carecodeconnect/jhana-sentences · Datasets at Hugging Face

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Mindfulness cant be used in any selfish way, either.
On the contrary, it is mindfulness that gives you real perspective on yourself.
It allows you to take that crucial mental step backward from your own desires and aversions so that you can then look and say, Aha, so thats how really am.
In a state of mindfulness, you see yourself exactly as you are.
You see your own selfish behavior.
And you see how you create that suffering.
You see how you hurt others.
You pierce right through the layer of lies that you normally tell yourself, and you see what is really there.
Mindfulness is not trying to achieve anything.
Therefore, desire and aversion are not involved.
Competition and struggle for achievement have no place in the process.
Mindfulness does not aim at anything.
It just sees whatever is already there.
It settles down on one item and ignores everything else.
It stands back from the focus of attention and watches with a broad focus, quick to notice any change that occurs.
If you have focused the mind on a stone, concentration will see only the stone.
Mindfulness stands back from this process, aware of the stone, aware of concentration focusing on the stone, aware of the intensity of that focus, and instantly aware of the shift of attention when concentration is distracted.
It is mindfulness that notices that the distraction has occurred, and it is mindfulness that redirects the attention to the stone.
Mindfulness is more difficult to cultivate than concentration because it is a deeper-reaching function.
Concentration is merely focusing the mind, rather like a laser beam.
It has the power to burn its way deep into the mind and illuminate what is there.
But it does not understand what it sees.
Mindfulness can examine the mechanics of selfishness and understand what it sees.
Mindfulness can pierce the mystery of suffering and the mechanism of discomfort.
Mindfulness does not react to what it sees.
Therefore, whatever you see must simply be accepted, acknowledged, and dispassionately observed.
Mindfulness means seeing these facts and being patient with ourselves, accepting ourselves as we are.
We dont want to accept it.
If we want to grow in mindfulness, we must accept what mindfulness finds.
It may be boredom, irritation, or fear.
Mindfulness simply accepts whatever is there.
If you want to grow in mindfulness, patient acceptance is the only route.
Mindfulness grows only one way by continuous practice of mindfulness, by simply trying to be mindful, and that means being patient.
The process cannot be forced and it cannot be rushed.
It proceeds at its own pace.
Concentration and mindfulness go hand in hand in the job of meditation.
Mindfulness directs the power of concentration.
Concentration furnishes the power by which mindfulness can penetrate into the deepest level of mind.
Their cooperation results in insight and understanding.
These must be cultivated together in a balanced manner.
Just a bit more emphasis is given to mindfulness, because mindfulness is the center of meditation.
The deepest levels of concentration are not really needed to do the job of liberation.
Too much awareness without calm to balance it will result in a wildly over-sensitized state similar to abusing Too much concentration without a balancing ratio of awareness will result in the stone buddha syndrome, where you get so tranquilized that you sit there like a rock.
Both of these are to be avoided.
Too much emphasis on mindfulness at this point will actually retard the development of concentration.
When getting started in meditation, one of the first things you will notice is how incredibly active the mind really is.
The Theravada tradition calls this phenomenon monkey mind.
The Tibetan tradition likens it to a waterfall of thought.
If you emphasize the awareness function at this point, there will be so much to be aware of that concentration will be impossible.
couple of months down the track and you will have developed concentration power.
Then you can start pumping your energy into mindfulness.
Do not, however, go so far with concentration that you find yourself going into a stupor.
It should be built as soon as you comfortably can do so.
Mindfulness provides the needed foundation for the subsequent development of deeper concentration.
Most blunders in this area of balance will correct themselves in time.
Right concentration develops naturally in the wake of strong mindfulness.
The more you develop the noticing factor, the quicker you will notice the distraction, and the quicker you will pull out of it and return to the formal object of attention.
The natural result is increased concentration.
And as concentration develops, it assists the development of mindfulness.
The more concentration power you have, the less chance there is of launching off on a long chain of analysis about the distraction.
You simply note the distraction and return your attention to where it is supposed to be.
Thus the two factors tend to balance and support each others growth quite naturally.
Just about the only rule you need to follow at this point is to put your effort on concentration at the beginning until the monkey mind phenomenon has cooled down a bit.
If you find yourself getting frantic, emphasize concentration.
If you find yourself going into a stupor, emphasize mindfulness.
Overall, mindfulness is the one to emphasize.
Mindfulness guides your development in meditation because mindfulness has the ability to be aware of itself.
It is mindfulness that will give you a perspective on your practice.
Mindfulness will let you know how you are doing.
You are not in competition with anybody, and there is no schedule.
One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state.
We have certain images of meditation.
Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly.
They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness.
Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should.
You dont need to move at a snails pace to be mindful.
You dont even need to be calm.
You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus.
You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury.
If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity.
It is just a part of the passing show within.
Meditation in Everyday Life plays scales.
When you begin to study the piano, thats the first thing you learn, and you never stop playing scales.
The finest concert pianists in the world still play scales.
Its a basic skill that cant be allowed to get rusty.
Its the first thing you learn in Little League, and you never stop practicing.
Every World Series game begins with batting practice.
Basic skills must always remain sharp.
Seated meditation is the arena in which meditators practice their own fundamental skills.
The game the meditator is playing is the experience of his own life, and the instrument upon which he plays is his own sensory apparatus.
Even the most seasoned meditator continues to practice seated meditation, because it tunes and sharpens the basic mental skills he needs for his particular game.
We must never forget, however, that seated meditation itself is not the game.
The game in which those basic skills are to be applied is the rest of ones experiential existence.
Meditation that is not applied to daily living is sterile and limited.
It is meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience.
Those periods of seated practice are times set aside for instilling new mental habits.
You learn new ways to receive and understand sensation.
You develop new methods of dealing with conscious thought and new modes of attending to the incessant rush of your own emotions.
These new mental behaviors must be made to carry over into the rest of your life.
Otherwise, meditation remains dry and fruitless, a theoretical segment of your existence that is unconnected to all the rest.

Mindfulness cant be used in any selfish way, either.

On the contrary, it is mindfulness that gives you real perspective on yourself.

It allows you to take that crucial mental step backward from your own desires and aversions so that you can then look and say, Aha, so thats how really am.

In a state of mindfulness, you see yourself exactly as you are.

You see your own selfish behavior.

And you see how you create that suffering.

You see how you hurt others.

You pierce right through the layer of lies that you normally tell yourself, and you see what is really there.

Mindfulness is not trying to achieve anything.

Therefore, desire and aversion are not involved.

Competition and struggle for achievement have no place in the process.

Mindfulness does not aim at anything.

It just sees whatever is already there.

It settles down on one item and ignores everything else.

It stands back from the focus of attention and watches with a broad focus, quick to notice any change that occurs.

If you have focused the mind on a stone, concentration will see only the stone.

Mindfulness stands back from this process, aware of the stone, aware of concentration focusing on the stone, aware of the intensity of that focus, and instantly aware of the shift of attention when concentration is distracted.

It is mindfulness that notices that the distraction has occurred, and it is mindfulness that redirects the attention to the stone.

Mindfulness is more difficult to cultivate than concentration because it is a deeper-reaching function.

Concentration is merely focusing the mind, rather like a laser beam.

It has the power to burn its way deep into the mind and illuminate what is there.

But it does not understand what it sees.

Mindfulness can examine the mechanics of selfishness and understand what it sees.

Mindfulness can pierce the mystery of suffering and the mechanism of discomfort.

Mindfulness does not react to what it sees.

Therefore, whatever you see must simply be accepted, acknowledged, and dispassionately observed.

Mindfulness means seeing these facts and being patient with ourselves, accepting ourselves as we are.

We dont want to accept it.

If we want to grow in mindfulness, we must accept what mindfulness finds.

It may be boredom, irritation, or fear.

Mindfulness simply accepts whatever is there.

If you want to grow in mindfulness, patient acceptance is the only route.

Mindfulness grows only one way by continuous practice of mindfulness, by simply trying to be mindful, and that means being patient.

The process cannot be forced and it cannot be rushed.

It proceeds at its own pace.

Concentration and mindfulness go hand in hand in the job of meditation.

Mindfulness directs the power of concentration.

Concentration furnishes the power by which mindfulness can penetrate into the deepest level of mind.

Their cooperation results in insight and understanding.

These must be cultivated together in a balanced manner.

Just a bit more emphasis is given to mindfulness, because mindfulness is the center of meditation.

The deepest levels of concentration are not really needed to do the job of liberation.

Too much awareness without calm to balance it will result in a wildly over-sensitized state similar to abusing Too much concentration without a balancing ratio of awareness will result in the stone buddha syndrome, where you get so tranquilized that you sit there like a rock.

Both of these are to be avoided.

Too much emphasis on mindfulness at this point will actually retard the development of concentration.

When getting started in meditation, one of the first things you will notice is how incredibly active the mind really is.

The Theravada tradition calls this phenomenon monkey mind.

The Tibetan tradition likens it to a waterfall of thought.

If you emphasize the awareness function at this point, there will be so much to be aware of that concentration will be impossible.

couple of months down the track and you will have developed concentration power.

Then you can start pumping your energy into mindfulness.

Do not, however, go so far with concentration that you find yourself going into a stupor.

It should be built as soon as you comfortably can do so.

Mindfulness provides the needed foundation for the subsequent development of deeper concentration.

Most blunders in this area of balance will correct themselves in time.

Right concentration develops naturally in the wake of strong mindfulness.

The more you develop the noticing factor, the quicker you will notice the distraction, and the quicker you will pull out of it and return to the formal object of attention.

The natural result is increased concentration.

And as concentration develops, it assists the development of mindfulness.

The more concentration power you have, the less chance there is of launching off on a long chain of analysis about the distraction.

You simply note the distraction and return your attention to where it is supposed to be.

Thus the two factors tend to balance and support each others growth quite naturally.

Just about the only rule you need to follow at this point is to put your effort on concentration at the beginning until the monkey mind phenomenon has cooled down a bit.

If you find yourself getting frantic, emphasize concentration.

If you find yourself going into a stupor, emphasize mindfulness.

Overall, mindfulness is the one to emphasize.

Mindfulness guides your development in meditation because mindfulness has the ability to be aware of itself.

It is mindfulness that will give you a perspective on your practice.

Mindfulness will let you know how you are doing.

You are not in competition with anybody, and there is no schedule.

One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state.

We have certain images of meditation.

Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly.

They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness.

Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should.

You dont need to move at a snails pace to be mindful.

You dont even need to be calm.

You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus.

You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury.

If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity.

It is just a part of the passing show within.

Meditation in Everyday Life plays scales.

When you begin to study the piano, thats the first thing you learn, and you never stop playing scales.

The finest concert pianists in the world still play scales.

Its a basic skill that cant be allowed to get rusty.

Its the first thing you learn in Little League, and you never stop practicing.

Every World Series game begins with batting practice.

Basic skills must always remain sharp.

Seated meditation is the arena in which meditators practice their own fundamental skills.

The game the meditator is playing is the experience of his own life, and the instrument upon which he plays is his own sensory apparatus.

Even the most seasoned meditator continues to practice seated meditation, because it tunes and sharpens the basic mental skills he needs for his particular game.

We must never forget, however, that seated meditation itself is not the game.

The game in which those basic skills are to be applied is the rest of ones experiential existence.

Meditation that is not applied to daily living is sterile and limited.

It is meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience.

Those periods of seated practice are times set aside for instilling new mental habits.

You learn new ways to receive and understand sensation.

You develop new methods of dealing with conscious thought and new modes of attending to the incessant rush of your own emotions.

These new mental behaviors must be made to carry over into the rest of your life.

Otherwise, meditation remains dry and fruitless, a theoretical segment of your existence that is unconnected to all the rest.