Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. What Right Mindfulness Remembers
     … So are you focusing in a way that’s going to help it get better or in a way that’s going to create more problems? Are you focusing in a way that allows the mind to see things clearly or make things obscure? What you’re doing right now makes a huge difference as to how you’re going to read the results … 
  3. Breath Energies
     … In cases like that, it’s good to stop focusing on the breath and start focusing on a topic that calms the mind down. Goodwill is a good reflection. Reflection on karma is often useful as well. There are certain issues in life where we feel that we’ve been unjustly treated, and it’s good to remember that karma has been going on … 
  4. Limitations
     … We’re investing our time in the mind, focusing on qualities which, in the very beginning, may not seem much. Mindfulness and alertness: very ordinary everyday qualities. Mindfulness simply means keeping something in mind, as when we’re focusing on the breath right now. We keep in mind of the fact we want to stay with the breath regardless of whatever else comes up … 
  5. Here to Learn
     … So be clear about where you’re focusing, how you’re focusing, what the results are. When things go well, learn how to keep them going well. When they’re not going well, learn how to think of ways of adjusting the breath, ways of adjusting your focus. Try them out, see what happens. See what works; see what doesn’t work. If you … 
  6. Equanimity & Exertion
     … the pleasure of concentration, in which you get the mind totally focused on an object that has nothing to do with sensuality. You start out by directing your thoughts—which is a fabrication—toward a single object, and evaluating the object so that the mind can settle down with it. Like we’re doing right now here with the breath: You work with the … 
  7. The Uses of the Breath
     … When you’re focused on the breath, you’re directing your thoughts there and you evaluate the breath as it’s coming in, going out. You also evaluate the mind as it relates to the breath so that you get them to fit snugly together. Finally, there’s mental fabrication: feelings and perceptions. Perceptions are the labels you give to things. So for the … 
  8. Of Past & Future
     … He focused on the immediate present, on the questions of stress and suffering right here and now, the causes for those things as they appear right here and now. In other words, he focused on his actions, his intentions, in the present moment, along with the stress and suffering occurring right there in the present moment. And the mental activities that led him beyond … 
  9. Sensuality Is a Fetter
     … And the range of the mind actually narrows down as it gets more and more focused on sensual issues. This is where the way of the Dhamma parts ways with the way of the world. As the Buddha said, our freedom lies not in that area, but in learning how to put it aside—how to renounce all that fantasizing and find a happiness … 
  10. Just Events
     … But then the third knowledge dropped the narratives, dropped the worldview, and just focused on events, without asking the question of whether there was a person there or no person there, simply, “These are events.” That kind of depersonalization can be really useful, because you find as you go through life there are a lot of things you can’t control. On the external … 
  11. Empathetic Joy
     … Just make up your mind that you’re going to notice what results of good actions you can see here in the present moment.” Of course, some of the students had psychic powers, while others just focused on their breath. There was one monk, though, who started shaking all over, convulsing. And it turned out he’d had a very contrary idea: He had … 
  12. At Play
     … Remember the stages in focusing on the mind: First you’re sensitive to the state of your mind and then you gladden it. You can gladden it by thinking about the good you’ve done in the past; about how fortunate you are to be here, having this opportunity to work directly on your mind. But more immediately, gladness has to come with a … 
  13. Intent
    One of the phrases we chanted just now, “keeping focused on the body in and of itself, ardent, alert, mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world”: This is a formula for how you get into concentration. And underlying it is a very important quality for succeeding in concentration, which is intent. You want to be totally intent on what you … 
  14. To Comprehend Suffering
     … And right view, of course, is the four noble truths, focused on the issue of stress, suffering—dukkha is the Pāli term. In its ordinary, everyday meaning, dukkha means “pain.” Sometimes you hear it described etymologically. Du- means “bad”; kha- can mean either “the hub of a wheel” or “space,” the idea being, in the first case, that it’s like a hub that … 
  15. Right View, Right Attention
     … So it’s good to have some ideas about what’s worth focusing your attention on and what’s not. If you were working on a project that required a lot of ingenuity, a lot of creativeness, creativity, you might say, “Okay, I’ll be open to whatever.” But the mind has some unfinished business. It has a habit of taking something that could … 
  16. Withstanding Pleasure & Pain
     … You’re focused on something, and it turns into something you don’t like, and you lose your focus, you go someplace else. Or you get bored and you go someplace else. The thing is, we have to work with this kind of concentration to get past the pain if we’re going to get it deeper. This is why we use directed thought … 
  17. You’re Already Dead
     … This helps cut through your sense of self-importance, and focuses you on what’s really important, the business that really needs to be done, which is straightening out your own mind right here and now. But it’s also a useful teaching to use when you go back. When issues come up that cause you worry and distress, just tell yourself, “I’m … 
  18. The Taste vs. the Reality
     … Sometimes focusing on the breath starts to lose its appeal. You lose interest. Even when you get nice long periods of bliss and wellbeing, part of the mind gets bored. It wants some action; it wants to taste some emotions. So you start thinking about all kinds of other things. But you have to remember that no matter how attractive and tasty those alternatives … 
  19. Where the Mind & Body Meet
    When you’re focused on the breath, you’re focused where the mind and the body meet. It’s through the breath that the mind is aware of the body, aware of having a body, and it’s through the breath that the mind exerts influence in the body; it can get the body to move around. And right here is where the Buddha … 
  20. Rhythms of the Mind
     … There are ways of focusing on the breath that are just really, really still. Nothing much happens. You’re really plowed into the breath, focused in on the breath. Then there’s a lighter stage of concentration where you’re still with the breath and the breath energy in the body, and things can come up. When things come up, it’s not just … 
  21. Training Your Cynical Voices
     … You get into right concentration by focusing on your breath, focusing on the body. You don’t have to think about directed thought and evaluation. You just do them. Evaluate your breath. If it’s not good, change it. Keep coming back to the breath again and again and again. Keep exploring how you can breathe in a way that really feels gratifying. As … 
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