Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Circumspection
     … In other words, we focus on the breath not because we’re trying to get the breath or to turn into expert breathers. The breath is simply a means to what we really want. So the Buddha has a strategic purpose in getting you to focus on the particulars. Be very observant of the little things, because little things make a big difference. Right … 
  3. Pleasure on the Path
     … So you focus on the new leaves. Focus on the areas where it is pleasant and accept that as a natural part of having a body: There are going to be physical pains. There are going to be potentials for pains, and what you do with them is going to make a big difference in their impact on the mind. If you focus on … 
  4. To Understand the Path
     … So focus on the work appropriate for your particular imbalance, notice where you are, and know when you have to turn left, turn right as appropriate. There’s that famous story about Ajaan Chah where he was accused of being inconsistent in his teachings, sometimes telling people not to focus on stillness, but to work totally on watching things arising and passing away, and … 
  5. Cooking with Kamma
     … Where do you focus the mind? How do you focus it? And then when a sense of pleasure comes from that focus, how do you make use of it? Ajaan Lee recommends letting it spread around the body. Once it’s spread around the body, then maintain that sense of full-body awareness, full-body pleasure. At that point, you’ve got three of … 
  6. Secluded from Sensuality
     … You focus first on the body to see that there’s nothing much there, so that you can focus your attention on what’s going on in the mind. There’s that experiment I’ve mentioned before: They put a male pigeon in a box with a female pigeon and they measured how much time it would take for him to start his mating … 
  7. Arising & Passing Away
     … There’s a sutta where a monk goes around to visit other monks and asks them, “What do you have to focus on in order to gain awakening?” One monk says to focus on the five aggregates, another says to focus on the six sense spheres, others say to focus on dependent co-arising, the elements. Each monk has a different answer. This upsets … 
  8. Friends with the Breath
     … And discernment comes into the equation as well, because you have to be discerning in how you focus your mind. So find a good object to focus on. Once you clear the decks through your reflections, look for your breath. It’s always there. The question is whether your thoughts obscure it or not. The kind of thinking that comes from the reflections we … 
  9. Be Precise
     … So, you focus on the breath. You begin to realize that the way you focus on the breath, the image you hold in mind of the breath, and the perception of the breath are all going to have an effect on how the breath feels—whether it’s going to be a good place to stay or not a good place to stay. But … 
  10. Strength in Humor
     … the arousing of desire to abandon unskillful qualities and to develop skillful ones—or, once you’ve got something skillful going, the desire to maintain it, realizing that this is the important thing to do and the important thing to focus on—and finding the energy and the ability to stick with it. That requires reminding yourself again and again of how important this … 
  11. Square One
     … You focus on knowing, “Now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out.” And you notice the quality of the breath. This involves the next type of fabrication, which is verbal fabrication, what the Buddha calls “directed thought and evaluation.” It’s basically the way you talk to yourself. You choose a topic to focus on, try to keep your thoughts … 
  12. It’s All about Action
     … When we focus on parts of the body, we tend to tense them up. So you’ve got to learn a new skill: Learn how to focus on something at the same time relaxing it. Find some part of the body where it’s easy to think, “Relax,” and the body responds. Then, when you get used to that, you can start moving to … 
  13. Control
     … But you have the choice in the present moment as to what you’re going to focus on. And in the focusing, you make things grow. So the question is: What are you going to make grow in your mind? You could spend your time obsessing about things you can’t control, but what does that foster? What does that make grow? It fosters … 
  14. Scramble the Image
    Scramble the Image December 9, 2014 A common habit when you focus on the body is to tense up at the spot where you’re focused—which may help maintain the focus for a while but it’s going to cause problems in the long term. It blocks the flow of the blood, makes you uncomfortable, makes it hard to stay. So you’ve … 
  15. One Thing at a Time
     … You realize you can’t simply just tell yourself, “Let go.” You have to let go through understanding, which is why we focus on one thing at a time. Focus on the breath, and the issues of feelings and issues of the mind will gather right there where you can see them all together clearly. They all become one big issue. And you realize … 
  16. Patience & Sensitivity
     … Often as soon as you focus on the breath, things tighten up. How can you focus without the tightening up? Why does the tightening up have to go with the focus? Sometimes it relates to our preconceived notions of what it means to be focused. Sometimes it has to do with our ideas of what has to be done to make the breath do … 
  17. Different Minds, Different Bodies
     … two breaths here, then focus the awareness on another spot in the body, two breaths there, and then just keep moving it around, top to bottom, top to bottom, here and there. After I got over that phase of sleepiness, then I got the mind to settle down and just stayed in one spot. So that’s another way of dealing with sleepiness or … 
  18. Calm & Insight
     … In some places it’s more prominent than others, and you want to focus your main attention there. Then eventually, as that area becomes more comfortable, you want to think of that comfort spreading throughout the body. Your awareness spreads throughout the body, so that you’re bathed in breath and awareness. As for insight, the questions are: “How do you view fabrications (the … 
  19. Stick to Your Duties
     … As Ajaan Lee pointed out, this is the most difficult part of the path, because it requires that you really focus on developing a skill. As for the part of the mind that likes to figure things out, try to figure out concentration. If the mind has trouble settling down, try to figure out why. Then, once it settles down, try to figure out … 
  20. Meditation as Play
     … Try to get a sense of what it means to focus. Can you focus without tensing up around the focal point? And when you focus, are your eyes involved in the process? Can you do it without** involving the eyes? In other words, be aware of the chest **in the chest. Be aware of the stomach in the stomach. Be aware of the eyes … 
  21. Dhammacentric
     … Why does he focus instead on keeping in mind the body in and of itself, feelings, mind states, mental qualities in and of themselves, with no direct mention of the duties of the four noble truths or the duties with regard to skillful and unskillful qualities? Now, there is indirect mention in the quality of ardency. Ardency is what knows its duties and tries … 
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