Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but many Theravada teachers warn against practicing restraint in the commonly understood sense of the word. For example, if I understand correctly, Yuttadhammo Bhikku says to not stop and quit a behavior but to try our best to remain mindful. I understand to some extent that the reasoning has to do with non-self, and trying to stop a behaviour may involve deluding oneself with more of this self. However, in the texts it is frequently mentioned to practice restraint for bad habits (for eg. 9:11) . So I am a little confused here...both approaches make sense to me in their own right. Which one is the right way? or what are the conditions under which these are applicable? Hope this makes sense. Thanks

What are habits, and why do they stick? Lord Buddha said that we even bring habits into next lives. Why does that happen? How come it is powerful enough to continue from life to life? There are some variations of habits. Some needs mental effort (like studying, or meditating etc.), some needs physical effort (exercising etc.), and some doesn't need any effort, meaning that every day actions (eating, playing etc.). (By effort i mean the energy needed to do something, and habits requires less actual effort to do something). I have the general idea about how habits works. We may be able to find shortcuts, and get new ideas when we do things repeatedly. But, it is hard to understand the way our habits vary. Can anyone give me a clear / deep explanation about habits? Or are habits conditioned by impermanence, cause and effect or karma that I should accept as the nature of existence/the world? If it is, please post the name of respective sutta where Lord Buddha talked about habits, so I will be able to believe it without doubts. Kind regards.

>Can one correctly practice anapanasati when one is very used to Mahasi vipassana? How? Why? >Can one correctly practice vipassana when one is very used to anapanasati or any other samatha practice? How? Why? >A person who is used to vipassana is supposed to turn off the habit of seeing things as they are? Can vipassana be useful during anapanasati or would it be more of a distraction to onepointed consentration? How? Why?

For most people it's not readily discernible why sense pleasures are unsatisfactory. In general, a lot of people know intellectually that sense pleasures are impermanent, and that virtuous thinking & acting is what makes life fulfilling. Craving as a feeling, on the other hand, when investigated, is stressful because it disturbs the stillness of the mind. Okay, enough of rambling: From a Dhammic point of view the maxim "a little of what you fancy does you good" therefore doesn't hold true, does it? Since craving of any sort cannot permanently be ceased by means of giving into it (actually it usually grows stronger), one is advised to change one's attitudes towards it and, as best as one can, abstains from it. Am I comprehending this correctly? Thanks

Are there any suttas where the Buddha gives advice how to change one's behaviours, like eating addiction, mindless eating, addiction to entertainment, laziness and all that? Basically giving in into worldy pleasures. Thanks

How are habits seen in buddhism - how are they explained ? read now about habit making - and would love to hear users views on habits - and what they see habits as And what people think about habit making and its effectiveness and why

**SUMMARY** *(Note: I searched the group before posting and although there are several questions about habits, none are asking about this specific point. This is close, but it's not the same (and it's framed so as to allow personal opinions which I'm expressly not (here) interested in. So this is not, as far as I can see, a duplicate.)* Do the Buddhist texts say anything that could resolve the apparent tension between on the one hand the mindfulness involved in the paying attention to every passing moment that is part and parcel of a lot of meditation practice, especially Vipassana, and the useful mind*less*ness of even a good habit, whereby we train ourselves to do certain things *without* having to consciously pay attention? **DETAILS** There is a growing amount of modern writing on habits and habituation, covering both the scientific and theoretical aspects of the underlying brain correlates, and also the practical life-affecting aspects relevant to the challenge of how to form useful habits and break problematic ones (e.g. Duhigg , Babauta ). And that's not just recent material. Here's a condensed section from William James , written in 1890, dealing with that practical side. The general opinion of such writers is that (good) habits are a Good Thing, specifically because they lower the load on our limited brains by making certain decisions--Shall I floss my teeth? Shall I go out for a run? Shall I sit down to meditate? and so on--more or less automatic, and as a result let us focus our limited non-automatic "will power" where it is most needed. But the whole basis of habits seems to be the development of a kind of mind-less-ness, and that sounds fundamentally opposed to the mind-ful-ness needed for much of meditation. One possible way of resolving the apparent conflict would be to see habits as useful for establishing the boundaries that exist *between* the various activities throughout our day, but not for use *within* the activity itself. In other words, we make the act of sitting down to meditate as mindless/automatic as possible, but we then meditate mindfully. But then that too could be at odds with the view that over time what began as an occasional mindful state should eventually become just our constant state of being, so that we were effectively meditating all the time. Presumably at that advanced level there no longer are any habituated boundaries, and everything is under awareness. Perhaps the answer is that habits are to be seen merely as a learner's "prop"; training wheels we use until such times as we have no need of them because by then , and we have finally reached our goal. So what, if anything, do the established writings say about this? *To stress: although I've no doubt there are lots of good opinions out there (and for sure there are indeed **lots** of opinions!), I'm looking for answers with some backup from a source--old or current, either is fine--with at least a modicum of reliability. So the suttas and commentaries, obviously, but anything else of reasonable authorship including the modern.* Thanks!

Each phenomenon (how impersonal and indifferent it is) is always looking to sustain itself. Am I right when I say that—in the same way—our habit patterns are obstacles that prevent/hinder us from seeing things as they really are because they fuel the fire of self?

Different spiritual traditions, including, but not limited to Buddhism, emphasize that it is important to always keep in mind that one's thoughts and emotions do not constitute the essence of a person. That is: 1. When some thought crosses my mind, 1. makes me like or dislike something (emotion), 1. then these thoughts and emotions are not my true self in that they come and go like they want (similar to breathing, blood circulation and other bodily processes, which most people can't consciously control). The true self is the entity that observes them. Theory and practice shows that realization 3 often leads to an increase in happiness (e. g. I feel pain, I acknowledge the thought *I'd rather prefer to experience pleasure* and the emotion of sadness as inevitable by-products of the activity of my brain, which usually eliminates suffering despite presence of pain) and - as a result - higher productivity (less time and energy is wasted on useless thoughts emotions). Right now, I occasionally do the whole process (observe thoughts, observe emotions they've generated, remember that they aren't my true self), probably when the pain gets too hard. I want to develop a habit of doing this routine so that I'm automatically doing those 3 steps all the time (as frequently as possible). As a result I expect my stress resistance (ability to do productive work in suboptimal conditions) to dramatically increase. What routine can I use to develop that habit (apart from the process described below), ideally scientifically proven? Notes: 1. I need some practical, **actionable** recipe for developing the desired habit, which is better than the option below. I do not need some theoretical, philosophical stuff. 1. If your routine is well-suited for people with tendency towards premature action and ADHD , it's even better. **Standard habit formation process** 1. Install on your mobile phone an application, which vibrates every 20 minutes. 1. Every day in the morning, turn on the application. 1. Whenever you feel the vibration, do the three steps (observe thoughts, observe emotions they've generated, remember that they aren't my true self). 1. Before you go to sleep, turn off the application. 1. Repeat steps 2-4 for at least 40 days. **Update 1 (05.01.2016 12:13 MSK):** Below you can find a selection of techniques, which seem to help me observe the mind. I don't guarantee that they will work for anyone else. And I don't guarantee that it really helps me - it just seems to help. **Morning observation ritual** 1. Write out at least 10 thoughts that are running in your head. 1. For each of them do the 3 steps (observe the thought, observe the emotions it generates and remember that you aren't either of them). **Imagine the thoughts on a diagram** It helps to imagine the different thoughts as diagrams with time on the horizontal axis and the intensity of a particular thought on the vertical one. **Music** Some music seems to be more conducive to mind observation than others. I noticed it when listening to the Focus at will music, section *Focus Spa*. I'm not affiliated with Focus at will, I'm not getting any remuneration for this and you probably can get the same music in other ways.

Is it related to practice meditation ? Can I say that our respected individuality is a kind of 'self accepted and adopted' addiction ?

If one has cultivated a habit for countless lifetimes, how is it possible to reverse such habit? Is it possible at all? Is that person entirely at the mercy of external factors? (are we ever not entirely at the mercy of external factors? This is an entirely different question though). I have trouble understanding how habits are changed, and where that change originates. I figure the answer to this 'extreme case' question will shed some light. Thank you. EDIT: This question is a different way of phrasing these two questions https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/18716/what-allows-to-make-a-choice and https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/18738/what-is-volition/18762#18762

When we practice mindfulness we notice our mental habit and mental pattern. What makes us angry, jealous, greedy, etc.. My question is, when you notice them, do you change it to positive mental quality or just watch it? Someone angry for 'no reason', but actually there is a reason if one keeps the mindfulness. With mindfulness, we realize that the trigger of the anger is for example a certain situation happened yesterday. By realizing this we are no longer angry. Is this also a practice of mindfulness or analyzing? Which one is the correct practice? Thanks all.