Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. Indecision
     … That’s why the Buddha focused on straightening out the mind. He said that if you solve this problem, then people don’t create suffering for themselves. On the one hand, they benefit; on the other hand, people around them benefit, too. That’s why he focused on this. If we can get rid of our greed, aversion, and delusion, we benefit and the … 
  3. Cooking Skills
     … This is why we meditate, why meditation focuses on what the mind is doing in the present moment. It focuses on the three things that we’re in a good position to adjust in the present moment: the three kinds of fabrication. There’s bodily fabrication: the in-and-out breath. Verbal fabrication: directed thought and evaluation—in other words, the way you talk … 
  4. Directly & Indirectly to the Breath
     … This is how the reflection, once it calms you down, gets you focused back in on the breath, back in the present moment. Because this is where the Buddha gained his awakening: focusing on the breath. The same with the members of the Sangha. How did they overcome their frustration? By finally sitting down and being willing to look at their minds and give … 
  5. The Body In & Of Itself
    When you focus on the breath you’re focusing on the body in and of itself. That’s your frame of reference, and you want to hold to that frame of reference. Take that as the world you’re inhabiting right now. As for the outside world, just let it drop away. Friends, family, issues at work, issues at school—you don’t have … 
  6. For the Cessation of Dukkha
     … So the big separation line right now is between focusing on the breath and focusing on anything else that’s not related to the breath. Hold on right here. Try to make your sensation of the breath fill the body as much as you can. If you can’t feel the breath in the body or the subtle breath sensations in the body, focus … 
  7. Self-Correct
     … One of the ways of focusing on the body in its own terms is to focus on the breath. When you breathe in, where do you feel it? Focus your attention there. And be alert to the fact that this may not be where you ordinarily might think you should be feeling the breath. We know the air comes in through the nose, goes … 
  8. The Reality of Emotions
     … Sometimes it requires focusing on the grief, focusing on the discomfort. There’s a passage in the sutta on transcendent dependent co-arising that traces all the factors leading up to suffering, but then states that from suffering you can develop conviction, and through conviction you develop the path. From developing the path, you develop joy. This is the Buddha’s analysis of how … 
  9. Diagnosing the Mind
     … Leaning forward or back means you’re focusing either on the future or on the past. You want to look right in the present moment. Leaning to the left or to the right means you’re either indulging in sensual pleasures or you’re tormenting yourself with the things you’re thinking about. The point is, if you see yourself leaning in any direction … 
  10. Dethinking Thinking
     … One is to stay focused on one thing in and of itself, and the other is put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. This is going to require you to put aside all references to the world while you’re sitting here. You want to be just awareness, breath, and that’s going to be becoming enough. And sure enough, the … 
  11. Focus on What’s Important
     … But for now, make sure you stay focused on what’s really important. That’s how the Buddha gained his awakening: He was focused on what was really important and gave it top priority. If there was anybody who was goal-oriented, it was him. It’s just that he was really wise in pursuing a really good goal—wise both in the choice … 
  12. Doing Meditation
     … Right now you’re focusing on the breath. In the beginning, that requires a lot of repeated reminders to yourself: keep focusing on the breath, keep focusing on the breath. But you often find that simply reminding yourself to do that is not enough. More is required. Use your ingenuity in figuring out ways to make the breath more interesting, more comfortable, a more … 
  13. What You’re Choosing to Do Right Now
     … It talked about how some people have an instinctive ability to focus in on what is the big issue, and they’re sensitive to the way they can read a particular situation by focusing on the right things. The rest of the book had to do with the fact that this is a skill that can be taught, primarily by giving people an enlarged … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. Samvega for Samsara
     … He focuses on the suffering side so that your mind won’t go wandering there—because otherwise it keeps on wandering. That’s what the word saṃsāra means: wandering on. We tend to think of saṃsāra as a place, and that when you practice, you’re trying to go from one place, i.e.,* saṃsāra*, to another place,* nibbāna*. The* *Mahayana objects to this … 
  16. Circular Practice
     … They get focused on one thing, and they just get obsessed with it. So it’s good to have people to get you out of those loops. Of course, you want to look for the right people: people who actually have the right values, people who see the value of training the mind, the value of digging down into the mind and seeing why … 
  17. Stretch Your Mind
     … So, seeing the power of the mind, seeing the power of the present moment, he then focused on his mind in the present moment in the third watch of the night. You see what he’s doing: He’s stretching his mind before he settles in. With the body, we stretch it forward, stretch it back, to the left, right. But with the mind … 
  18. The Path of Happiness
     … Is this going to be a problem meditating?” My teacher’s response was, “No, we’re going to be focusing on the breath. The breath isn’t Buddhist. It isn’t Christian. It doesn’t belong to any particular religion. It’s a common property all over the world. When you focus on the breath, then you get to your own mind. Once you … 
  19. Virtue
     … These are qualities you have to bring to the act of being focused on the body in and of itself, focused on feelings in and of themselves, whatever the topic of your meditation, so that when you sit down and meditate, you’re not coming totally green to the practice. You’re already developing these qualities in your daily life, in the way you … 
  20. Investing Your Intention
     … Fortunately, when you’re focusing on the breath right here in the present moment, all the things you need to understand for gaining release are all right here as well. You’re at the most important point in your world when you’re focused right here, because everything comes out of this. The other things you’re aware of come into your senses because … 
  21. The Four Jhanas
     … And allow the spot where you’re focusing to have a certain amount of freedom. In other words, don’t clamp down on it. Sometimes you may try to define things sharply: “This is where the in-breath begins, this is where the out-breath begins; this is where the in-breath ends, this is where the out-breath ends.” But doing that places … 
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