Search results for: "Focus"
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- Oozing Bodies, Oozing Minds… So you focus first on the object. Remind yourself that it’s not really all that attractive if you look at it in all of its aspects. What we tend to do is look at it only in a certain way, and we tend to block out all kinds of stuff. You look at the skin, and you tend to block out the fact …
- The Pursuit of True Happiness… It’s just there from the continuity of your focus, the sensitivity of your focus. There can even be a sense of rapture, a sense of fullness. You breathe in feeling really refreshed, breathe out feeling really refreshed. And the more you get absorbed in the present moment like this, the further away the past and the future seem to be. This is a …
- Practical Wisdom… We tend to focus on what other people do, what they say, or what they might do to us or say about us. That can consume us, to the point where we tend to forget to look at what we’re doing. This is a typical pattern in the human mind: to focus on things that you’re not responsible for and to forget …
- Responsible Happiness… To whatever extent you can sense that, focus there. And then ask yourself if it’s pleasant. Does it feel good? Does it feel nourishing? If the in-breath is too short, you feel like you’re not getting your full ration of breathing energy. If it’s too long, it becomes tight towards the end. The same when you’re breathing out. If …
- The Four Bases of Success… If you lose that focus, then you’ve lost the focus of the meditation. If you’re sitting and anticipating, remember that right anticipation is not one of the factors of the path—it’s certainly not one of the factors of concentration. Just focus on what you’ve already got. And the next question is, “What would be a more pleasant breath?” Be …
- Craving & Desire on the Path… So you focus on developing the path. You don’t just sit there hoping to realize the cessation without the path, or think that you can somehow clone awakening without going through the path. The path is a series of strategies. It borrows elements of the first and the second noble truth. This is paradoxical, because all too often we’re told that the …
- The Power of Intention… With that thought as the background, then we focus our intention on being with the breath. The question came up yesterday, How is it possible that people can have evil intentions and still get the mind into concentration? Well, it’s possible with all kinds of intentions to get the mind focused, but if you want your concentration to lead to awakening—in other …
- Clearing a Space… You’d start out with virtue, and when your virtue is perfected you could focus on concentration, and then when concentration is perfected you could focus on discernment. It would all be very nice and systematic. The problem is that the mind is not systematic. It’s chaotic. Now, we all know that chaos has its patterns, but the patterns are very complex. That …
- Wisdom & Compassion… One good way of getting out of mind’s concerns is to focus on how the body feels right now. Before you focus on the breath, you might want to go through the body and relax it. Starting with the tips of your fingers, relax them, then move up the fingers, joint by joint, through the palms of the hands, your wrists, your forearms …
- A Light in the Darkness… We don’t focus our attention in the right places. We don’t ask the right questions. As a result, we don’t see, even though everything’s happening right here before our eyes. So you have to be very, very careful, very, very still, and then ask the right questions. The Buddha gives instructions on this: the questions that surround the four noble …
- Respect for Concentration… Look at the ways in which you’re draining the mind of its energy, draining the mind of its focus in terms of the things you read, listen to, watch on TV, the people you hang around with. You have to look intently at your life to see if it’s a life conducive to concentration or not, conducive to the health of your …
- Guardian Meditations… How can you show a real goodwill to yourself? You focus on the breath, making it comfortable, making it easeful. How do you try to find an alternative to lust? You focus on the breath. Where should you go when you realize that death could come at any time? You come back to the breath. In other words, when you think about these topics …
- Cooking the Present Moment… Which spot do you want to focus on? Which spot do you want to emphasize? You can perceive the breath as being right in front of you, or you can perceive the breath as being all around you. See which perception creates a better sense of well-being. This is the other mental fabrication, which is feeling. This results from the perceptions, the directed …
- Discerning Actions… Or maybe you don’t focus so much on the suffering but simply on the fact that the happiness you have doesn’t satisfy. There must be something better. That’s the beginning of discernment. The Buddha recommends that you then go and ask someone who has attained true happiness, “What’s skillful? What’s not skillful? What’s blameless? What’s blameworthy? What …
- Equanimity in Action, Equanimity at Rest… You focus it on certain things and not on others. For example, when you’re trying to get the mind to settle down in concentration, you have to have equanimity for the world so that you can focus on what you’re doing right now. You have to have equanimity for the fact that you’ve got this body: whatever the physical conditions it …
- Right Effort… What needs doing right now? Do you have to focus on getting rid of the unskillful side, or do you have to focus more on developing the skillful side? You learn how to read your mind so you can understand what type of effort will be the right effort at any one particular time. So it’s all a question of your attitude to …
- Antidotes for Clinging… As you focus on the arising, the idea of non-existence doesn’t occur to you. As you focus on the passing away, the idea of existence doesn’t occur to you. You realize that the basic building blocks of experience, when you look at them just on the level of arising and passing away, don’t provide a foundation for the very basic …
- The Lessons of Good Kamma… What the Buddha does emphasize when he introduces the topic of kamma is the need to be responsible and to focus your attention on your present kamma, and not to worry about the past. Your focus on the present moment is not simply for the purpose of being fully present to everything in the present. It’s for the purpose of looking closely at …
- Cooking the Present Moment… But it’s important that you learn how to focus on the areas that are comfortable, and that you can make more comfortable. It’s like that book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The author pointed out that most of us, if we were to draw an eye, a nose, or a mouth, would basically be drawing our perceptions of those …
- Five Precepts, Five Virtues… They’re there, you know they’re there, but you don’t have to make them your focus. Your focus is on the sensation of breathing in your body. To do this, you’ve got to develop some good qualities in the mind: Mindfulness is the first one. You’ve got to keep in mind your determination that each time you breathe in, you …
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