Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 35
  2. Delight
     … Sariputta goes through the states of concentration, and how aspects of a lower state of concentration become afflictive as you go into a higher state of concentration. So even the joy of concentration appears afflictive as you get better and better at it. This inclines the mind to something that’s totally unafflicted, which would be the deathless: totally free from change, totally free … 
  3. Working with Nature
     … Sometimes it may, by a fluke, get into concentration, but if you’re not paying careful attention, you’ll fluke out of it as well. So it’s a combination of knowing what to do and what not to do. The things to do are the causes. As Ajaan Lee points out, when you’re trying to get the mind into concentration, directed thought … 
  4. A Clear Agenda
     … If your concentration has gotten to the level where it’s solid, then you’re ready for Ajaan Fuang’s third stage: putting your concentration to use. You can ask yourself, “What do I need clarified?” Follow Ajaan Lee’s example. You pose the question in your mind. Then you drop it and get into concentration to see if the stillness of the mind … 
  5. The Buddha’s Secret Weapon
     … Notice that his first intimation of the noble eightfold path was right concentration. And then, to turn that right concentration into the path to the end of suffering, he gathered the other seven factors as well. In one of the suttas he calls them the requisites or the aids to right concentration. Concentration is the heart of the path. The other factors make sure … 
  6. May You Forever Be Well
     … We’re working on the skills of concentration so that the mind can stay with one object with a sense of well-being, and issues of the world can be put off to the side. So wherever you go, you want to keep those skills of concentration in mind. Work with the breath, trying to breathe in a way that feels good all the … 
  7. Working Ourselves Free
     … Otherwise, you’ll have periods of concentration and periods when concentration disappears. Then, when it disappears, all kinds of things can come running into your mind. The next time you come to sit down and meditate, it’s as if it’s a different mind, with a whole new cast of characters. You have to sort them out again—to see which is the … 
  8. Start by Relaxing Your Hands
     … So in this case, even though we’re trying to get the mind into a state of concentration, don’t be concerned about whether it’s concentrated or not, just be concerned with staying focused on how the breath feels right now, in the context of the body. Make sure it’s got its hand and its feet relaxed, its arms and its legs … 
  9. Renunciation
     … good, strong states of concentration. That’s your food inside. Some of the passages talk about feeding on rapture as food for the mind. There’s another sutta that compares the different factors of the path to different parts of a fortress, and the jhanas, good strong levels of concentration: Those are the stores of food. When you’re well fed inside like this … 
  10. Don’t Be a Traitor to Yourself
     … What can you do with these four properties of earth, wind, fire, and water? When is it good to have a good solid heavy sense of concentration and when do you want a lighter sense of concentration? Familiarize yourself with this territory. This is where you can grow your own crops. No one can take them away from you. And no one else has … 
  11. Looking in Three Directions
     … I don’t know how many people I’ve run into who say, “Well, I’m going to do a little concentration, and when the mind gets still, then I’m going to switch over to do insight practice”—the assumption being that you’ve got to leave concentration in order to do insight. But that’s not the case. As you’re working … 
  12. Finding Balance
     … So you use the insight to improve your concentration, and use your concentration to improve your insight. It’s like your left hand washing your right, and your right hand washing your left. That way, they both get clean.
  13. Other People
     … It’s made by a combination of developing concentration and also having some discernment. The concentration gives you a good place to stay, your own separate sense of energy, your own separate source of energy—like in the days when the Burmese attacked Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was able to withstand the siege for a long time because they had their own sources of water and … 
  14. The Karma of Self & Not-Self
     … There was a time when someone asked the Buddha, “What is virtue for?” “Virtue is for concentration.” “What is concentration for?” “Concentration is for the purpose of discernment.” “What is the purpose of discernment?” “The purpose of discernment is release.” “What is the purpose of release?” “Total unbinding, nibbāna.” Then the person asked “What is the purpose of nibbāna?” The Buddha said, “No, you … 
  15. Test Everything
     … And there’s another kind of patience, the patience that, when the mind does get into concentration, and you say, “Okay, what’s next, what’s the next step?” the patience requires that you stay with that state of concentration. This is what requires heedfulness, because sometimes it’s all too easy to say, “Well, the mind is rested enough for now. Now I … 
  16. A Friend to the World, A Friend to Yourself
     … The gatekeeper and the soldiers need food, which is what the concentration is for. The various levels of concentration in that image start with very basic foods and then go up to the really good stuff: honey and butter. But concentration is not your only strength. The Buddha says that inner strength depends on conviction. This is largely a matter of verbal fabrication and … 
  17. Constant, Easeful, Self
     … The implication, though, is that even as you’re practicing concentration, you’ve got to apply some discernment to what you’re doing; to understand what you’re doing and to understand how to get past distractions to your practice. And it seems primarily that what the Buddha was focusing on was that when something comes into the mind to interfere with your focus … 
  18. Yes & No
    The Buddha’s description of what right concentration is like is in his description of right concentration. His description of how to do it is in his description of right mindfulness. You choose a frame of reference that you’re going to stay focused on. You try to keep track of that, ardent, alert, mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the … 
  19. The Return of Chickens from Hell
     … Now, the mind is willing to stop only if you’ve got something better to hold onto in the meantime, i.e., your state of concentration. Otherwise, you’d be afraid that you’re going to starve. Once you’ve got the concentration as your food, though, then even though there is some stress in creating the concentration and keeping it going, it’s … 
  20. The Arrow in the Heart
     … This is why we get the mind into a state of concentration. It’s like relaxing around an arrow so as to minimize the pain in the mind and make it easier for us to pull it out. Even though concentration is not the ultimate ease and it’s not the ultimate happiness, still it gives us a period of rest and the ability … 
  21. Go, Do Jhana
     … You’re still going to have to deal with disturbances as you try to make your concentration more solid and continuous, as you try to keep the mind centered at all times. You get the mind into a good solid state of concentration and then, when it’s firmly there, step back to evaluate it in terms of the subtle disturbances still present within … 
  22. Load next page...