… 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 …
… You want to get to know the filtering process very well, so you can recognize when it’s filtering things in an accurate and useful way, and when it’s filtering them in a harmful way that gives rise to suffering.
So we focus on the breath not simply as a means for getting the mind to settle down and be still, but also …
… It basically lays things out, and in an honorable way.
As the Buddha said, it’s admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end. In other words, the words of the Dhamma are inspiring. The practice is a noble practice, one in which we engage in developing the noble qualities of our own minds. And the end result is total …
… That’s one way you have to look for a balance so that contentment and being unburdensome follow the middle way of moderation.
Another set of balancing qualities are contentment on the one hand, and shedding pride and being modest on the other. Some people like to make a show of how frugal they are. This, the Buddha said, is the danger of developing …
… You can look at the Buddha’s teachings as advice on how to
fabricate all these three kinds of fabrication in skillful ways.
He even gives you instructions on how to breathe: Breathe in a way
that makes you sensitive to rapture, sensitive to pleasure; breathe in
a way where you’re aware of the whole body; breathe in a way where you
gladden …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… In the same way when you practice, you’re the one who’s responsible.
The Buddha tells you what works—what’s good for the mind, what’s bad
for the mind—but it’s up to you to follow the instructions. The path
he lays out is very similar to the three kinds of treatment you get
when you go to, say, a …
… You’re
crossing a river and you get to an island in the middle of the river.
The river has the potential to flood, but you’ve got an island that’s
high enough, so that even when it floods, you’re not swept away. But
it’s a way station on the way to the other side.
What does it mean to practice …
… 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 …
… whatever perceptions you have of the breath, whatever ways you have of conceiving the breath. That’s an effective way of getting the mind to settle down: simply by holding that perception in mind. You pay attention, which is another element of form. You’ve got the intention to stay. And then you’ve got the feeling that arises when you try to create …
… 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 …
… Some people arrive at the attitude of “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die,” as if that were the best way to spend your time in the light of death. Wisdom requires more than just thinking about death. It also requires thinking about your potential as a human being, your potential for happiness, where that potential truly lies, and what you …
… Sometimes it lands on this end, sometimes it lands on that end,
sometimes it lands splat in the middle. Why?
In the course of the second knowledge, he saw that it was because of
the karma of beings. Stated simply: Those who acted on skillful
intentions tended to go to good destinations. Those who acted on
unskillful intentions went to bad. It’s made …
… 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 …
… Think about and
evaluate the breath so that there’s a sense of ease and well-being in
the way you breathe. This is how you get the mind into concentration.
Concentration is part of the path. When you practice the path, that’s
called paying homage through the practice—patipatti-puja—the kind of
homage the Buddha preferred.
Tonight’s Asalha Puja. We …
… Down the shoulders, down the
arms, in the middle of the torso. What we’re trying to develop here is
whole-body awareness. The sense of ease fills the body, your awareness
fills the body, and in Ajaan Lee’s phrase, you “use the breath as the
solvent to get the ease to spread throughout the body.”
Then you try to maintain this. This …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… The ability to question and test one’s beliefs in an appropriate way is called appropriate attention. The ability to recognize and chose wise people as mentors is called having admirable friends. According to Iti 16–17, these are, respectively, the most important internal and external factors for attaining the goal of the practice. For further thoughts on how to test a belief in …
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 …
AN 3:66 Kālāma Sutta | To the Kālāmas
… The ability to question and test one’s beliefs in an appropriate way is called appropriate attention. The ability to recognize and chose wise people as mentors is called having admirable friends. According to Iti 16–17, these are, respectively, the most important internal and external factors for attaining the goal of the practice. For further thoughts on how to test a belief in …
