..续本文上一页 Instead of spending your money buying luxury items or going out , which doesn”t benefit you mentally, you should give that money to charity. It will make you content and happy.
Morality is abstaining from hurting others by observing the five precepts: 1. Abstain from killing other living beings, whether animals or human beings. 2. Abstain from stealing or taking things that do not belong to you. 3. Abstain from sexual misconducts such as adultery. You should have one partner at a time, one husband or one wife. 4. Abstain from telling lies. You should tell the truth. If you cannot tell the truth just keep quiet. 5. Abstain from taking stuff that will intoxicate your mind, like alcoholic drinks or drugs because you will not be able to watch and control your thoughts nor to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong. These five precepts will protect you from getting into trouble, both externally and internally. Outwardly, you will not run into trouble with other people, with the law, with the police. inwardly, you will not worry or be afraid that you will be caught or punished for what you did.
Mental development is developing your mind higher and better. Right now your mind is unstable. You are continually bombarded by all kinds of emotions. One day you feel good, the next day you feel bad. Sometimes you get mad, sometimes you are sad, sometimes happy. You cannot control these emotions. By developing your mind you will be able to control both your mind and emotions. Eventually you will always be at peace and happy.
Mental development is pided into two parts: calm and insight. First you calm the mind by going to a secluded, quiet place, sit cross-legged in a lotus position, close your eyes and concentrate on a meditation object to prevent your mind from thinking about other things. If the mind keeps thinking, it will not be still, calm and stable. When you think about something you don”t like, you feel bad. If you think about something you like, you”ll want to go for it. You will not be still and peaceful. You can be peaceful only when you stop thinking. You can do this by concentrating your mind on a meditation object, like your breathing for example. Just be mindful of your breathing. When you breathe in, you know you”re breathing in. When you breathe out, you know you”re breathing out. Just be aware of your breathing, not letting your mind think about other things.
To prevent you from falling asleep you should sit with your back straight but relaxed. Don”t be tense. Put your hands on your lap face up, your right hand over your left hand, close your eyes and just watch your breathing. Focus your attention at the tip of your nose where the air makes contact when it comes in and out. Make sure that you don”t think about other things. If you do, you should come back to your breathing. Breathing in, you know you”re breathing in. Breathing out, you know you”re breathing out. Just be aware whether you are breathing in or out, whether the air is coarse or subtle. Just be aware of it. Don”t force your breathing. Be natural. Do not think of the past , things that had already happened this morning or yesterday, nor think of the future, things that will happen tomorrow.
The goal of meditation for calm is to get rid of your thinking. If you persist on your concentration, sooner or later, your mind will gradually become calmer and calmer and eventually it will drop into the state of single-mindedness that feels like falling into a well, where it will stop thinking. Once you have reached that state, you don”t have to concentrate on your breathing any more because you have achieved your goal. However long you might remain in that state, you should leave it alone. For most beginners it will remain just briefly, maybe just a few seconds …
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