Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 132
  2. Defilements at the Door
     … Then he starts going up the ladder of how your mind improves as it gets into concentration, but basically he’s talking about the state of the mind as mind, as a whole. xx Then with dhammas, the fourth frame of reference, he talks about seeing the events in the mind as events, coming and going. You begin to see that there’s a … 
  3. Everything Gathers Around the Breath
     … That effort then gives rise to rapture, serenity, concentration, and equanimity. As you deal with the breath in these ways, you’re developing the factors for awakening at the same time you’re developing the different frames of reference or establishings of mindfulness. So it’s all right here. It’s simply a matter of which aspect of the breath, or which aspect of … 
  4. The Four Noble Truths
     … getting rid of things that get in the way of seeing clearly; and then developing the qualities of the mind—like mindfulness, concentration, right understanding—that help us comprehend the pain, to help us see. As for the things we have to abandon, the Buddha says that abandoning basically happens in two ways. In some cases, you simply watch an unskillful state of mind … 
  5. Treasures from the East
     … You’re actually actively giving rise to a state of concentration. You’re experimenting. You say: “How about doing this, doing that, see what the results are?” This is how scientists arrive at an understanding of cause and effect. They manipulate the causes and see what happens. They have to be very conscious of what they’re doing. If they don’t realize how … 
  6. Get Attached to Jhana
     … You’re going to get attached.” This is their rationale for telling you not to develop jhana, not to get into strong concentration. But they’re missing an important point. The main point, of course, is that jhana is part of the path. The Buddha didn’t teach an optional eighth factor to the path. It’s right there in every version of the … 
  7. Look after the Source
     … The state of having the mind in concentration is one of the most stable becomings you can create. It has a deep sense of well-being. You focus on the breath and try to be on good terms with the breath. Learn how to read the needs of the body with regard to the breath: Does the body need short breathing right now? Does … 
  8. The Path of Action
     … This is what concentration is for: to give you a well of energy, a well of strength from which you can draw to keep at this experiment, to keep at this challenge. And in this way, talk of making your practice your whole life or making life your practice is not just a vague generality. It’s very specific: Right now, here in this … 
  9. The Kamma of Meditation
     … When you’ve trained yourself in virtue and concentration, you develop discernment to see that even the good things you’ve developed in the path as you’ve let go of everything else, you’ll eventually have to let go of those good things, too. There’s a time and place for using the perception of self. There’s a time and place for … 
  10. Exploring Fabrication
     … In fact, that’s a lot of what it means to go through the various levels of concentration: Your perceptions of the breath grow more refined. For instance, you think of the breath as an energy filling the whole body. If it can maintain its fullness—everything is so connected in the body that you don’t need to breathe in or breathe out … 
  11. Beyond Imagination
     … So how do you keep them from knowing that information without lying, without misrepresenting the truth? That takes some ingenuity. **The same with concentration: Think about all the different ways you can conceive of the breath, the different spots in the body where it can come in, different spots where it can go out, different ways that it can run through the body, either … 
  12. Slogging Through Difficulties
     … the ones who were about to commit suicide because they hadn’t gotten any concentration for thirty, forty years, and then something clicked, and they gained awakening. So instead of hoping for some god to come down and help you, realize that you do have the potential. Now, it may take some time for that potential to mature, but you can help the maturity … 
  13. Body & Food
     … The question: “What is one?” What do we all have in common? “All beings subsist on food.” You’ve probably heard the story of the concentration camp prisoners who, during the first week of confinement, would talk a lot about sex. And then after a week or two of starvation, they’d stop thinking about sex and all they could think about was food … 
  14. A Passion for the Path
     … In every case, our motivation may not be pure as we begin, but as we become more and more self observant, as concentration gets stronger, and our discernment gets more precise, we begin to see that there are things we’re holding onto that are causing us to suffer and if we don’t let them go, there are going to be problems. What … 
  15. Surprise Yourself
     … What’s clear is that we’re practicing mindfulness of breathing to get the mind into concentration, and the 16 steps fall into four tetrads. One tetrad deals with the body, one with feelings, one with the mind, and one with dhammas. In other words, they deal with the frames of reference that we use to establish mindfulness. But the question is, do you … 
  16. Something to Stand On
     … But in the very beginning, it’s going to seem very fragile, especially as you’re working on concentration. At that point, it sometimes seems wise to accept the fact that some days it’s going to go well and some days, it’s not. And true, you have to accept that, but then you have to work around that. When they say the … 
  17. Compunction & Awe
     … It’s not just telling you, “Don’t do these things.” He teaches you the mental strengths you need—conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment—so that you’re strong enough to resist the temptation to do something unskillful, and you can feel more and more secure in yourself. The result of having confidence of this sort is that you behave in a moral way … 
  18. Opportunities Everywhere
     … Then you can carry those qualities into your meditation, because an important aspect of the practice when you’re trying to develop concentration and discernment is seeing the little weeds in the mind and uprooting them along the way. They may not be the big issues you’ve read about in the books, but wherever there’s a little bit of defilement, you want … 
  19. Escape Routes in the Present
     … You’ve got escape routes in the present moment with the breath and the formless objects of concentration: space, consciousness, the infinitude of space, the infinitude of consciousness. Those are huge openings. When you’re not obsessed about the past or the future or the difficulties in the present, you find there are these openings in the present. As you make the most of … 
  20. Right View as Tool
     … That’s something you want to comprehend, and to comprehend it you need to develop right concentration. Otherwise, the mind won’t be stable enough, strong enough to comprehend the suffering. The mind needs a solid foundation. Without that solid foundation it’s going to run away. It’s going to get pushed around by pain and sometimes it’ll go into denial. Sometimes … 
  21. Believe in Your Actions
     … That brings the mind to right concentration, which is transcendent right resolve. So everything is about action. Even the teaching in itself is a type of action, and it’s meant to lead to more actions. All that’s asked is that you believe in your actions. And from that everything else grows.
  22. Load next page...