Search results for: "Perception"

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  2. Interdependence & Death
     … At the same time, there’s another perception that goes along with this: seeing the undesirability of any world. So if you catch yourself identifying with your thoughts or your perceptions, try to be very careful about which perceptions you hold on to, like the perceptions that tell you that you don’t want to create a sense of identity, and you don’t … 
  3. Consistently on the Path
     … The teacher will talk to you in a certain way and will recommend certain perceptions, and you’ve got to find where in your mind are the other voices that want to hold onto other perceptions that will pull you away, saying that the path is too difficult, that taking the precepts demands too much, or that concentration demands too much. You’ve got … 
  4. The Complexity of Pain
     … Even though the line between physical pain and mental pain is not all that clear—because after all, your experience of physical pain will be related to some extent to your mental perceptions and the way you talk about it—there are some cases where you can talk about it in the most skillful way and your perceptions can be the most skillful perceptions … 
  5. Mindfulness Aims at Concentration
     … It’s worth noting that in the Canon, when the Buddha talks about applying the three perceptions, he doesn’t talk about it in the context of his description of the establishing of mindfulness, and especially not when he’s introducing the topic. He does talk about the three perceptions in step number thirteen of his steps for breath meditation: “Breathe in and out … 
  6. Don’t Stop with Acceptance
     … It has a lot to do with how you breathe, how you relate to the breath energy in the body, and, of course, with your perceptions. Before we had words as perceptions, we had mental images. So what mental image do you have of the pain? Does it have a particular location? A shape? Is it identical with some part of the body? Say … 
  7. Skills for Dying Well
     … If we latch onto the pains, there’s going to be a sense of desperation, a sense of being threatened, a sense that you can’t stand this any longer—but that’s because of the perceptions you have around the pain. You want to learn how to change those perceptions. Question the perceptions you have around the pain so that you can begin … 
  8. Sensitive to Stress
     … There’s this event in the mind; there’s that perception in the mind. If the “you” is still in there, sometimes a perception comes up and it’ll spark a memory of something you did when you were a child, or something else that happened early in your life, or something about the world outside, and that will deflect your attention away. So … 
  9. The Beginnings of Wisdom
     … We let go of any desires that get in the way, that would lead to suffering, and in letting go of those desires we have to use the three perceptions to develop a sense of dispassion. So the three perceptions find their role within the context of the four noble truths. In the same way, the perception of inconstancy finds its role within the … 
  10. The Kindness of Body Contemplation
     … Ajaan Maha Boowa talks about it as one of his main contemplations for gaining insight not only into your ideas about your own body and about everybody else’s bodies, but more importantly into the deceptions of perception—and particularly your perception of what’s attractive and what’s not. The perceptions are what you’re after. Why are your perceptions so arbitrary? What … 
  11. A Game of Chess
     … Then learn how to maintain that perception. When the perception is solid enough, you can ask: What is it that’s aware of the space? That leaves just a perception of, “knowing, knowing, knowing.” Maintain that perception. Get good at that, and then, when it’s solid, see if you can let go of the oneness of that knowing. That moves you into the … 
  12. Purity Comes Through Discernment
     … This brings in perception and feeling as well. You learn how to identify certain comfortable feelings in the body and work with them, solidify them, consolidate them, steady them, so that you can use them as your allies. And you learn to keep the perception of breath in mind. When the breath gets so still that you can’t follow it any more, you … 
  13. To Sustain Your Practice
     … That’s a good perception to hold in mind. So when you think about the perceptions that the world would have you follow, remind yourself that appropriate attention teaches you other perceptions. When you see somebody who’s really poor, remind yourself: You’ve been there, too. Do you want to come back to that? The problem is, as the Buddha said, we’ve … 
  14. Broaden Your Range of Choices
     … What bad habits have I developed here? How can I change those habits? What perceptions was I holding in mind? That’s when you get into verbal fabrication and mental fabrication: the way you talk to yourself, and then the perceptions and feelings you use to spark things. There may be a perception that you’re a victim, or that you’re being hemmed … 
  15. Useful Vocabulary
     … And as long as there’s that potential for suffering, you can’t really trust your mind, because it might stick with a particularly large perception of an awareness that’s located nowhere. You’re stuck on the perception. But then after a while, you’re not interested in that perception anymore. You go to something else. If you can’t watch your mind … 
  16. The Five Aggregates
     … These are perceptions, of course, are aggregates, too. And how do you develop these perceptions? The Buddha gives an example. He says to start asking questions about them. “This form that I’m so attached to: Is it constant or inconstant?” You look at it and see that it changes. “These things that are inconstant, are they stressful or pleasant?” Well, you see the … 
  17. Strong Through Commitment
     … You label the red as “red.” In the next step, part of you asks, “What does it mean?” “It means ‘Stop!’” The next question is, “Is it worth listening to?” And the voice that says, “Yes, listen to this, pay attention”—that’s also perception. We go through life, applying perceptions to things. We have to remember that these perceptions are only partial. They … 
  18. Construction Techniques
     … And then what perceptions of the breath are most useful? The Buddha said to try to breathe in a way that gives rise to pleasure and rapture. To do that, you have to have certain perceptions in mind about how you’re breathing, and you have to talk to yourself about how you’re breathing. All of his breath meditation instructions are forms of … 
  19. Against the Stream
     … Keep that perception of breath in the body and try to hold a perception that allows the sense of ease to spread.” And then there are energy channels—and the breath is a form of energy— there are energy channels that go throughout the body. They can go through the nerves, they can go through the blood vessels, and as we all know the … 
  20. Maintenance Work
     … Then that old question of perception begins coming up again. The whole perception of your state of mind starts getting questionable. File that one away for future reference. As the Buddha said, all the states of concentration, all the states of jhana, up through the state of nothingness, are perception-attainments. The perception you apply to them is what keeps them going. And as … 
  21. The First Noble Truth
     … He says when you go out into the wilderness, you should have in mind the perception you’re in the wilderness. Then the perceptions of being back home, the perceptions of being with this person or that person, fade away. They seem a lot smaller. The concerns that go along with those perceptions are put in a new light. It’s called getting into … 
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