Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 119
  2. Balance & Release
     … The calming factors are calm, concentration, and equanimity. Because these terms are abstract and general, it’s up to each meditator to find specific or personal techniques that work for each factor. For example, find some way to get interested in the breath. It helps gladden the mind to remember that it’s working on something worthwhile. I found it really helpful when I … 
  3. Evaluation: The Voice of Heedfulness
     … Alertness here is what’s going to turn into your voice of evaluation as the mind gets into concentration. You’re teaching it to be alert to the good things you can do and to the bad things you’ve got to avoid. As you build a sense of confidence around the fact that you can hold to the precepts, it gives you more … 
  4. The Mind Undefined
     … Right concentration is defined as a series of actions. Learn to focus on those actions, and on doing them well, and let the question of who you are or what you are take care of itself.
  5. At Normalcy
     … The proper attitude, whatever comes up in the meditation, is “Oh, there’s this.” If you can learn how to have that attitude toward depression, toward rapture, or toward refined states of concentration, then when the deathless comes, you say, “Oh, there’s this, too.” And you profit more from the experience. You want to keep your mind at normalcy no matter what happens … 
  6. Bowing & Chanting
     … The Dhamma teaches virtue, concentration, discernment, release. The Sangha represents your willingness to practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma—in other words, not just in accordance with your preferences, but in accordance with what the Dhamma really demands. It’s aimed at disenchantment, dispassion, and the freedom that comes from dispassion. These are all qualities that are good to develop within yourself … 
  7. Mountains Moving In
     … But if you look at the qualities that the Buddha asks you to develop as you practice the path—virtue, concentration, and discernment, or wisdom, purity, and compassion: These are all qualities you can be proud of. Ajaan Suwat used to make the point that sometimes you hear it said in Thailand that the essence of the Buddha’s teachings is that you shouldn … 
  8. Mindfulness of Death
     … This is why you have to be mindful of all the skills you’re going to need, which are all the skills you need right now to get the mind in a concentration, to get it focused, choosing what topic you want to focus on. That way, when bad things come up, you know how to say No to them. Get past them. Focus … 
  9. Breath Energies
     … The texts talk about concentration giving rise to discernment. This is how it happens. It’s not just that you get the mind still and then you start seeing things. As you get the mind still and then learn how to ask questions in that stillness, you learn how to keep re-framing the questions. Starting with simple things like the breath and then … 
  10. Taking a Stance
     … One of the Pali terms for a concentrated mind, “vihara dhamma,” means just that: a home for the mind, a place where you feel safe, where you feel solidly protected, not only from things outside but also from all the issues that come bubbling up from inside as well. Because the biggest problems in life are not the events from outside, but in how … 
  11. Breath Energies
     … You want to keep it protected—because as you do, your powers of mindfulness grow; your powers of concentration grow; your discernment gets more and more sensitive. Discernment isn’t just a matter of learning words and then applying them to what’s going on. It’s a matter of sensitivity—noticing what you’re doing. And sometimes what you’re doing is very … 
  12. Mange in the Mind
     … You’re taking the concentration and discernment and mindfulness that you’ve been developing. That all goes with you. Then all the potential for insight goes with you as well because you’ve done your inner exploration first. So if you’re going to wander or travel, wander and travel here in your body. Because that’s that kind of wandering that actually takes … 
  13. True to the Breath
     … After all, concentration itself is a kind of fabrication, but it’s a helpful fabrication. Instead of pulling you away from the present moment, it helps you stay here, so that you can see other fabrications as they come and go. Ultimately, you’ll want to turn around and look at this process of fabrication, too. But for the time being, though, just focus … 
  14. Boxed Stories
     … There are also the mental qualities of equanimity or concentration, or whatever good mental qualities you’re working on. They’re all right here. Ajaan Lee makes the same point as well: You want all frames of reference to be right present here at the breath. It’s simply that one framework takes precedence, and you see all the other ones in relationship to … 
  15. Allies
     … After all, the Buddha said, right concentration is composed of pleasure and rapture, and it’s part of the path. It’s not that he’s teaching you to be addicted to it. He’s simply teaching you to learn how to use it as a tool. We very rarely think of using these things as tools. We think of them as the payment … 
  16. Goodwill Starts with Gratitude
     … The more stillness you have, the more concentration you have, the better the energy. And then you can dedicate it to others. Think of someone who may be suffering right now. In some cases, the people who are suffering now are especially sensitive, so it’s good to send goodwill to them. It can having a calming effect on their minds. Now, how much … 
  17. One Thing Clear Through
     … As we get the mind into concentration, that too is a gift to ourselves and to others. We allow the mind time to rest, time to get to know itself. When the mind settles down, it’s like water that’s been murky. As it settles down, settles down, it finally becomes clear. All the mud settles to the bottom and the water becomes … 
  18. A Mirror for the Mind
     … In terms of concentration, your acts are directed thought and evaluation, plus the effort to bring that directed thought and evaluation to one object. So keep your eye on those activities. Direct your thoughts to the breath. Evaluate the breath. Be mindful of the breath. Be alert to the breath. Be ardent in trying to create a sense of well-being, a sense of … 
  19. The Energy You Broadcast
     … I want to get involved with the happiness of form, the body as I feel it from within.” Try to keep that particular current as consistent as you can, and the mind can’t help but get into concentration. So keep your determination strong. Keep the quality of your determination as consistently wise, discerning, compassionate, and benevolent as you can. That way, you protect … 
  20. Mindful to Be Skillful
     … He wants you to practice the precepts, work on concentration, work on discernment specifically for the sake of discernment, the kind of discernment that can be used to put an end to suffering. That comes from learning to be observant, to experiment, with the idea in the back of your mind that you always want to try to do the skillful thing. This can … 
  21. In Tune
     … As the Buddha said, a sense of gladness is important for getting the mind into concentration. He talks about different ways of doing that. One is simply taking joy in the fact that we have this teaching that lays clear the causes for why we’re suffering and how we can stop suffering. Another source of joy is when we follow the teachings and … 
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