Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Body as Path
     … It depends simply on how you focus on the body, how you focus on the breath. In other words, it’s a skill. And as in every skill, there are several things you have to master, such as the ability to stay focused, the ability to identify which kinds of breathing are comfortable, which ones are not, and the ability to spread that sense … 
  3. Expert’s Mind
     … But if your views deal with what are you doing, what kind of actions are skillful, what kind of actions are not skillful, they focus your attention where it really can make a difference—where it really can be of use. The rest of the path then follows on that. You make up your mind that you’re going to act on intentions that … 
  4. A Refuge Inside
     … There’s a tendency sometimes to force the breath too much when you focus on it. It gets constricted, but it’s hard to stay with a sense of constriction. So try to find some place where there’s a sense of comfort that you can associate with the breath, and then maintain that sense of comfort with whatever rhythm or texture of breathing … 
  5. Twigs & Branches
     … As you’re working on concentration, you don’t focus on the concentration as being inconstant, stressful, and not-self. Instead, you focus on anything else that would pull you away from the concentration. The same as when you’re practicing virtue: You don’t look at your precepts as being inconstant, stressful, and not-self, even though they are. For the time being … 
  6. Truth Without Air Quotes
     … There are intentions, acts of attention—choosing what to focus on, what not to focus on—perceptions; all kinds of things shaping the things we’re going to see and hear and taste and touch and smell, even before they happen. So no wonder we’re dubious as we get conscious of these different factors and see how they shape even basic things like … 
  7. The Breath All the Way
     … And in the fourth set, you focus on the mental qualities that are involved in developing dispassion for the whole process of fabrication. Because of the focus on fabrication, this is an insight practice. Because you’re using your understanding of fabrication to bring those fabrications to calm, it’s a tranquility practice. So you’re working on insight and tranquility in tandem, which … 
  8. Right View & Right Resolve
     … The more continuous your focus, the smoother the breath’s going to be: all the way in, all the way out, all the way through the mid-parts between the in and the out. The smoother the breath, the greater the sense of ease. So you focus on the causes, and in this way you get a sense of well-being in the present … 
  9. Gather ’Round the Breath
     … So focus on the second kind. There are feelings right here hovering around your sense of awareness, perceptions that hold you here. The breath is very close, so focus on the breath first. Eventually, you’ll be getting right at the sense of awareness itself. You’ll have a perception that hovers around that, along with fabrications, the thoughts that protect that awareness, that … 
  10. The Fabrication of Pain
     … You find a part of the body that’s not affected by the pain and you focus there. If the pain is in the knee, let it have the knee for the time being. If it’s in the arm, let it have the arm. You’re going to be someplace else, where you can develop a sense of well-being, a sense of … 
  11. A Heart Wider than the World
     … He just talks about where it’s best to focus your efforts: You focus them inside. You keep in mind the possibilities there. As Ajaan Lee says, “Before you make yourself large, you have to make yourself really small, focused inside. What’s happening right here with the breath, at the mind? What’s happening in the mind, right at the breath? Looking at … 
  12. When Attacked by Distractions
     … But as the Buddha said, if you focus on another person’s bad qualities, it’s as if you’re going across a desert, you’re hot, you’re tired, you’re thirsty, and you come across a little puddle of water in a cow’s footprint. If you spend your time focusing on the mud around it, you’re never going to get … 
  13. Think Your Way to Stillness
     … But the ironic thing here is that your self gets healthier the less you focus on it, and the more you focus on doing the skill properly. So train yourself to think about the breath in ways that are actually helpful, that make it more comfortable, make it easier for the mind to settle down here. As for other ways of thinking, you can … 
  14. Lessons from the Breath
    Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Know when the breath is coming in, know when it’s going out. If you want, you can use a meditation word along with the breath, like buddho. It means awake. Think bud- with in-breath, dho with the out-: buddho, buddho. Allow the breath to be comfortable. Try not to force it too much. You … 
  15. Weathering Karma Storms
     … bodily fabrication—the breath; verbal fabrication—the way you talk to yourself; and mental fabrication—the perceptions you hold in mind together with the feelings you focus on. These are the things that provide you with a safe shelter right now. So, first try to work with your breath. No matter what emotional content there may be in the thoughts that are coming through … 
  16. Occupy Your Body
     … When you’re looking at somebody’s face, what’s the shape of the area between the nose and the eye? Or between the nose and the lips? The lips and the chin? Or the eye and the eyebrow? In other words, focus on all the parts of the face that you didn’t focus on before, and that lets you see it more … 
  17. Perceptions as Targets
    When you focus on the breath, try to be sensitive to the image you hold in mind of what the breath is doing, and of where you are when you focus on it. Use those images as your targets to help keep you with the breath. And notice the impact that those particular perceptions have on your breathing. If you find that the breathing … 
  18. Befriending the Breath
     … So it’s not the case that you focus on the breath and then you forget about it. You use the breath as an anchor even when you’re focusing on the mind. The way to focus on the mind is first to get it anchored to the breath and in touch with the breath, so that you know you’re staying in the … 
  19. Start by Relaxing Your Hands
     … So you’re going to focus on the causes. It’s like cooking. If all you can think about is eating, then you’re not paying careful attention to what you’re doing. The food may burn, or you may forget an ingredient because you’re not paying careful attention to the steps that’ll take you to the food you want. So focus … 
  20. A Load of Straw
     … So your only responsibility to the world is to focus on doing what’s skillful. That’s all you have to take care of. As for the working out of everybody else’s karma, that will work out on its own without your having to get involved. Just make sure that your own present karma is skillful. One thing you can do that’s … 
  21. Mind Control
    Okay, time to focus on the breath. If you’re going to think, think about the breath. As for any other thoughts that might come into the mind right now, just let them go, no matter how important or how compelling they may seem. This is not the time and a place for them. One of the most important principles of the practice is … 
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