Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 102
  2. Motivation
     … Because part of the mind will try to dress up little bits of insight and little bits of concentration into something more than they really are. Another part of the mind will know that this is self-deceit, and there will be a war going on inside as you get pulled back and forth between unrealistic estimations of what you can do and a … 
  3. The Buddha’s Medicine
     … This is how restraint of the senses and concentration practice work together. Because it’s not simply the fact that outside stimuli come and barge in on the mind. You have to create the bridge. After all, you’re the one who looks, you’re the one who listens. There’s an intentional element there. And you have to ask yourself, “What is the … 
  4. Genuine Satisfaction
     … Then there’s the pleasure that comes from concentration. And again, in the beginning it may not seem all that pleasurable. The mind’s doing things it’s never done before. It feels like it’s being penned in. You have to stay with the breath. You can’t go anywhere else. The Buddha compares this to being a wild elephant brought into the … 
  5. Different Paths Go Different Places
     … Discernment, patience, persistence, mindfulness, and concentration: All the good qualities of the mind get sold off in most people’s lives. So it’s a question of making a wise, intelligent trade. We see the pleasures that other people are enjoying, but we can’t see their pain. This is why, when looking at other people’s lives, sometimes we think, “Well, that looks … 
  6. Own Your Actions
     … If you have this good solid foundation in your concentration inside, this center inside, then you can make forays out from that center and probe into the pain. Ask questions about it. And as long as you’re asking questions you’re not sitting there feeding on it. That changes your relationship. And that’s precisely the kind of thing the Buddha’s talking … 
  7. Pleasures & Pains on the Middle Way
     … Gaining a sense of pleasure in the breath is an important principle in gaining concentration. The mind doesn’t like to settle down with things that are unpleasant. If the breath is uncomfortable, it’s going to run away. So you’ve got to bring it back and focus on finding a comfortable breath. Once the breath is comfortable, start thinking of how that … 
  8. Knowledge over Fear
     … The mind gets into a state of concentration where it’s settling down but not fully there with its object. It’s kind of a dreamy state, and that’s where these visions can come in. So as you breathe into the heart, you’re reestablishing mindfulness, reestablishing alertness, and they’ll go away. As for cases of being visited by outside beings, you … 
  9. As Days & Nights Fly Past, Fly Past
     … So you have to be convinced that we’re here to work on our precepts, work on our concentration, work on our discernment—that all the energy that goes into those skills is well spent. Another quality you look for yourself is learning: We have the opportunity to learn more about the Dhamma. Especially now with the Internet, you can get all kinds of … 
  10. Training the Mind
     … How much mindfulness do you bring to it, how much alertness, how much ardency, how much concentration, how much discernment? You want to develop these qualities. It’s like being a good cook. Mediocre cooks need to have really good ingredients in order to come out with good food. Great cooks can take almost anything and turn it into good food because they have … 
  11. Skills to Take Home
     … But now that you’ve got other defenses—the shield of your energy, the shield of your concentration—you’re actually better equipped. Because no matter how good the armor of your defilements can be, there will always be a spear that can pierce the armor and penetrate a weak spot. But with a shield of concentration, a shield of the breath, things go … 
  12. Pain Is a Noble Truth
     … We can use the breath to gain concentration. Once we’ve gained concentration, we can try to understand the parts of the body or the things the body does against our will, so that we can stop identifying with it, because as long as we identify with the body, we’re in for a lot of trouble. Pain is one of the things we … 
  13. No Running Away
     … This is where mindfulness and concentration come in to help, because they provide you with the good place you need to sit down and talk. If the playing field isn’t level, if there are lots of places where you can hide, the dialogue doesn’t get anywhere. You have to have good neutral ground in which you can stand and talk things over … 
  14. A Real Education
     … trying to develop powers of concentration. And how do you do that? Well, mindfulness is part of it. There’s also alertness, as you watch what you’re doing. You watch continually enough so that you can see the connection between what you’re doing and the results you’re getting. That involves another quality, which is ardency. Mindfulness on its own can be … 
  15. Like a River Full of Water
     … You want to study this issue of pain, and that requires that the mind have a good solid foundation in concentration. That’s why we’re sitting here breathing in such way as actively to create a sense of pleasure. That’s the foundation the mind is going to need. If its pleasure comes only from nice things outside, it’s going to be … 
  16. The Thoroughbred Horse
     … You take a diet, considering the style of life you want to live; you take up exercise, considering the style of life you want to live; but right view, right resolve, all the way down through right concentration: These have nothing to do with style. They’re not aesthetic choices. They’re things that should be developed. There’s a moral aspect to them … 
  17. Admirable in the Beginning, Middle, & End
     … There’s virtue, there’s concentration, and there’s discernment, all of which are good things to develop. That’s the beginning, just learning about the theory. Then there’s the actual practice, and that’s admirable too. As you put these principles into practice, you learn a lot about yourself. You change your environment and you find that you have potentials within yourself … 
  18. Freedom from Beliefs
     … You could tell yourself, “Well, the breath is inconstant, stressful, and not self, so let’s just let go of that and get beyond all this issue of having to practice concentration,” but that wouldn’t work. It’d short-circuit the path. This particular inconstant thing, this concentration on the breath, is something you actually try to make more constant, i.e. through … 
  19. Xtreme Drama
     … having respect for concentration. The concentrated mind is solid, still, stable, extremely undramatic, but with a very strong sense of well-being. That’s why it was the first factor of the path the Buddha latched onto after he had explored all the various extremes. Here is a form of pleasure that’s harmless, and you can then use that as your test case … 
  20. Dreams & Voices
     … Your numbers were looking really bad until one night, all of a sudden, they got very good.” If you can do that with your concentration, then go ahead and do it. Otherwise, if something comes along and suggests something to do, ask yourself, “Would this be in line with the Dhamma?” If it seems like it might be in line with the Dhamma, then … 
  21. Getting Untangled from Thorns
     … After all, concentration itself is what the Buddha calls a “perception attainment.” You have to have a certain mental image of the breath in order to be able to focus on the sensation of the breath—and to see it as a breath sensation. Many people have trouble right here. They say, “I’m trying to focus on my breath, but I just keep … 
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