Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Comprehending Clinging
     … When we hear that, we tend to focus on the aggregates—that we need to comprehend them. Which is true, we do, but we also have to comprehend clinging. In fact, clinging is the real problem. That’s the activity that’s suffering. The aggregates on their own aren’t the problem. The clinging makes them a problem. So it’s good to think … 
  3. Alertness: What Are You Doing?
     … That’s the focus right now. As we’re meditating, it’s the same sort of thing. What you’re doing right now is the directed thought and evaluation. You use those mental activities to shape the breath, to shape your experience of the breath. If you shape it well, then there’s going to be a sense of ease and well-being, a … 
  4. The Values of Stillness
     … Meditation is not just a matter of knowing what to do with the breath or knowing where to focus; it’s also a matter of reminding yourself of the importance of why we do this. When the Buddha taught the four noble truths the very first time, when he taught the noble eightfold path the first time, he started out with the motivation, “Why … 
  5. Brahmaviharas & the Breath
     … You focus on one spot in the body to see how the breath feels at that spot and then you breathe in a way that gives rise to a sense of ease there. You’re not pinching the breath off, either at the end of the in-breath or at the end of the out-breath. Think of the ends of the breath as … 
  6. To Make Suffering Crumble
     … For instance, when you’re driving yourself crazy talking about certain things in your mind, focus less on the content of what the mind is saying, and more on the process of how the mind talks to itself, and how it uses perceptions to stab itself, and how it doesn’t really have to—or, how it focuses on certain feelings in the body … 
  7. Training Heart & Mind
     … When they arrived, he said, “Okay, close your eyes, focus on your breath.” They said, “No. No, we can’t do that.” “Why not?” “We’re afraid that we’ll get stuck on jhāna, and then be reborn as Brahmās.” His response was, “Well, what’s wrong with being reborn as a Brahmā? Non-returners”—people at the third level of awakening—“are reborn … 
  8. Inner Poise
     … So, as the Buddha said, “Will the man let himself get distracted by the woman or the crowd? No, he’s got to stay focused on the oil.” Try to have that same sense of focus and the same sense of the preciousness of your concentration. Try not to spill a drop. Try to keep your poise. After all, that’s what concentration is … 
  9. To Discern Suffering
     … You can focus on the sensation of the breathing anywhere that’s comfortable. You can explore different parts of the body to see where your comfortable spot is. Then ask yourself, “How can the breath be adjusted to keep this spot right here comfortable?” Learn how to maintain that sense of comfort while you’re sitting here with your eyes closed, when things are … 
  10. Learning Right Speech
     … What you really want to focus on is being truthful about your intentions, making sure you don’t do anything harmful. If you see that you intend to do an act that will cause harm, you don’t do it. Then, while you’re doing it, you’re truthful about watching it: What are the actual results coming from what you’re doing? When … 
  11. Savor Your Breath
     … Those are the parts you should focus on. Those are your sensitive parts. For some people, the most sensitive spot is in the chest, in the area around the heart. Or it could be behind your eyes, in the middle of the head, or in the throat. So explore for a while where your spots are. Pay special attention to the in-breath, because … 
  12. Goodness
     … You’ve got to straighten out this one, that’s your main focus. You want to strengthen this mind, so that the goodwill you have for yourself and the goodwill you have for others will have a better and better foundation, a better chance to be brought into being or to show its influence. So think about these five strengths: conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration … 
  13. Harmony
     … You go back and you can focus straight on what needs to be done inside. It’s in this way that our friendship becomes admirable friendship, one of the factors most conducive to finding the noble paths. Think about that. We can help one another here attain something noble by little acts in the course of the day. So see their importance, take it … 
  14. A World of Limitations
     … Renunciation means learning to work intelligently from within those limitations to get beyond them, realizing that you don’t have time for everything, so you want to focus your efforts on what’s important and give up whatever is not, whatever is going to get in the way. The final quality is calm. This functions in two ways. One, on the path, you learn … 
  15. Judging the Dhamma
     … The way to do that is to focus on the present moment. You notice in the Buddhist teachings that there are no grand narratives about how the world came into being or where are worlds going to go. The Buddha taught more how to get to know the present moment, how to recognize what’s good in the present moment, what skillful and what … 
  16. Recognizing Fools
     … The books tend to focus on the true visions, giving the impression that the ajaans believed everything they saw in their meditation and ran along with everything that came up in their meditation. If they’d done that, they would have gone crazy. The unfortunate thing is that we don’t get to read about, or learn about, the times when the visions or … 
  17. Meticulousness
     … But if you learn how to adjust your focus and look around, you can gain some of the insights that can really make a big difference in the mind.** So don’t overlook the little things. Your ability to catch a little bit of craving or a little bit of clinging before it gets large and obvious will be one of the most important … 
  18. High Level Metta
     … Directed thought is when you make up your mind as to what topic you’re going to focus on. Evaluation includes all the comments and questions you address to yourself about that topic. So you ask yourself, “What kind of breathing feels good right now? Does this breathing feel good or does that breathing feel good?” That’s directed thought and evaluation. And when … 
  19. Imagine Your Breath
     … If there’s something the mind says is in the back, focus on perceiving that particular knot of tension as in the front. That might help it dissolve. Remember, when the Buddha describes breath meditation, it’s an opportunity to learn about fabrication: bodily, verbal, mental. We’re here not only to see how the breath goes, but also how you talk to yourself … 
  20. Mistakes
    Focus your attention on the breath and look after it: both the breath and your attention. Looking after the breath means noticing where you feel it, how it feels when it comes in, how it feels when it goes out, and checking to see if you can figure out what kind of breathing feels good, what kind of breathing is best for the body … 
  21. Taking Apart Suffering
     … So focus on the ones that you can make comfortable and stay there. So even just dealing with the body, you’ve got to learn how to take it apart: which sensations are breath sensations, which sensations have the potential for ease, which ones have the potential for pain. You’ve got to learn how to analyze things if you want the mind to … 
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