Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. It’s All in What You’re Doing
     … So, at the very least, you’ve got some part of your mind focused in the present. As you get more and more familiar with staying with the breath, you can get to observe the mind in action. How does it keep itself with the breath? How does it motivate itself? What is it reminding itself of? These are the activities we have to … 
  3. Investing Your Happiness
     … So you start by focusing on where the breath feels good coming in, feels good going out. If you can’t get a good sense of ease with the breath, start with thoughts of goodwill. Wish goodwill for yourself, goodwill for other beings. That’s a comfortable thought because it’s not fighting with the wishes of any being anywhere. Everybody wants to be … 
  4. Mental Movements
     … And when the Buddha talks in terms of the four noble truths, that’s the suffering he’s focusing on, where there’s clinging to the five aggregates: clinging to your body or forms of any kind; clinging to feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs, consciousness. There’s clinging only when there’s craving. So, these are the issues we have to watch out for. He … 
  5. The Rivers of Karma
     … In some cases that means focusing on another part of the body that’s not in pain to give the mind a sense of safe haven here in the present moment. When it has developed a sense of strength, the sense of well-being that can come from that sense of have, then you can start looking into the pain. To what extent is … 
  6. In the Present
     … So what should you be doing right now? At the moment, you’re focusing on the breath. If the mind slips off, you bring it right back. That involves the three qualities that the Buddha said need to be brought to the establishing of mindfulness. There is a popular belief that mindfulness simply means being in the present moment, but the Buddha never said … 
  7. Bodies & Minds Outside
    Bodies & Minds Outside October 21, 2013 When describing the various ways of developing or establishing mindfulness, the Buddha talks about being focused on the body in and of itself, internally, externally, or both. And the same with feelings, mind, and mental qualities: You can focus on them either internally, externally, or both. Internally, it’s pretty obvious what he’s talking about: your own … 
  8. Addictive Thinking
     … Then you strengthen it by focusing on the breath and finding which ways of breathing feel really good. That puts the mind in a much better mood. That mood may come and go, but you’re exploring. Keep remembering that you’re working on a skill. You’re developing new habits. It’s not the case you get the mind into concentration once and … 
  9. Goodwill All Around
     … If the Buddha’s teachings weren’t based on a motive for goodwill, he wouldn’t have focused on the issue of suffering, the issue of stress. He wouldn’t have focused on the question of how to put an end to suffering and stress as the primary point of the Dharma. So we have to assume that that was the underlying motive, both … 
  10. Concentration as Wilderness
     … In other words, you gain some insight into how you’re focusing on the breath in a way that’s not as skillful as it could be, or how you’re coming back to the breath in a way that’s putting too much pressure on it – lots of details about what it means to settle into the body. You can gain insight into … 
  11. A Thread Out of the Maze
     … So what are you doing right now? Try focusing on your breath. See how the breathing feels, notice where you can see the breath clearly, and then stay there for a while. It might be the tip of the nose, the rising and falling of the chest, the rising and falling of the abdomen, or, on a more subtle level, the movement of energy … 
  12. To Know the Unconditioned
     … But as you begin to settle in, you start to see that some of those levels can be peeled away and the mind can still stay focused. The first thing to go is the directed thought and evaluation, because their purpose is to fit the mind with the body, fit your consciousness with the breath, so that they stay together comfortably, with a sense … 
  13. A Happiness Based Inside
     … either focusing on your internal happiness, your internal pleasure as your main source of pleasure, or still wanting to dabble with things outside, wanting to feed off things outside. You have to choose where you’re going to feed, and it’s one or the other. Because if you go plunging into sensual pleasures, you lose this internal basis. Again, it’s not that … 
  14. A Much Better Place
     … Often, as you get more and more focused on the breath, there’s a very strong sense of becoming one with the breath. You’re in the same place together. And for the time being, that’s fine. Because as you get to know this place, you get to know all kinds of things. But you want your awareness to fill this place. How … 
  15. Inner Refuge
     … As you’re sitting here focused on the breath, this means trying to catch it before it leaves. Accept the fact that it’s going to have a tendency to leave the breath. That’s normal. Be prepared for it. Don’t be surprised. But being prepared means that you learn how to look for the warning signs that the mind is about to … 
  16. Afraid of Pleasure
     … There was a very steady state of well-being, rapture, refreshment, simply focused on his breath. So now he reflected on that. He asked himself, “Why am I afraid of that pleasure? Is there anything blameworthy about it?” The more he reflected on it, the more he realized there was nothing to be afraid of there. So he decided to see if that would … 
  17. To Be Sure
     … It focuses on what you’re doing, it focuses on your happiness, but with a realization that there’s a ripple effect. Each of us is a causal node, you might say, making decisions freely in the present moment that send out ripples, and feeling the ripples of other people’s decisions. We can’t get into other people and make their choices for … 
  18. True Happiness Starts with Giving
     … So even though we get to the goal not by focusing on the goal, but by focusing on the path, still, it’s good to remember every now and then where this practice is taking us so that we can practice the path with more energy and find more delight in letting go all along the way.
  19. Seven Facets of Discernment
     … So even though, as we meditate, we’re trying to stay focused on the breath in the present moment, we’re also thinking about why we’re doing this—what will be for our benefit now and into the future—and of lessons we’ve learned from the past. If something comes up in the present moment, you don’t just sit there with … 
  20. Clear of Defilement
     … Say, when lust comes in, sometimes you’re focused on the object of the lust, sometimes you’re focused just on the physical feeling of the lust, the sense of excitement, arousal. Many times it’s a combination of all these factors. What you’ve got to learn to do is to take them apart. One, look at the object, really look at the … 
  21. No Foolproofing
     … The first issue, of course, is the balance between focusing too heavily or too lightly. The Buddha compared it to holding a quail in your hands. If you hold it too loosely, the quail’s going to fly away; if you hold it too tightly, it’s going to die. So how much pressure do you apply to the breath right now so that … 
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