unlike ordinary ways of thinking, which simply entangle you, these ways of thinking disentangle the tangle. Sometimes they cut right through. If you worked at minutely disentangling every single tangle in your mind, there’d never be an end to it. So you use these ways of thinking as knives to cut right through everything, to come right here to the breath, because this … 
  10. Page search result icon Thoughts About Thinking
     … Any issues you may have had with people during the day, get them out of the way, because you’re trying to give the mind a place it can settle down in, right here, right now. And you don’t want those attitudes to be getting in the way. If you’re worried about issues in the future, remind yourself: The best way to … 
  11. Book search result icon Mindful of the Body III. The Advantages of Mindfulness Immersed in the Body
     … Whenever the Tathāgata merges his body with his mind and his mind with his body, and remains having alighted on the perception of ease and buoyancy with regard to the body, then his body becomes lighter, more pliant, more malleable, & more radiant. “Just as when an iron ball heated all day becomes lighter, more pliant, more malleable, & more radiant; in the same way, whenever … 
    Show one additional result in this book
  12. Putting Out the Fires
     … They mean freedom—freedom from the way the mind has allowed itself to be enslaved, freedom from the way it’s constantly kept in the dark, freedom from all agitation, freedom from its own clinging. When you taste the sense of well-being that comes from that freedom and you look at whatever pleasure happiness that came out of giving in to your defilements … 
  13. Tranquility & Insight in Tandem
     … That way, you can watch what’s going on and watch it in a way that gives rise to a sense of well-being. This part of the path is really important, because if you don’t have that sense of pleasure, that sense of refreshment as you meditate, it’s very easy to wander off. At the same time, you’re not getting … 
  14. Rebirth & Not-Self
     … It might be down in the chest, in the throat, in the middle of the head. Once you’re found your spot, watch over it. As you direct your thoughts to the breath, you can also evaluate it to figure out what feels good, what feels best, what kinds of perceptions are best, what ways of breathing are best, so that you can settle … 
  15. The Path to Stream Entry
     … It’s the pilings in the middle of the river, where the current is strongest, that are really hard to get in place. In the same way, the principles of the precepts or virtue are not that hard. The principles of discernment are not that hard, either. It’s the concentration that requires a lot of work. In other words, the factors of right … 
  16. A Healthy Attitude Toward Happiness
     … down into your bones, down into the middle of the brain, working through any tension that might be lurking there inside. If that feels good, keep it up. If it doesn’t, you have all kinds of other ways of breathing you can test: in-long/out-short, in-short/out-long, in-short/out-short, deep or shallow, heavy or light, fast or … 
  17. Instructions for a New Monk
     … At the end of his period of austerities, he had the wisdom to realize that there must be some other way. He was willing to abandon the pride that develops around the practice of austerities and was able to find the middle way. That was his wisdom. His purity lay in the fact that once he had seen what had to be done, he … 
  18. The Dhamma Eye
     … He basically taught them the noble eightfold path, and especially explained the first factor of the path, explaining it as a middle way between the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-torment. And explained the four noble truths as the first factor of the path. It was just after the explanation of those four truths and the duties appropriate to each that Koṇḍañña … 
  19. Book search result icon The Sublime Attitudes Readings
     … I discerned, as it had come to be, that ‘This is stress… This is the origination of stress… This is the cessation of stress… This is the way leading to the cessation of stress… These are effluents… This is the origination of effluents… This is the cessation of effluents… This is the way leading to the cessation of effluents.’ My heart, thus knowing, thus … 
    Show 2 additional results in this book
  20. Life Well Lived
     … Then you can turn back to look at the movies again., until you can see through the way the mind deceives itself, the way it deludes itself. In that way, you’re in control. Once you’re in control, it’s a lot easier to live life the way you want it to be lived, to do with your life what you really want … 
  21. High-Level Dhamma
     … But it’s not the case that you go straight to those things without having to muck around with your defilements, because the defilements are going to get in the way one way or another. Because our habit is to deal unskillfully with whatever comes up, then when the results of skillful actions come and are nice, we tend to get complacent—an unskillful … 
  22. Load next page...