Search results for: "Focus"

  1. Page 103
  2. Kill Your Anger
     … Many of them focus on how outrageous something is. But is it really that outrageous? The Buddha has you remember that people do displeasing things, say displeasing things, and think displeasing things all over the world all the time. This doesn’t excuse those people from doing that, but it does mean that when you run across something that’s really bad, it’s … 
  3. Pain & Patience
     … So regardless of what your pain is or how you experience it, the Buddha is not so much concerned with defining it as with pointing out the aspect of the pain you can focus on that can help you get past it. Again, it comes down to the question, “What am I doing? How am I relating to this in a way that’s … 
  4. Papañca
     … remind yourself, “Okay, those places where it’s more pleasant, do they last forever? Are they safe? Can you trust the happiness that comes there?” Well, no. Bring yourself back then. Focus on the fact that if you don’t get the work done now, when are you going to do it? You’ve got the ideal opportunity. Even if it doesn’t seem … 
  5. Greed & Distress with Reference to the World
     … You realize that all you have to do is be with the breath and get a sensitivity to what kind of breathing feels good and how heavily to focus on the breath so that you don’t put too much pressure on it, but you don’t put too little pressure on it. When you get that sense of the right touch, you see … 
  6. Consistently on the Path
     … bodily fabrication, the way you breathe; verbal fabrication, the way you talk to yourself; and mental fabrication, the feelings you focus on and the perceptions you hold in mind, the images you give to yourself of the world and of yourself. As long as we do these things in ignorance, they’re going to cause suffering. If we bring some knowledge to them, they … 
  7. Abandoning Effluents (3)
     … So appreciate the fact that you’re in an environment where you’ve got some seclusion, and you can focus on the issues of what you need to develop in the mind, what you need to abandon in the mind—and that these things take top priority. If you don’t have an environment like this, well, look for one, because it makes things … 
  8. Heedfulness
     … As your body allows you less and less time and energy, focus on the things that you can do. Squeeze as much goodness out of your body as you can. All of us, as long was we’re breathing, have the power of choice. So try to learn which choices are the good ones and follow through with that knowledge. That’s how you … 
  9. The Reflective Self
     … So focus on how you reflect on yourself and on this reflective self: How far has it come? It may sound like you’re falling into a hall of mirrors, reflecting on the reflector, but you can get a sense of what’s working, what’s not working, and your willingness to engage in trial and error is what gets you to trial and … 
  10. The Complexity of Pain
     … But two, it just takes the focus away from “me and my pain.” You don’t feel like you’re being singled out to be treated in an unjust manner. The question of fairness doesn’t come into it at all. Then you make your mind like earth, big like the Earth. Make your goodwill big like the Earth. This is the other way … 
  11. You’re Already Dead
     … You’ve let yourself focus on the things that are really important. In that way you’re alive—more alive than normal. You’re living your life well.
  12. Serial Clinging Is Still Clinging
     … That way, you can focus on a goal and work all the way to that goal. The solution is not to keep changing your views. The solution is finding views that get you to act in the right way consistently until you reach the threshold to the deathless. This is what the Buddha calls the kamma that leads to the end of kamma, and … 
  13. Determined Goodwill
     … You have to reflect on how the principles of kamma work, which means you have to focus on the causes: For them to be happy, they’ll have to act skillfully. They’ll have to develop goodwill for others. At the same time, you have to reflect on how to maintain a good state of goodwill in your own mind. This is where you … 
  14. The Flowing Mind
     … Then there are the images you hold in mind, the perceptions and the feelings you focus on, and you play a role in shaping them. Again, all too often, they seem to just come out of nowhere. A pain is just a pain—it’s already made. A perception is an image—it’s already made. That’s what it looks like. But actually … 
  15. Countercultural Conditioning
     … Talk to yourself about the breath in a way that helps the mind to settle down, so that the mind and the breath fit together nicely, where the breath is calm enough so that it has a calming effect on the mind, but not so subtle that you lose focus. The subtlety of the breath will develop as your powers of your concentration get … 
  16. Refuge
    Try to focus your attention right here at the breath. Wherever there are sensations in the body that tell you, “Now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out,” try to stay with those sensations. Try to be as consistent as you can in staying here because it’s only when you stick with the breath consistently that you’re going … 
  17. For a Routine That Isn’t Routine
     … Try to focus on the things you find especially inspiring, to induce an attitude of respect. That way, when the time comes to meditate, you have some respect for the meditation, respect for your breath, respect for your desire for true happiness, respect for what can be learned by watching the present moment. That’s where the Buddha gained his awakening: He was watching … 
  18. Right Action & Right Livelihood
     … At the same time, you’re learning how to focus on your intentions, because this is what makes the difference between following a precept and breaking it. If you kill something inadvertently, it doesn’t break the precept. If you take something, not knowing that it’s not yours, it doesn’t break the precept. If someone forces you to have sex against your … 
  19. A Valuable Gift
     … Because that’s what we’re working on here as we focus on meditation, getting into concentration. The Thai translation for samadhi or concentration is firm intention: tang cai man. You’re really right here. Your intention is to stay right here, and that intention doesn’t waver. Whatever wavering you may have, you try to figure out some way to get past it … 
  20. In Training
     … So that’s what we should focus on—getting trained. Now, the word training implies discipline. In fact, that’s what the monks’ rules are called—*Vinaya. *It means a disciplining. There’s a part of the mind that rebels against the idea of discipline and says, “I’d like to have some freedom.” Well, what kind of freedom are you looking for? The … 
  21. To Comprehend Craving
     … That seems to be the Buddha’s main focus for wanting to understand craving. After all, as a young prince, that was the main reason he went off into the wilds to begin with: seeing that he was subject to aging, illness, and death. He didn’t know if there was something that was not subject to aging, illness, and death, but if there … 
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