|
5d67648
|
Deeply buried in the mind, there lies a mechanism that accepts what the mind experiences as beautiful and pleasant and rejects those experiences that are perceived as ugly and painful. This mechanism gives rise to those states of mind that we are training ourselves to avoid-- things like greed, lust, hatred, aversion, and jealousy.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
d6111b3
|
Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
9b7265b
|
The irony of it is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it--another Catch-22.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
345fce3
|
Patience is the key. Patience. If you learn nothing else from meditation, you will learn patience. Patience is essential for any profound change.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
c256a49
|
Buddhism advises you not to implant feelings that you don't really have or avoid feelings that you do have. If you are miserable you are miserable; that is the reality, that is what is happening, so confront that. Look it square in the eye without flinching. When you are having a bad time, examine that experience, observe it mindfully, study the phenomenon and learn its mechanics. The way out of a trap is to study the trap itself, learn how..
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
56e0148
|
Pain is inevitable, suffering is not.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
4602543
|
Don't set goals for yourself that are too high to reach. Be gentle with yourself. You are trying to follow your own breathing continuously and without a break. That sounds easy enough, so you will have a tendency at the outset to push yourself to be scrupulous and exacting. This is unrealistic. Take time in small units instead.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
7ea21ca
|
The crucial thing is to be mindful of what is occurring, not to control what is occurring.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
a87697d
|
Learning to look at each second as if it were the first and only second in the universe is essential in vipassana meditation.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
2f84c3d
|
Meditation changes your character by a process of sensitization, by making you deeply aware of your own thoughts, words, and deeds.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
6ef0ba4
|
Skillful thoughts, on the other hand, are those connected with generosity, compassion, and wisdom. They are skillful in the sense that they may be used as specific remedies for unskillful thoughts, and thus can assist you in moving toward liberation. You
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
fca32f0
|
A sense of failure is only another ephemeral emotional reaction. If you get involved, it feeds on your energy and grows. If you simply stand aside and watch it, it passes away.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
a703a18
|
You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option. You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of the endless cycle of desire and aversion. You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
285b2c3
|
Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. You may not be perfect, but you are all you've got to work with.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
36a3f30
|
Advanced meditators are generally found to be pretty jovial people. They possess one of the most valuable of all human treasures, a sense of humor.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
720895e
|
Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and helpless. No problem.
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
f58ed87
|
What you are now is the result of what you were. What you will be tomorrow will be the result of what you are now. The consequences of an evil mind will follow you like the cart follows the ox that pulls it. The consequences of a purified mind will follow you like your own shadow. No one can do more for you than your own purified mind--no parent, no relative, no friend, no one. A well-disciplined mind brings happiness.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
12f7559
|
Deep concentration has the effect of slowing down the thought process and speeding up the awareness viewing it. The result is the enhanced ability to examine the thought process. Concentration is our microscope for viewing subtle internal states.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
38798d1
|
In the same way, morality is not a ritualistic obedience to a code of behavior imposed by an external authority. It is rather a healthy habit pattern that you have consciously and voluntarily chosen to impose upon yourself because you recognize its superiority to your present behavior. The
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
a76ca7c
|
Vipassana meditation is a process by which that concept is dissolved. Little by little, you chip away at it, just by observing it.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
aa020b7
|
sizable number of students seems to feel that a person should be completely moral before beginning to meditate. It is an unworkable strategy. Morality requires a certain degree of mental control as a prerequisite. You can't follow any set of moral precepts without at least a little self-control, and if your mind is perpetually spinning like a fruit cylinder in a slot machine, self-control is highly unlikely. So mental culture has to come fi..
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
33bad4d
|
The meditation technique called vipassana (insight) that was introduced by the Buddha about twenty-five centuries ago is a set of mental activities specifically aimed at experiencing a state of uninterrupted mindfulness.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
a55b530
|
Distractions are really paper tigers. They have no power of their own. They need to be fed constantly, or else they die. If you refuse to feed them by your own fear, anger, and greed, they fade.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
d573d9a
|
Building concentration is primarily a matter of removing certain mental factors that hinder its application.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
c3f1c03
|
Concentration should be regarded as a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for ill. A sharp knife can be used to create a beautiful carving or to harm someone. It is all up to the one who uses the knife.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
355dfcf
|
Essentially, insight meditation is a practice of investigative personal discovery.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
5d35cea
|
The reason we are all stuck in life's mud is that we ceaselessly run from our problems and after our desires. Meditation provides us with a laboratory situation in which we can examine this syndrome and devise strategies for dealing with it.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
f34ea2d
|
A liberated person will indeed be generous and benevolent, but not because she has been conditioned to be so. She will be so purely as a manifestation of her own basic nature, which is no longer inhibited by ego.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
6a03439
|
Just because of the simple fact that you are human, you find yourself heir to an inherent unsatisfactoriness in life that simply will not go away.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
e5cb6c4
|
Generally, the last hindrance to leave the mind is hatred. When it is gone, metta arises naturally. The void is filled with feelings of friendliness toward everyone. When you no longer push things away, you naturally feel close to everything. You feel positive toward everybody. Everybody is your friend.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
342b1fb
|
Pain is inevitable, suffering is not. Pain and suffering are two different animals.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
17b4da7
|
In order to give your mind a little rest, you need to "forget" things deliberately from time to time. This is like draining all the energy from your batteries in order to fully recharge them. When you drain all the energy from the battery of your electronic device and recharge it, the battery lasts longer. Give some rest to your mind. Cease to think about all those duties and responsibilities for a little while."
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
f60c9f8
|
Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and helpless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
063ad6a
|
VIPASSANA MEDITATION is something of a mental balancing act. You are going to be cultivating two separate qualities of the mind--mindfulness and concentration.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
f621772
|
Mindfulness is our emergency kit, readily available at any time. When we face a situation in which we feel indignation, if we mindfully investigate our own mind, we will discover bitter truths about ourselves: for example, that we are selfish; we are egocentric; we are attached to our ego; we hold on to our opinions; we think we are right and everybody else is wrong; we are prejudiced; we are biased; and at the bottom of all of this, we do ..
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
39ae180
|
We can't examine our own depression without accepting it fully. The same is true for irritation and agitation, frustration, and all those other uncomfortable emotional states. You can't examine something fully if you are busy rejecting its existence.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
02cd6a2
|
And do not condemn yourself for having been distracted. Distractions are natural. They come and they go.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
5f89457
|
Everything is dangerous. No activity is entirely without risk, but that does not mean that we should wrap ourselves in a protective cocoon. That is not living, but is premature death. The way to deal with danger is to know approximately how much of it there is, where it is likely to be found, and how to deal with it when it arises.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
7437aca
|
May my enemies be well, happy, and peaceful; may no difficulties come to them; may no problem come to them; may they always meet with success. May they also have patience, courage, understanding, and determination to meet and overcome inevitable difficulties, problems, and failures in life.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
b46fdd5
|
Place no head above your own." By this he meant, don't just accept somebody else's word. See for yourself. We want you to apply this attitude to every word" --
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
c306dd8
|
With practice, this habit pattern replaces our normal habit of egoistic comparison and feels far more natural in the long run. We become very understanding people as a result. We no longer get upset by the "failings" of others. We progress toward harmony with all life."
|
|
|
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana |
|
18ee970
|
The mind does not stay all the time with the feeling of breath. It goes to sounds, memories, emotions, perceptions, consciousness, and mental formations as well. When we experience these states, we should forget about the feeling of breath and immediately focus our attention on these states -- one at a time, not all of them at one time. As they fade away, we let our mind return to the breath, which is the home base the mind can return to fr..
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
781f8b6
|
The way out of a trap is to study the trap itself, learn how it is built.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |
|
9c90427
|
Pain exists in the universe; some measure of it is unavoidable. Learning to deal with it is not pessimism, but a very pragmatic form of optimism.
|
|
|
Henepola Gunaratana |