… Notice what that does to your sense of what’s a comfortable way of
breathing, because sometimes a way of breathing that feels comfortable
when you’re focused on one spot doesn’t feel so comfortable when
you’re aware of the body as a whole. Think of the breathing as a
whole-body process.
There are lots of different ways of approaching this …
… Now, there are several ways of doing this. One is to banish all the
unskillful members. That’s what you have to do in the beginning: If
any unskillful thought comes up, you just say, “No, no, no. I am not
going there.” Sometimes you have to reinforce that determination with
reasons. As the Buddha said, one of the ways of dealing with
unskillful …
… After all, it’s all about the
middle way, right?” But the question about moderation in observing the
precepts: The precepts themselves already describe a moderate way of
life, a moderate path of practice, so you want to be strict in
adhering to them. That’s how you stay right there in the moderate
spot.
When things start going overboard is when you start …
… But
if they see only one or two cases and then go out and say, “This is
the way it is in every case,” they can develop all kinds of wrong
views. Someone who sees the person who behaved in unskillful ways but
goes to a good destination will say, “There are no results of good or
bad actions.” Other people who see someone …
Thinking Your Way to Stillness
January 8, 2009
There’s a common perception that meditation doesn’t involve any thinking. You just force the mind to stay alert in the present moment and refuse to get involved in any thoughts at all. Then it will settle down. That approach works for some people in some circumstances, but not for everyone. This is why the …
… in different ways. As I said, first there’s just the energy
flowing through the body, then you perceive the breath as originating
in the body, then you allow it to spread smoothly. You think of that
sense of radiating energy from any of the resting spots that Ajaan Lee
talked about—the tip of the nose, the palate, the middle of the head …
… So if you feel any discomfort from the breath, think of different ways
of breathing in. Even if you’re not sure that the discomfort is
actually coming from the breath, think about different ways of
breathing to test it; and think about different ways of perceiving the
breath to test that as well. Then look at what the Buddha calls verbal
fabrication – the …
… So hold it just right,
all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-.
Try to find what kind of rhythm and texture of breathing feels best
right now. If you’re feeling tired, you may want to breathe in a way
that’s more energizing. If you’re feeling tense and stressed out, you
may want to breathe in …
… right above the navel, the base of the
throat, the tip of the breastbone, the middle of the head, top of the
head. Think of breath energy emanating from any one of those spots,
and if anything seems to be getting in the way of its spreading, let
it dissolve away so that the breath energy flows smoothly throughout
the entire body: That’s …
… Ajaan Fuang once noted that we now have lots of books on meditation, lots of explanations, and in some ways it’s a help, but in other ways it’s a hindrance — a hindrance in that many of our perceptions and memories picked up from books and Dhamma talks clutter up the present moment. They actually get in the way of seeing what’s …
… Either the life force was identical with the body, thus allowing no way for rebirth to occur after the body dies; or else there was a soul or life force separate from the body, which either died along with the body or else survived death. Yet when the Buddha’s contemporaries pressed him to take sides on this question and related questions, he consistently …
… But the
Buddha had to make those mistakes before he was able to find the
middle way.
And it wasn’t the case that after six years of really strong effort,
he just gave up and said, “Well, effort doesn’t get anywhere. Let’s
have a practice of no effort.” Fortunately, he didn’t go in that
direction. If he had, we probably …
… Try to master just these issues of bodily, verbal and mental
fabrication, seeing them as processes, not so much as your old ways of
talking to yourself, your old ways of perceiving things, or even your
old ways of breathing. If you get the “you” out of the way, the “me”
out of the way, you find there’s a lot to play with …
… success in doing detailed work, with a sense of urgency, but also with
a sense of patience, because each of the bases for success has to be
done in a balanced way. We are, after all, on a middle way here, and
that requires a lot of discernment.
If we were on a path that involved a lot of extremes—say, just do
without …
… men, women, children, young, old, middle-aged,
wealthy, poor, sick, healthy, smart, dumb in the ways of the world.
But they’ve all taken the practice and they taken it to heart, and
they have all been able to benefit from it in the ways that the Buddha
promised.
At some point in their practice they all had the same strengths and
weaknesses that …
… Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: “Well now, great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?”
“Just now, lord, I was engaged in the sort of royal …
… If he’d gone forth in the middle of his life, he would have become a non-returner, a stream enterer. In other words, he could have guaranteed that he wouldn’t have to fall to lower realms. But he never got around to practicing, out of sheer laziness and heedlessness. So his opportunity was wasted. He had the potential but he wasted it …
… It’s a good image to hold in mind, because once the way you
breathe does develop a sense of ease, well-being, then you try to work
that sense of ease and well-being through the body, leaving no dry
patches.
In the beginning, the body’s going to resist a little bit, because
there will be patterns of tension here and there …
… Could there be another way? Because self-torment obviously wasn’t getting results.
He recollected a time when he was a child and had naturally entered the first jhana. He asked himself, “Could this be the way?” And something inside him said, “Yes.” “If so, why am I afraid of that pleasure?” Because prior to that he had lumped all pleasure together as bad …
… good in the beginning, good in the middle, good
in the end. The Buddha never asked you to do anything mean or spiteful
or ignoble. The path builds on good qualities and it creates good
results.
So even if you don’t go all the way to the end of the path, it’s a
good path to be on.
5 : An Appropriate Frame | The Truth of Rebirth
… Either the life force was identical with the body, thus allowing no way for rebirth to occur after the body dies; or else there was a soul or life force separate from the body, which either died along with the body or else survived death. Yet when the Buddha’s contemporaries pressed him to take sides on this question and related questions, he consistently …
