Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Guardians at Death
     … You want to maintain a focus that’s solid, clear, aimed either at total release or at least a rebirth where you can continue practicing. And that requires real focus. So you learn focus here as you’re sitting here in relative comfort, relative ease. You’re also going to learn how to keep your mind focused when the body is not at ease … 
  3. Wandering Aimlessly
     … That was the Buddha’s focus. He was primarily a problem-solver. He wasn’t trying to map everything out, because the more you map things out, the more states of becoming you create. Even a basic sense of place is a part of a state of becoming. You situate yourself in a feeling, and then you build a world around it. You build … 
  4. Discernment in Concentration
     … As we focus on the breath, what’s the best image to hold in mind? Where is the best place to focus? And how do you focus? Some people, when they focus on a spot in the body, tend to tense it up. Can you learn how to stay at that spot and release the tension at the same time, and yet maintain your … 
  5. Analyzing Results
     … For this to become a skill, you have to notice what works and what doesn’t work, what ways of focusing the mind, what things you focus on, what levels of pressure you bring into the focus get results and which ones don’t—and which ones get results at certain times and not at another times. Try to take note. Over time, you … 
  6. Equanimity & Action
     … There are times when you have to focus really heavily and other times when the focus has to be very gentle. Remember that you have a range of options. And if the action you’re doing right now isn’t getting the results you want, step back a bit. See if there’s something you can change. If you’ve tried your full repertoire … 
  7. A Diffuse Light
     … When we focus on the breath, we tend to focus on the workers and leave the freeloaders in the background. So we get an unbalanced picture of the breath in the body. In the beginning of the meditation, though, this picture is useful. You need a place to keep your focus anchored. And the conception of the breath goes to either: “That’s the … 
  8. Heedful of Death
     … You can still focus on your breath, you can still focus on whatever your topic of meditation might be, and appreciate the fact that you still have the breath coming in, going out, that you can focus on, that you can use it to train the mind. Think about the things that are still bearable, still tolerable in spite of the heat. If there … 
  9. Four Determinations in One
     … In getting the mind focused, on the one hand, you develop the focus of the concentration, and then you contemplate each element, one by one, to see that it’s not worthy of attachment. So it’s a practice of concentration in tandem with discernment, or tranquility in tandem with insight. He starts with earth. You focus on the fact that you’ve got … 
  10. The Positive Side of Heedfulness
     … You can focus on developing powers of patience and endurance, or you can focus on your discernment—because work does require discernment. We had a question today about whether creativity was in line with the Dhamma as you work. Well, it’s an exercise of your discernment. Again, all too often, we think of discernment as simply observing things as they’re happening. But … 
  11. Mindfulness of Death & the Deathless
     … This is one of the reasons why the Buddha says if someone is on their deathbed, you try to get them to let go of human sensuality, to see the drawbacks of human sensuality, and at the very least focus on deva sensuality—something better. Of course, even that has its drawbacks. Ideally, get them so they can see that any kind of construction … 
  12. Acceptance Without Suffering
     … The one problem is that sometimes, when you focus on the comfort, you forget about the breath, and the mind just loses focus. You’re here, you’re at your ease, but you don’t really know where you are. That’s not what you want. You want to be alert. This is why the Buddha tells you to be aware of the whole … 
  13. Focal Points
    When you focus on the breath, it’s important that the breath feel very refreshing: that it feels really good to breathe in and then breathe in again, breathe in again, that there’s a part of the body that feels really gratified, really nourished by the breath. Part of this involves choosing your spot to focus on, what Ajaan Lee calls the resting … 
  14. Skillful Desire
     … So as you’re meditating, even though you may want to gain nibbana, gain jhāna—that’s why you’re here, you don’t deny that—you don’t focus on those things. Jhāna is not the object of jhāna. The object of jhāna is your breath. So focus all of your desire on the breath, to get to know the breath. Learn to … 
  15. Watch Your Mind Whenever You Can
     … If you’re quick and observant, you’ll notice that when you focus on the breath, it changes right away. The question is how to make that change good, healthy for the body. So you try to bring some knowledge to what you’re doing—awareness, alertness, examining what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Then you see, “When I focus, this … 
  16. Pay Attention to Some Things
     … So you focus on what’s really important. The Buddha sets the principles out when he explains appropriate attention. You focus on the four noble truths: What is suffering? What’s causing it? Can the suffering be brought to an end? He says Yes. So, the next question is, how do you do that? Each of those truths has a duty. There’s something … 
  17. Desire Is Part of the Path
     … Give it something simple to focus on, something that gives you a sense of well-being. As for any thoughts that would go in any other direction, you subdue them, as the Buddha said. You put them aside because you’ve got something better to focus on. In the description of right mindfulness, which is basically the Buddha’s prescription for how you do … 
  18. A Foundation for Restraint
     … If you want to focus on the breath, think of a picture of how the breath flows. Remind yourself that it can flow in a lot of ways that you might not expect. This gives you something to be interested in the present moment—to be interested in the body. Or you can focus on the different parts of the body: hair of the … 
  19. The Karma of Ideas
     … Or you can focus on a particularly difficult part of the body where you hold tension, where there seems to be a blockage. Focus directly on that and see what happens. Think of it opening up, and the breath can come in from any direction—front, back, top down, coming up from below—and see if that helps open up the blockage. Sometimes the … 
  20. Potentials Past & Present
     … Sometimes what feels good for the body is a little bit too subtle and you begin to lose your focus. So breathe in a way that’s good both for the body and for the mind. This is a potential that we very rarely make full use of. The breath comes in, goes out, keeps us alive, and for most people that’s it … 
  21. Developing Discernment
    When you focus on the breath, it’s important that you want to stay here. You’ll find that the committee of the mind has some members who are happy to be here, and other members who are not. This is why the Buddha says there are two duties that you *do *as you get the mind to settle down with right mindfulness and … 
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