Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Start Out Small
    Start Out Small September 22, 2003 Focus on your breath. And as for what’s going to happen when you focus on the breath, put that thought aside. And where the meditation is going to take you and how it’s going to take you there: Put those thoughts aside as well. Be careful not to anticipate too much, because when you know too … 
  3. The Problem of Suffering
     … All the teachings in the Canon, all 84,000 sections of the Dhamma, focus on this one problem and its solution. You don’t have to do the problem. The problem is already there, already happening. The solution, though is something you have to do. As the phrase in the chant just now said, antakiriya, to make an end: It’s to make an … 
  4. A Heart & Mind of Goodwill
    Close your eyes and focus your attention on the breath. It’s good to start with a couple of good long deep in-and-out breaths to make very clear the sensation of breathing in the body, because the breathing in the body is what we’ll focusing on—not so much the air coming in and out of the nose, but the energy … 
  5. Choices that Matter
     … You can decide where you want to focus in the body. You can choose what kinds of perceptions you hold in mind about the breath. You can perceive the breath as the air coming in and out through the nose, or you can perceive it as the energy flow that goes through the body that allows the air to come in and out. The … 
  6. Imperturbable
     … This is where you have to clean things out in the body a bit, because when you start focusing in on the body, the power of your focus tends to push the blood around, interrupting the flow of energy and getting very restrictive. It can be very uncomfortable. So the natural reaction is to run away, to leave the focus. You find yourself bouncing … 
  7. Unattractiveness
     … You focus on the breath, creating a sense of well-being in the body that creates a good foundation for the mind. That’s something good you can do with it. So knowing that we’re going to have to leave the body but we have this body here right now, we can get some good out of it. That contemplation makes you more … 
  8. Full-Body Breath
     … You seclude the mind from sensuality, you pull it away from your desire for sensual pleasures, you seclude it from unskillful mental qualities, and you focus it on one of the four establishings of mindfulness. Those, the Canon says, are the proper topics of concentration, right concentration. You can focus on the body in and of itself, like the breath, or feelings in and … 
  9. Defabricating Anger
     … Don’t focus on their bad side. Focus on their good side.” You say, “That’s beneath me. That’s an insult to my dignity.” But then if you maintain your dignity, what’s going to happen to your goodness? Your goodness is going to die. Your heedfulness is going to die. When that dies, you’re dead. So you do what needs to … 
  10. Achieving Balance
     … Where are those bones? In other words, when you think about the bones in the toe, focus on the feeling in the toe. With the bones in your feet, focus on the feelings in your feet; and so on, up through the body. This way you give the mind work to do. If your mind won’t settle down with the bones, survey the … 
  11. Ending Suffering
     … You focus on your breath: If the breath doesn’t feel comfortable, well, you can change. No one is going to put you behind bars for changing your breath. Often we feel that as a meditator we have to simply watch what’s going on without participating in it at all. But that leaves you totally helpless, totally exposed. You can change the way … 
  12. A Connoisseur of the Breath
     … As you stay with the breath, you focus on the breath in ways that deal with feelings, that deal with the mind, that deal with mental qualities, but you never really leave the breath. You simply train yourself to observe things in conjunction with the breath. So of all the various places you could establish mindfulness, the breath is the most important. It’s … 
  13. Ups & Downs
     … After all, you’re not here to focus on past or future, you’re here to focus on the present. Of course, in the back of your mind there’s going to be the desire to get back to where you were or past where you were, but you can’t make that the focus of your attention right now. Focus on just the … 
  14. Well-being Despite It All
     … So this is why we focus inwardly as we meditate. We’re focusing, to begin with, on the breath. The breath itself may be subject to change but it gives you something to hold on to. It’s difficult right in the beginning to focus directly on the mind, so you focus on the breath instead, because the breath is near the mind, it … 
  15. Unattractive
     … So, because we want to focus on that aspect of the body—its usefulness in the practice—we have to focus on its unattractive side to discourage the unattractive and stupid mind states we build up around it—both our bodies and other people’s bodies. So include this kind of contemplation in your arsenal. It’s going to be a necessary part of … 
  16. A Total Training
     … You want the mind to become less and less stubborn and more and more tractable, because a large part of the training is learning how to focus it on things that are useful. All too often, we spend all our time thinking about things that are totally of no help at all. You can sit here and make yourself miserable or you can sit … 
  17. Concentration Work
     … You’re not here to focus on your selves. You’re here to focus on your breath. So focus on the breath first. As you get used to being with the breath, you can’t help but notice that your mind is relating to the breath in different ways. There are times when the mind wants to simply enjoy the breathing; other times when … 
  18. Look at Yourself
     … How can a person live in the Sangha and live at peace? The Buddha’s basic answer, aside from developing your powers of concentration and getting rid of your defilements, starts out by saying to focus on your own actions, on your own faults. Don’t focus on the actions and faults of others, aside from the question of whether you can learn from … 
  19. The Karma that Ends Karma
     … You focus your intention on staying with the breath, staying with goodwill, whatever the object of your meditation, and then you try to maintain that intention. Then you see what you can learn about intention in the course of trying to maintain it, what other things you can learn about the mind as you try to maintain that intention. The usual culprits to begin … 
  20. Choices
     … You can focus on the breath, or you can focus on some other Dhamma theme: contemplation of the body, goodwill, recollection of the Buddha. Or you can focus on something else entirely. Nobody knows what you’re thinking about right now. You’re free to think about anything, but which choice would be the wisest? That’s a question you always want to ask … 
  21. The Bright Tunnel
     … If you try to understand it without any concentration, it’s hard to maintain your focus. At the same time, it’s hard to maintain a sense of not being threatened by the suffering. This is why we work at developing our concentration, because concentration involves not only a focus but also a sense of wellbeing with your focus. You stay with the breath … 
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