Search results for: "Perception"

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  2. Calm
     … Then you can look at the perceptions you have around the pain. Ask yourself, “Is it one big solid pain, or is it made up of little moments of pain?” You’re trying to find a perception that’s more calming, and the perception of little moments of sensation is more calming to the mind than the perception of a solid block or band … 
  3. Think
     … But there’s a state of non-perception that’s actually wrong concentration. No discernment gets developed there. Remember, the path requires not only right concentration but also discernment, right view, which means you have to learn how to talk to yourself in new ways, develop new types of perceptions. First you want to see what perceptions you have around the pain. How do … 
  4. Shifting Your Paradigm
    This afternoon we were talking about perception, the way our minds label things, as a way of stocking the labels away in our memory so that we can recognize things the next time they come. The mind has a kind of filing system, a whole set of perceptions for how it perceives things, how it fits things in into different molds before they can … 
  5. The Uses of Right Concentration
     … So you want to be able to notice when these perceptions and feelings come, when they go, which particular perception or feeling has replaced an earlier one. Then you begin to notice other things about perceptions and feelings as well: When a particular perception is in your mind, what level of stress or disturbance accompanies it in the mind? Or in the body? When … 
  6. Oneness is a Water Snake
     … And there are times you have to be really careful with this concept because it’s so easy to take a perception of oneness—say, as when you settle down immersed in the breath or settle down with a sense of awareness itself—and mistake the perception for something that’s there apart from the perception, prior to the perception. In other words, you … 
  7. Discernment in Concentration
     … Just hold in mind the perception: “The breath is going to feel good all the way in, all the way out,” and see what that does to the way the body actually breathes. In other words, you’re playing with perceptions, and you become very self-aware about playing with perceptions. In that way, you begin to notice connections. If you just randomly think … 
  8. The Rewards of Right View
     … So what kind of actions do you want to create? This is where the Buddha’s teaching on the three perceptions comes in handy. There’s a passage where he talks about developing the perception of inconstancy with regard to all fabrications. And it’s interesting, he says the result of maintaining that perception, making it consistent, is that you develop a sense of … 
  9. Name & Form
     … We think of the body as being basically solid because that’s our perception of it. But one of the important things you’re going to learn as you familiarize yourself with these various properties or elements is the role that perception plays in emphasizing one or another. The body’s not just plain sensation. There’s a perception behind every sensation. So here … 
  10. Dharma Medicine
     … You see it: “Simply because I was perceiving it in a particular way, that was causing the problem.” This is why we spend so much time in concentration practice, because as the Buddha said, concentration is a perception attainment. You stay centered by holding a particular perception in mind. You try to sort through all the possible perceptions you can apply to what you … 
  11. Breath Energies
     … This works because the breath energy is very sensitive to perceptions. So, create some new perceptions for yourself, the images that you hold in mind. In other words, you don’t have to use physical force to press the breath down. You just learn which perceptions the breath will respond to and you learn how to be good at holding those perceptions in mind … 
  12. Concentration Teamwork
     … But you hold onto that perception. In all the levels of concentration, all the way up to the perception of nothingness, the perception is what keeps you there. And you’ve got to learn how to maintain this perception because as you get to the more subtle levels of concentration, there will be fewer and fewer sensations to confirm the perception. You’re dependent … 
  13. Specifically
     … When you see how you actually worsen the pain with a specific perception, then you can see, “That perception is something inconstant. You don’t have to continue with that perception. It’s stressful. Why hang on to it?” When you start thinking in those terms, that’s when those three perceptions really get helpful. So the problem is in the specifics, and the … 
  14. Messaging Your Mind
     … That’s a perception. How about erasing that perception? Part of the mind will be afraid to do that because it’s placed a shape on the pain with the assumption that it can contain the pain that way. But you can’t contain pain. All you do is create more tension. So if you can drop that perception, see what happens. These are … 
  15. A Good Dish of Concentration
     … Without this perception, you wouldn’t have a marker. The perception acts like a label for marking what you’re going to be doing and where you want to stay. Without this marker you wouldn’t be able to stay here. In fact, of the various concentration attainments, all of them up through the perception of nothingness, the Buddha says, count as perception attainments … 
  16. Lighter & Stronger
     … The Buddha talks about perceptions you can develop that strengthen the mind so that it can become more independent. In fact, the best perceptions help separate you out from things that you might ordinarily depend on. They include the perception of inconstancy, the perception of not-self, and the perception of drawbacks—in this case, the drawbacks of coming back and having a body … 
  17. A Diffuse Light
     … In other words, the perception of the breath originating in every cell is much calmer than the perception of the breath originating in any one spot to the detriment of others. And both are calmer than the perception that the breath has to come from outside. As the perceptions get the mind calmer, they get the breath calmer as well. This is one of … 
  18. Mind Reading
     … He talks about being sensitive to mental fabrication, which are feelings and perceptions: both the question of what kind of perceptions can you use to cut through your hindrances, and then, once the mind has settled down, what perceptions can you use to bring the mind into deeper and deeper levels of concentration? You’re seeing how feelings and perceptions really do have an … 
  19. The Noble Truths of the Breath
     … And what are those aggregates? One of them is perception. And a good way to see how you cling to perceptions is to experiment with new perceptions, to see where they are useful. This is why we listen to the Dhamma to begin with. The Buddha gives us new ways of perceiving our lives to try on. And he doesn’t stop there. He … 
  20. Not-self as a Raft
     … Even your first perception of the deathless, the Buddha said, you have to label as not-self. Otherwise, you cling to it and that gets in the way of full awakening. But as for the awakening itself, that’s something that lies outside the aggregates. There’s no perception in there, so perceptions of self wouldn’t apply; perceptions of not-self wouldn’t … 
  21. Comprehending Suffering
     … Are they perceptions? Are they thoughts? Are they feelings? Then you can ask yourself, “Why would you want to cling to them?” This is where you begin to see the cause of the suffering. Again, you may have certain perceptions about your perceptions, or perceptions about your feelings. These things can have many layers, which is why comprehending suffering is not something you might … 
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