Restraint of the senses: There’s the kamma of how you watch, the kamma of how you listen, and so on, so you want to look at (1) the intention and (2) the result.

"Restraint of the senses: being really careful about how you engage with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas — realizing, again, that your mind is what goes out and looks for trouble. If the mind were not actively involved in wanting to see and hear and engage with other senses, it wouldn’t receive any input. There’s an act of the mind that goes out to these things — flows out to these things, as they would say in Thai — and you want to watch for that.

Who’s flowing out? Your greed and your anger? Or your discernment? You want your discernment to be the strongest flow, so that when you look at things, you can take them apart and see where they might draw you into lust or anger or greed or fear. Then remind yourself: You don’t have to be drawn in that way. Again, have a sense of your own power. Don’t let yourself be overpowered by influences from outside.

Sensory input is not a given. Remember that it’s a construct. There’s the kamma of how you watch, the kamma of how you listen, and so on, so you want to look at (1) the intention and (2) the result. Then, in line with the principle that the Buddha taught to Rahula, if you see that the way you engage is causing trouble — causing harm to yourself or others — you go back and figure out: What’s a different, less harmful way of looking? What’s a less harmful way of listening?

If you just keep on exercising your greed and your other defilements as you engage with the senses, they’re going to get strong. When they’re strong, they move in on your meditation. So remember, as you go through the day engaging the senses, that you’re practicing meditation. You need to have the same vigilance over what your mind is doing — where it’s going and where it’s coming from — that you would while sitting here with your eyes closed."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Bringing Daily Life into the Practice" (Meditations12)

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