… You find
yourself facing a wall, you’ve got to figure out, “Well, maybe there’s
some way around the wall. Maybe I’ve created the wall. How can I
un-create it? How can I stop doing the things that create the wall?”
Because remember, look at things as actions. That’s one of the most
useful ways of looking at the problems …
… If you didn’t stop, you’d think this was the normal way the mind has
to be. Look around you: This is the way everybody else’s minds are, so
you begin to think, “Well this is the way it has to be.” But it
doesn’t have to be.
As you get the mind more and more still, you begin to realize …
… What would be the most effective way of stopping that kind of behavior? The most effective way is rarely the route of anger. There are more subtle ways, more indirect ways, that are much more effective, much more lasting. But they’re not going to occur to you if you’re boiling over with indignation.
You may come to realize that you actually use …
… The Sakyan capital city,
Kapilavatthu, was located in the northwest of the Ariyan
world—the middle Ganges valley.1 The following passage states
that the bodhisatta’s father was a king
(rājan), but it has to be
borne in mind that this title was used not only by rulers who
would count as “king” in the modern sense, but also by the
oligarchs in …
… Ajaan Fuang would often say, “Don’t let the external wat get
in the way of your internal wat.” In other words, the concerns of
making things nice outside, nice food, nice place to stay, nice
whatever: If they start getting in the way of your meditation, you’ve
got to cut back. So you have to look all around you. As Ajaan Lee …
… Knowing which ways of breathing are uncomfortable, knowing how to vary the breath; knowing, “That way of breathing is uncomfortable; we’ll have to breathe like this in order to feel at ease”: This is Right Resolve.
The mental factors that think about and properly evaluate all aspects of the breath are Right Speech.
Knowing various ways of improving the breath; breathing, for example …
… in the middle of a web.
Usually the spider is off to one side of the web, but it’s sensitive
to what’s going on in the entire web. Wherever a fly or other insect
comes and gets caught in the web, the spider immediately goes there,
deals with it, then returns to its original spot.
In the same way, you have your …
… Right livelihood means that we make our living in ways that are not
harmful to anyone, that don’t exploit anyone unfairly; in ways that
are honest. We choose honest ways of making a living because the way
we make a living permeates through our whole life. So that’s another
topic we can reflect on. Are there any areas in our livelihood that …
… This way you can observe your state of concentration.
The Buddha recommends lots of ways you can observe it. Look for whatever you can recognize as form, feeling, perception, thought construct, or consciousness within the concentration, and then contemplate its behavior. One simple way is contemplating the activity of perception. To what extent does the perception you’re using as a marker for your …
… end; sometimes it landed splat
in the middle. It all seemed pretty random. It wasn’t until he had
enlarged his view and was able to see the process happening to all
beings that he could see a pattern.
So to understand your mind, you have to be willing to sit with it in
the same way that you have a child and you …
… bodily
fabrication—the way you breathe; verbal fabrication—technically, it’s
directed thought and evaluation, but in plain terms, it’s the way you
talk to yourself; and then mental fabrication—perception and feelings.
As you look at the Buddha’s teachings, you can see that a lot of them
have to do with instructions on how to fabricate all these things more
skillfully …
… In the same way, when a disciple of the noble ones is consummate in virtue in this way, guards the doors to his sense faculties in this way, knows moderation in eating in this way, is devoted to wakefulness in this way, is endowed with seven qualities in this way, and obtains at will—without trouble or difficulty—the four jhānas that constitute heightened …
… On the role of moderation and discernment in the practice: “The Middles of the Middle Way” in Beyond All Directions
On the meaning of mindfulness: “Mindfulness Defined” in Head & Heart Together; “The Agendas of Mindfulness” in The Karma of Questions
On the element of play in the practice: “The Joy of Effort” in Head & Heart Together; “Joy in Effort” in Meditations5
It’s often …
… Again, we tend to delight the other way around. We delight in
our cravings; we delight in our defilements. We don’t take much
delight in working at making the mind more responsible, making it more
trustworthy.
So you have to learn how to think in terms that counteract that old
tendency. It’s good that you’re able to sit here and find …
… This is why our practice sways back and forth, like a tree in the middle of an open field, swaying back and forth in the wind. If we don’t discover the enduring principle within us, we won’t be able to find anything to act as a true refuge—for our training and education are simply supporting factors.
This is why we should …
… So breathe in a refreshing way,
breathe in a comfortable way, in a nourishing way. After a while, the
mind will settle in, and both body and mind will begin to feel
refreshed. When you’re refreshed and nourished like this, it’s a lot
easier for the mind to look at things in an unbiased way.
The concentration is necessary, but sometimes it …
… He said that it’s like
seeing someone out in the middle of the desert by the side of the
road, sick, unable to care for himself. Regardless of who he is,
you’ve got to feel compassion for him. In other words, the person
who’s horrible in every way is creating a lot of bad karma for him or
herself. You’ve …
… Why is that? Because his small body doesn’t find a footing in the depth.
“In the same way, whoever would say, ‘I, without having gained concentration, will spend time in isolated wilderness & forest lodgings,’ of him it can be expected that he will sink to the bottom or float away.
“Imagine, Upāli, a stupid baby boy, lying on his back, playing with his …
… In the same way, once you accept the fact that the processes leading to suffering are complex, you appreciate the usefulness of the maps provided by dependent co-arising: They point out precisely where in the processes you can make a difference, so that causal patterns can be directed away from suffering and toward its end.
We can see this clearly in the way …
… He makes known—having realized it through direct knowledge—this world with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk; he explains the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, admirable in the end; he expounds the holy life both in its particulars & in its essence, entirely perfect, surpassingly pure. It’s good to see such a …
Birth | Noble Warrior : A Life of the Buddha
… The Sakyan capital city, Kapilavatthu, was located in the northwest of the Ariyan world—the middle Ganges valley.1 The following passage states that the bodhisatta’s father was a king (rājan), but it has to be borne in mind that this title was used not only by rulers who would count as “king” in the modern sense, but also by the oligarchs in …
MN 53 Sekha-paṭipadā Sutta | The Practice for One in Training
… In the same way, when a disciple of the noble ones is consummate in virtue in this way, guards the doors to his sense faculties in this way, knows moderation in eating in this way, is devoted to wakefulness in this way, is endowed with seven qualities in this way, and obtains at will—without trouble or difficulty—the four jhānas that constitute heightened …
