Search results for: "Attention"
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- The Focus on Suffering… And because we’re paying attention outside, we don’t see what’s going on inside. So we end up paying attention to things that we can maybe change a little bit but can’t change all that much. And we ignore the big thing that we do have the power to change, which is how we react to feelings of pleasure and pain …
- Permission to Play… Notice where you feel it, the sensations that tell you when it’s coming in and going out, and then keep your attention focused on those sensations. You have to be careful, though, in how you focus. If you put too much pressure on the breath, it starts getting constricted. If your attention to the breath is too light, it slips off and floats …
- The Skill of Renunciation… Focus your attention there—and then try to keep it there. Part of keeping it there is not just by forcing the mind to stay, but by taking an inquisitive attitude: What kind of breathing would feel best right here? Longer? Shorter? Heavier? Lighter? Faster? Slower? Experiment for a while to see what kind of breathing feels good now. As for any other thoughts …
- A Magic Set of Tools… You focus your attention on one particular thing and then keep reminding yourself to stay there. This is how concentration is developed. But concentration is not just a question of memory. To be a part of the path, it has to be alert as well. We’re not trying to put ourselves into a trance. We simply want to stay focused on an aspect …
- The Body In & Of Itself… Which spot in the body seems warmest? You can focus your attention right there and then think of the warmth growing stronger. As it grows stronger, you can think of it radiating out. So instead of obsessing, say, about feeling too cold, you’re looking for the potential for warmth in the body. It’s there, and you can bring it out. In this …
- Bringing Right resolve… As the Buddha says, one of the factors that can spark right view in you is hearing the voice of another person who teaches appropriate attention; one of the factors that get in the way of right view, in the way of right practice, is hearing someone who teaches inappropriate attention, or explains things wrongly. But all the other factors have to depend on …
- Stay with the Breath… It may be useful for somebody else, or for the person giving the talk, but you don’t have to focus your attention outside. Just keep it on the sensation of the breath. When you breathe in, know you’re breathing in; when you breathe out, know you’re breathing out. Notice where in the body you have the sensations that tell you, “Now …
- Respect for Happiness… But it’s something you can know for yourself if you pay attention. And you find that when the breath is comfortable and nourishing, the body feels better, you feel better, the mind feels better—a totally free way of finding some pleasure in life. All it requires is a little discipline and curiosity, wanting to find out. Here you have this energy flowing …
- Subduing Greed & Distress… Stay with the breath, because your attention to the breath is what’s causing them. The more attentive you can be to the breath, the smoother it becomes. It’s like a thread as you run your finger over as it’s running past you. You’ve got to smooth out the thread so that any frayed edges get smoothed back into the thread …
- Deconstructing Suffering… You find that by staying with the breath, you can create a sense of ease, you can create a sense of fullness, just by keeping your focus steady, just by adjusting the breath, paying careful attention to what the breath is doing, paying careful attention to what the mind is doing, and learning how to disband any thoughts that come up, either by not …
- Abandoning Effluents (3)… The first of the approaches, seeing—i.e., seeing in terms of appropriate attention—is applied to abandoning the effluents of becoming and ignorance, because you’re putting aside questions that deal with your identity, which is the kernel of becoming, focusing instead on seeing things in terms of the four noble truths. That puts an end to ignorance. The next four approaches deal …
- Bursting Bubbles… Simply by paying attention to them, keeping them in mind, you can make them stronger. When you’re feeling lightheaded and dizzy, you can think about the earth element. That helps to ground you. When you’re feeling sluggish, you can think of the wind element. That makes the body feel lighter. You make these things more prominent and bring the body into balance …
- Specifically… In some cases you find out that’s because of the way you’re breathing, sometimes it’s because of the way you’re perceiving things, sometimes it’s because of the way you’re talking to yourself, what you’re paying attention to, how you’re paying attention, what your intentions are—lots of different things that can go into a specific pain …
- Countercultural Conditioning… Breathe in a way that, one, you simply pay a lot of attention to your breath. And then, two, you learn how to breathe in ways that give rise to rapture, give rise to pleasure. Breathe in ways that gladden the mind, concentrate the mind, that are conducive to releasing the mind—things that we usually don’t think about. He says that if …
- A Committed Relationship… You have to give your time, you have to give your energy, you have to put a lot of thought and pay a lot of attention into what you’re doing. You can’t just be taking all the time. This also means making sacrifices. You have to sacrifice the time that you could have been devoting to something else. And as you’re …
- Pain… Fabrications also come together with the act of attention in the factor of name and form in dependent co-arising. Attention has to do with the questions you ask. Verbal fabrication has to do with the stories you tell yourself. You can also use it in the service of appropriate attention to start questioning your perceptions, questioning your stories around the pain. One of …
- The Inner Saboteur… At the very least for this hour, let’s really get together and focus our attention on trying to do something about the mind, learning how to bring it to its object, how to keep it there, and really paying attention to what’s actually going on in the mind.” These, you might call them traitors inside you, the parts of you that sabotage …
- Concentration Develops Right View… As for the sub-factors of name, there’s going to be attention to your topic, your intention to stay, your perception that holds you here, the feeling of pleasure that you try to maintain, or the feeling of equanimity if you get deeper into concentration, and then contact among these mental events. These sub-factors all work together. The thing is, you may …
- Dhamma Intelligence… That means paying a lot of very careful attention right here, right now—not to the abstractions, but to the actual events and sensations going on right now. The things the mind is saying to itself right now: Those are the things you want to analyze. Those are the things you want to be sensitive to. It may seem like you’re restricting yourself …
- Stay Centered… You give all your attention to whatever it is that it’s time to do. From his point of view, he said, “Try to make your practice timeless.” In other words, regardless of what time it is outside—what chores you have to do, what other responsibilities you have—it’s always time to meditate, it’s always time to be centered inside. Only …
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