“It takes an added energy – not of doing anything, but of silence.”
“Intuition comes out of the silent mind; imagination is conceptual. There’s a vast difference. That’s why the development of insight does not come from thinking about things, it comes from the development of a silence of mind in which a clear vision, a clear seeing, can happen. The whole process of insight, the whole development of understanding, comes at times when the mind is quiet.”
“The meditation practice develops awareness… we are all in the process of breaking the chains that keep us bound in the cave of ignorance. At times during the practice, it may seem as if nothing much is happening, except a lot of pain and restlessness and agitation and doubt. But, in fact, every moment of awareness, every moment of mindfulness, helps to weaken the chain of our attachments. We are building the momentum of that awareness, and, as the mindfulness and concentration gets stronger, the mind becomes more powerful and insightful. Very patiently. We begin to experience with this mind-body process is all about, experiencing it free of concepts; free of the idea of self; emerging from the darkness of the cave into the light of freedom and peace.”
“You need not be looking for words or a sentence in the mind. Just be aware of that impulse to do something. And as you begin to notice how this cause and effect of relationship is working in the mind and body, the concept of self dissolves into a simple and natural unfolding of the elements.”
“At four in the morning, Ananda took stock of the situation… he recognized that his mind was out of balance. He was making too much effort without sufficient concentration and tranquility. There was too much expectation and anticipation in his mind. So he thought to lie down and meditate, trying to bring those factors into balance.”
“A certain effort is involved in developing this moment-to-moment awareness. It is not the effort to attain anything in the future. The effort is to stay just in the present, and paying attention with equanimity to what is happening in the moment.”
“The first of these enemies, or hindrances, is sensed desire: lusting, after sense pleasure, grasping at sense objects. It keeps the mind looking outward, searching after this object, or that, in an agitated and unbalanced. It is in the very nature of sense desires that they can never be satisfied. There is no end to the seeking. We enjoy a pleasurable object, it arises and disappears, as to all phenomena, and we are left with the same unsatiated desire for more gratification. We deal with that kind of grasping in mind we remain always unfulfilled, always seeking a new pleasure, a new delight.”
“That’s what we are – a sequence of happenings, of processes, and by being very mindful of the sequence, of the flow, we get free of the concept of self.”
“The most difficult of all possible tasks is to come to understand one’s own mind.”
let go of the attachment of the opinions, we hold as truth, … “ we have to let go of our preconceived ideas of how things are, of how we would like things to be. Letting go of the attachment to our cherished opinions. This is the second of the great bond that keeps us going around on the wheel of Samsara, the wheel of suffering.”