Search results for: "Concentration"

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  2. Owning Your Actions
     … While you’re practicing concentration, make a law for yourself that anything that’s not related to the topic of your concentration is going to be unskillful. Wven when you’re with the breath, you want to notice, “Is there any disturbance in here?” Once things start settling down and you feel secure here, ask yourself, “Could this be more refined? More settled? More … 
  3. We’re All Learning the Ropes
     … As the Buddha said, there’s no way you’re going to get into right concentration if you’re stingy, there’s no way you’re going to get into any of the noble attainments if you’re stingy. So generosity is a necessary part of the path. It develops a human quality, the quality of realizing that just as you love yourself, other … 
  4. Identifying Weeds
     … We’re trying to develop good qualities in the mind—like mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment—yet there are qualities that stand in the way. You’ve probably heard of what they’re called: the hindrances. These are the things that stand in the way of our concentration. You can compare them to weeds of different sorts. Sensual desire is like a vine. There’s … 
  5. An Inside Job
     … The whole path is something you want to keep in good shape—everything from right view on through to right concentration—with a very strong sense that it’s going to be for your welfare. Probably the most important element that goes into self discipline is having a strong sense of heedfulness: that if you don’t master the skills, you’re going to … 
  6. Fear
     … That gives rise to the next strength, which is concentration. Once the mind settles down, it can start seeing things clearly for what they are. In particular, it begins to see that through clinging there’s got to be suffering. It not only causes immediate suffering in the present but it also leads you to do things that cause even more suffering on into … 
  7. Overcoming Obstacles
     … strengthening your powers of concentration, giving the mind a comfortable place to stay in the present moment, a place where it can stay at home, feel at home, gain nourishment. We got this practice, and yet the mind keeps finding other things to get in the way. It wanders off in the search of interesting sensual pleasures or it gets worked up from being … 
  8. The River Gauge
     … Of course, when the Buddha talks about the qualities of mind you need to get the mind into concentration and he talks about how to make equanimity really solid—and not small-minded or small-hearted equanimity—he mentions that you have to have some joy as well. So as you begin meditating, think about the things that make you happy to be here … 
  9. To Be Your Own Teacher
     … So this is a good practice, not only for getting the mind to learn how to avoid the issues that would disturb its concentration, but also to gain understanding, gain discernment into how it tries to look for food in the senses, and learning how to do it more skillfully. Moderation in eating means that you watch what you’re doing while you eat … 
  10. Using the Committee of the Mind
     … Then the rapture gets based on concentration, which makes it even stronger, and then you move the mind to a state of calm and, eventually, to equanimity. In every case, you apply appropriate attention to these things, which means that you see that they’re good things and you try to develop them, maintain them, let them grow. But it’s based on the … 
  11. The Breathing Game
     … The skill is to make us more mindful, more alert, more concentrated and discerning. As with any skill, it’s important, one, that you start out with something fairly simple and, two, that you treat it like a game. If you get too serious and too emotional about it from the very beginning, you tie yourself up in knots. So treat the whole thing … 
  12. Meditator, Mediator
     … That’s why we practice concentration. Try to develop a sense of ease in the body, ease with the breath, ease being in the present moment. When you feel physically at ease, it’s a lot easier to be in a good mood and not feel so desperate, not be so impatient, because it’s our desperation or impatience that makes it difficult for … 
  13. The Four Biases
     … This is why concentration is a basis for discernment: You get a sense of stability, a rock-solid sense of imperviousness, where things just don’t seep in. That’s what enables you to live in the world without getting thrown off balance by the world. The people of the world may be slanted, they may be biased, but you don’t have to … 
  14. Sitting & Walking
     … Sitting meditation is more for deep concentration. Walking meditation is more for discernment. Ajaan Suwat would often mention that he got his best insights while doing walking meditation. But you have to know how to do it well. There are a few rules for walking meditation that are different from sitting meditation, having to do with the big differences between the two: One, the … 
  15. Equanimity Isn’t Apathy
     … If your concentration is strong enough, you can observe what you’re while you’re doing it. So, the issue lies in getting your mind in a state where it’s willing to learn, where it’s able to observe cause and effect, so you can master the skill. That’s how equanimity functions. It doesn’t mean not caring about what happens. You … 
  16. Two Kinds of Cross-Questioning
     … In the same way, when you practice, the Buddha talks to you about practicing the precepts, developing stages of concentration. You start seeing good results that come from the precepts. But those don’t even count as footprints. The footprints start when you get to good concentration. Here is a sign that this might work. But again he doesn’t want you to jump … 
  17. Large-hearted
     … When we get the mind in concentration, the Buddha does say to put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. You have to put aside all thoughts about other beings. But when you come out of concentration, you’re dealing with other beings and you want to have the strength within you to deal with them skillfully. So being large-hearted doesn … 
  18. Freedom Undefined
     … Right View, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. You learn to take enjoyment in these things. You let them capture your imagination. They’ve done studies of people who are expert in fields involving skill and dexterity, and they’ve discovered that what sets the experts apart from people who are just good at those skills is that the skill captures their imaginations. One … 
  19. The Buddha’s Relationship Advice
     … So we need concentration to give ourselves a more solid basis. Even though the concentration itself is not permanent, still it’s a lot steadier than most of our other clingings, as the Buddha would call them. That puts us in a better position to regard our relationships with more objectivity. When a young monk ordains, the Buddha says that he should have the … 
  20. Overcoming Delusion
     … This can actually become a major problem in the practice, especially when you start developing a sense of ease, concentration, spaciousness in the mind. You might get to a point where you say, “This is good enough,” or “This is as good as it can get.” You see this all over the place. People saying, “Well, if there’s any stress left in this … 
  21. Guarding Against Trouble
     … You calm down, get the mind into concentration, and the deeper it goes into concentration, the stronger its equanimity becomes. All these are qualities you want to develop so that you have a basis for dealing with the greed and aversion and the sensuality, the desire for becoming, all these things that would otherwise come flowing out of the mind. When you meditate, you … 
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