… One of the five major collections of suttas in the Pāli Canon, containing suttas of middle (majjhima) length.
Mettā: Goodwill; benevolence. One of the four brahmavihāras.
Nibbāna: Literally, the “unbinding” of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and …
… was born in the Middle Country, the Ariyaka race, the noble warrior class, & the Gotama lineage.
Sakya-putto Sakya-kulā pabbajito, sadevake loke samārake sabrahmake, sassamaṇa-brāhmaṇiyā pajāya sadeva-manussāya, anuttaraṁ sammā-sambodhiṁ abhisambuddho.
A member of the Sakyan clan, he left his Sakyan family, went forth into the homeless life, & attained Right Self-Awakening unsurpassed in the cosmos with its Devas, Māras, & Brahmās …
… After all, this is the middle way we’re
practicing. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of balancing between
extremes, but it’s also learning how to combine different qualities
that seem to conflict. After all, the mind is a complex thing. The
needs of the mind in training are complex. And this is not a onefold
path. Even with the practice of exercising …
… the middle of the chest to the large intestine, the rectum, and out into the air.
Once you’ve completed these five turns inside the body, let the breath flow along the outside of the body:
As you take an in-and-out breath, think of inhaling the breath at the base of the skull and letting it go all the way down the …
… The way it explains these has to do with kasina practice, but the terms have been adopted for other types of concentration as well. And because these terms are not explained in the Canon, different ajaans have come up with different ways of describing them.
One common explanation says that momentary concentration is your ordinary, everyday concentration where you listen to someone speak and …
… One way to work toward it is to move your focus around
deliberately, stay with, say, the center of the chest for a while and
then move down to the abdomen or start at the abdomen and move up the
centerline in front of the body: stomach, middle of the chest, the
base of the throat, middle of the head, and then down on …
… If there was no mistake, no harm, then take joy in the
practice—joy in the fact that you’ve acted in a harmless way, you’re
learning, you’re progressing in the path—and continue trying to
progress.
Now, obviously this applies to outside actions, but it also applies to
your meditation. As you settle down with the breath, this is what
directed …
… Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering.”
“Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama—through …
… Think of a lit candle in the middle of an otherwise dark room. The flame of the candle is in one spot, but its light fills the entire room. You want your awareness to be centered but broad in just the same way. Your sense of awareness may have a tendency to shrink—especially as you breathe out—so remind yourself with every breath …
… The way you keep the breath in mind, that’s mindfulness. Then you’re
alert to how the breath is going, knowing when it comes in, knowing
when it goes out, sticking with it all away as it comes in, sticking
with it all the way as it goes out, making sure you stay with it as
consistently as possible. That’s the quality …
… Try to stay with the breath all
the way in, all the way out.
Allow it to be comfortable. Think of the whole body breathing: your
eyes, your brain, your neck, your lungs, your stomach, your legs, your
arms. Every part is letting the energy flow and is nourished by the
energy.
If your mind wanders off, just bring it right back. This is …
… Choose to breathe in a way or choose to focus in a way
that gives rise to a sense of well-being. Choose to maintain that
well-being. Keep your thoughts thinking in the terms of right
mindfulness: body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities.
As for the stories that would pull you away, learn to use the Buddha’s
teachings on time. When he …
… What kind of mind states are skillful, devoid of passion, aversion,
delusion? How are you going to find them? Well, through this middle
way.
The other role for pain, of course, is that it’s part of the first
noble truth of pain in the mind. That’s the problem the Buddha’s going
to solve. That’s what the four noble truths are …
… Right
concentration is a skill showing that there is a way to find happiness
that doesn’t require sensuality.
When the Buddha talks about the Middle Way, he’s not saying it’s just
a feeling halfway between pleasure and pain. It’s a different kind of
devotion to pleasure. He says the devotion to sensual pleasure is one
extreme and the devotion to …
… This was the middle way: a sense of well-being that had no bad
results at all. There was nothing blameworthy about it. It didn’t harm
anybody and it didn’t make the mind intoxicated. This is the kind of
pleasure the Buddha recommends.
When he talks about renunciation, it usually sounds like we’re going
to have to do without. But it …
… the middle of the forehead; the top of the head; base of the
throat; just above the navel. That relieved a lot of the tiredness, as
other muscles pitched in.
So, there’s a lot to explore here. This is one of the ways of
developing concentration: You develop it through interest. The Pali
term, citta, literally means mind, but it can also mean …
… So you want to give the mind a place where it’s right there in the
middle, not spinning around with everything else. This is what the
breath provides.
You watch it coming in, going out, and you have the right to decide
what kind of breathing feels good. The breath is one of the bodily
processes you can have some control over, so …
… your nose, the middle of your head, the middle of the chest, whichever point feels most comfortable. Focus on that point and shelter it from other influences. In other words, other thoughts may come to the mind but you don’t latch on to them, don’t let them cause that little flame to waver. Protect it, the same way you’d cup a …
… One way or another, your family will have to learn to fend for themselves.”
§ On his first visit to Wat Dhammasathit, a middle-aged man was surprised to see an American monk. He asked Ajaan Fuang, “How is it that Westerners can ordain?”
Ajaan Fuang’s answer: “Don’t Westerners have hearts?”
§ A Bangkok magazine once carried the serialized autobiography of a lay meditator …
… The way to find out which is which, of course, is by experimenting.
This approach applies to everything inside and out. When you’re dealing with other people, one extreme is that you’re responsible for their behavior, the other is that you’re not responsible for their behavior at all. The middle way is to say, “How about if I change the way …
Glossary | Facing Aging, Illness, & Death
… One of the five major collections of suttas in the Pāli Canon, containing suttas of middle (majjhima) length. Mettā: Goodwill; benevolence. One of the four brahmavihāras. Nibbāna: Literally, the “unbinding” of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and …
SN 12:48 Lokāyatika Sutta | The Cosmologist
… Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering.” “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama—through …
