Search results for: middle way
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- The Path of Adventure… We start somewhere in the middle. We come to the practice with some virtue, some concentration, some insight already. But we also come with a lot of other things that are not part of the path. They’re obstacles. Our virtue is not all around. Our concentration and insight are not all around. Sometimes there are little gaps, sometimes the gaps are enormous. So …
- Eight Principles… impact on the breath—because that’s another way of adjusting the breath: simply changing your perception of it. Visualizing the body as a sponge is one perception that can be helpful in opening up the breath energy. Or as Ajaan Fuang once recommended, you can visualize a column of breath energy in the middle of the body, from the head on down. Then …
- Chopping Off Thoughts… So think of it relaxing and staying relaxed all way through. You have to be very watchful here. If your attention slips away, things will tense up again immediately if that’s your normal way of doing things. So you’re reeducating the body in how to breathe, and at the same time reeducating your mind, getting the mind to stay in the present …
- The Stages of Meditation… And then you move up to the next section, say, the solar plexus, and then the middle of the chest, the base of the throat, the head, down the back, out the legs. Starting again at the back of the neck, go down the shoulders and out the arms until you’ve covered the whole body. You can go through the body this way …
- Harmless & Clearheaded… Try long breathing, short breathing, or longer or shorter, or more middling, deeper or more shallow. heavy or light or faster or slower. There are lots of ways of experimenting with the breath, which not only makes it more comfortable but also makes it more interesting to sit here. Here it is, this energy in your body that keeps you alive. It has a …
- Understanding Pain… It’s because the circulation isn’t going well in the back of the neck or in the middle of the back. This is why you start up there, at the top of the back, and think of the breath energy going all the way down the spine and out the leg. Wherever there’s tension that tends to tighten up in those areas …
- A Sense of Yourself… When Ajaan Lee got back to Bangkok and started looking into how this might succeed, he found out there was a senior monk in Bangkok who stood in the way, saying that if he—the senior monk—was not involved in the project, it wasn’t going to succeed. Ajaan Lee knew that he didn’t have that many connections in the bureaucracy, so …
- Setbacks… If you lack that conviction, then no matter what, you get stuck in someplace and think, “Well this is it! No way out.” And you give up. You’re lost. But if you’re convinced there must be a way out, that gives you the chance to find it. In that way, in spite of your setbacks, you learn. If you’ve been through …
- Right Inner Speech… Exactly how much renunciation is involved? Where is that Middle Way right now? That takes experience to see. You experiment and then see what results you get. Everybody wants to hear the quick and easy formula for figuring out how much is enough. Well, there is no quick and easy formula. You have to experiment; you have to be willing to try different approaches …
- Eyes in the Back of Your Head… This way makes it easier to develop that balance between the center and the full-body awareness. First you have to go through the body. Notice where the blockages are. But before you look at the blockages, first you’ve got to get at least one spot that feels good. Maintain that steady sense of fullness all the way through the in-breath, all …
Non-Reactive Judgment
… They can dress themselves up and disguise themselves in all kinds of ways. Laziness in particular can dress itself up like the Dhamma and say, “Well, the Buddha said for you to follow the middle way. It’s leads to a sense of ease, so the path itself should be easeful, too.” But then you think of all the paths you’ve encountered in …- Three Recollections… the fact that someone was able to find the way to the end of suffering and able to teach it to others. You can take heart in that. You can also reflect on the Dhamma. The Dhamma is available to all. And it teaches us a path that, as they say, is good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end …
- Holding On to the Path… And there’s a way in which you could say that there are things you have to be attached to, things you have to desire. Desire does play a role in the path. It’s a part of right effort. You have to want to let go of unskillful qualities and you have to want to develop skillful ones. It’s written in the …
- Birth Is Suffering… The purpose of this is to pull you out of the different sides of conflicts in a way that’s not escapist, in a way that actually is good for the people involved in the conflict. If you can help get them out, too, then you’re happy to do it. Then finally, resolve on harmlessness, which the Buddha basically says is equivalent to …
- Guardian Meditations… You have to think your way to stillness, think your way to a place in the mind where the mind is willing to stop its thinking and settle down. There are lots of different lists of topics in the commentaries—40 different meditation topics in all. And there’s a standard list that’s very popular in Thailand. It’s called the guardian meditations …
- Significance… You show some responsibility when you do, when you’ve acted in a way that doesn’t harm anyone. That’s really significant. That’s something we should learn how to appreciate more and more. There is room for individual expression. You look at the different perfections, and generosity in particular: There are lots of different ways you can be generous. The Buddha placed …
Ten Perfections
II. Truth
… the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. In the same way, the statement of the brahmans turns out to be a row of blind men, as it were: the first one doesn’t see, the middle one doesn’t see, the last one doesn’t see. So what do you think, Bhāradvāja: this …Show one additional result in this book- Calm in the Storm… down through the head, down through the neck, the torso, and right in the middle of the body. As you breathe in, the breath goes into that line from all directions, and as you breathe out, it goes out from that line in all directions. So see what way of conceiving or perceiving the breath energy is helpful for you right now. The breath …
- Things Aren’t as They Should Be… Let those with ears show forth their conviction.” When he went to teach the five brethren, even before he said anything about the middle way or the four noble truths, he said, “The deathless has been attained, and if you follow what I teach you, you can attain it, too.” When Sariputta heard a very short synopsis of the Buddha’s teachings and gained …
- 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 …
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