Search results for: "Concentration"

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  2. Get Outside Yourself
     … How do you give rise to these states of concentration? How do they tend to pass away? And how do you prevent them from passing away? You keep at them, keep at them, keep at them. You get good at making them, maintaining them, and then you analyze them. What’s the trigger? Why do you like these states of concentration? Well, they’re … 
  3. Nuts & Bolts
     … For the person who has passed away, one of the best things you can do is to get the mind into good concentration and think thoughts of goodwill toward that person, because the mind, when it’s steady, is sending off a good energy. When it’s concentrated like this, it’s a good gift to be sending out. You think of Shōtai: Wherever … 
  4. Visakha Puja – Shaking the Earth
     … And then you see if you can stay with the breath for long periods of time, because you’re trying to develop concentration. As the Buddha once said, that’s the heart of the path. All the other elements he awakened to in the path serve as its requisites, serve as its supports. The concentration itself is getting the mind to focus on one … 
  5. Strategic Wisdom
     … This is precisely what mindfulness, alertness, all the qualities that lead to concentration, and of course concentration itself: This is what they provide. You keep thorough watch on the mind to see when its desires are getting out of line, when its desires are actually counterproductive. Know again, as I said, that there are some members of the committee who don’t want that … 
  6. Ekaggata
     … This is how you ride herd on your mind as you’re trying to get it to settle down, so that it develops a sense of expansiveness, which is one of the really enjoyable parts of right concentration. It also has the clarity of a very sharp focus. You’re going to need both if you want your concentration to form a good foundation … 
  7. When Your Will Is Ill
     … Something’s wrong with your intention, and it’s going to get in the way of your concentration. That’s what all these hindrances are: They’re obstacles to your concentration, they obscure your discernment, they obscure your awareness. So you’ve got to get past them. The first step in each case in trying to get past is to see that they’re … 
  8. Tranquility & Insight Through Jhāna
     … There’s no place where the Buddha says, “Go, do samatha,” or, “Go, do vipassanā,” but he does say, “Go, do jhāna.” It’s in the practice of right concentration that you develop* *both tranquility and insight. You need some tranquility and some insight in order to get into jhāna, and then, as the jhāna deepens—as you get more skilled at it—the … 
  9. A Post by the Ocean
     … When you’ve let go of things outside your concentration, then you can turn and look at the concentration itself. You realize that your concentration and discernment have taken the mind this far, but they can take it no further. The only thing that’s keeping you from going further is the fact that you’re holding on. That’s when you let go … 
  10. Shelter
     … The desire has to be motivated by a sense of heedfulness and a sense of pride in your skill, a sense of appreciation—the quality they call “respect for concentration.” The Buddha had to emphasize that twice. In the passage we recite, he talks about having respect for the Triple Training, and goes back again and mentions respect for concentration. Concentration is already there … 
  11. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … And that’s the kind of concentration that all the ajaans teach: You get the mind really, really still, and then you pull out a little bit. Watch the mind in its stillness and ask yourself: What disturbance is still there? As you’re getting the mind into concentration, the first thing you’re letting go of is unskillful mental states. There’s a … 
  12. Beyond Duality
    Practicing concentration is a process of making the mind one. You focus on a single object, and the longer you stay with it, the more the object and the mind seem to blend into one. Take the breath for example. When you begin, it seems that you’re in one part of the body watching the breath in another part of the body. But … 
  13. Bad Stuff Happens
     … It’ll complain, but if you develop some solidity in your concentration, you’re not going to be swayed by the complaint. It’s when the concentration’s not strong and it’s not giving you a sense of well-being: That’s when it’s very easy to say, “Well, this is getting boring,” or “Nothing’s happening,” or “I need some entertainment … 
  14. Getting Your Head Around the Goal
     … We’re developing concentration. Instead of focusing on our ideas of awakening, we’re focusing on the actual sensation of the breath. Instead of trying to figure out the goal, we keep coming back to the breath, exploring and figuring out what we’ve got here. It’s through these exercises of mindfulness and concentration that the mind’s powers of perception can grow … 
  15. Strength for the Heat
     … Ideally, we talk first about conviction, then persistence, then mindfulness, then concentration, then discernment. But they all work together. Have some conviction in your concentration. It may not be all that great, but maintain what you’ve got. In this case, if you’re going to stay with the breath, stay with the cool sensations of the body. Survey around and around and around … 
  16. Inner Discontent
     … That’s what’s going to make your concentration more solid, your mindfulness more continuous. Once you’ve developed that mindfulness, developed that concentration, then you try to develop it even further. You find in the beginning that it comes in phrases. There’ll be little phrase of concentration, and then it disappears. Then you start up again, it’ll go for a while … 
  17. Dethinking Thinking
     … This is why when the Buddha gives us instructions for concentration—which are actually in the description of right mindfulness, which tell how you do the concentration—there are two activities. 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 … 
  18. A Becoming Critic
     … A good part of the skill of concentration is learning how to stay centered no matter what the circumstances are around you. Now, we try to create an ideal environment here, or as close to an ideal as we can, making it quiet, promoting a set of values that recognizes the worth of this practice. But for concentration to be really good, you have … 
  19. Single-minded
     … Whether your concentration fits into jhana yet or not, that’s not the issue. The issue is, can you see when you’ve settled in and feel secure and feel solidly here? Is there anything in the concentration itself that is still a disturbance? After all, the directed thought and evaluation are necessary at the beginning, but after a while they do become a … 
  20. Skillful Fears
     … And that leads to concentration, which is where you get your real nourishment. The Buddha compares concentration to food for the mind: the sense of well-being, the sense of rapture that can come when the whole body is permeated by breath, and the breath flows smoothly. It’s nourishing to all the parts of your body and mind. That gives you a place … 
  21. A Gift of Strength
     … This leads ultimately to concentration, keeping the mind focused, keeping it intent on one thing for long periods of time. This is nourishment for the mind. Of the various qualities along the path, the one the Buddha consistently compares to food is just this: concentration—staying with one object, like the breath, or whatever object you find comfortable, effective, at any one time, staying … 
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