Search results for: "Concentration"

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  2. Informing the Whole Committee
     … This is why concentration comes before discernment. And there is an element of discernment that is needed for the concentration itself. But the discernment that’s actually going to break through the mind’s misunderstandings has to be based on getting as many members of the mind in on the message. I mean you can read a book and learn all about the basic … 
  3. Recollection of the Buddha
    In the Buddha’s analysis of the path, the factors associated with concentration are three: right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. And they interpenetrate. Right effort becomes ardency when you practice mindfulness. The establishings of mindfulness are the topics of concentration. The fourth jhana is where mindfulness becomes pure. So they’re very closely connected. When you’re doing concentration, it’s important … 
  4. Experimental Intelligence
     … So this is why we work at bringing the mind to concentration. This is why the Buddha said that concentration should be developed. He didn’t say, “States of concentration come and go. You just watch their coming and going and say, ’Ah, yes, this is inconstant, stressful, not-self.’” That’s not the duty that the four noble truths assign to concentration. The … 
  5. Harmony Inside & Outside
     … Again, you want to show respect for your concentration, respect for the other person’s concentration. So if the things you have to say are difficult things, things the other person may not want to hear, you learn to say them in a way that’s not going to be harmful, that’s not going to hurt them. You opt for the right time … 
  6. The Wisdom of Merit
     … These are good qualities to bring to the meditation, things you want to hold onto as you develop concentration. And you realize that in developing concentration, just the fact that you hold onto your object doesn’t mean that you’re clinging in an unhealthy way. It’s a skillful holding on, because you’re developing something good. You’re developing stronger concentration, stronger … 
  7. Pro-self, Pro-help
     … They start with conviction; then there’s persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. Discernment comes at the end. But as the Buddha says, to develop any of these requires heedfulness, which contains an element of discernment there already: the realization again that your actions make a difference and you’ve got to be careful. Building on that realization, you start with conviction. You don’t … 
  8. Universal Truths
     … If we want out, then the path is all laid out, from right view on through right concentration, which means that you try to endow your concentration with all the factors of the path. Virtue, concentration, discernment: All these things should come together in your practice. So as you focus on the breath, try to do it in a virtuous way. In other words … 
  9. Neither Here nor There
    The Buddhist definition of concentration is singleness of mind, cittass’ekaggatā. Eka means one. Agga can mean point, or gathering place. You’ve got the mind gathered around one place. It could be the tip of the nose—any place in the body that you feel comfortable staying centered. And even though we try to develop a full-body awareness as we get deeper … 
  10. Against the Stream
     … committed to the concentration, committed to the breath, or whatever your object of concentration may be. For the time being, that’s you. In this way, you’re not a victim of everything that comes up in the mind. There will come stages in the meditation where you’re just there with a sense of awareness and you’re willing to entertain thoughts as … 
  11. What to Keep in Mind
     … Ask yourself, “Where is this coming from? What are the assumptions here?” To do this, you have to have developed really strong concentration. Otherwise, the analysis will destroy the concentration, and the mind will just be wandering around in a world of thoughts without really noticing what brought this on. You want to see these things in action. So the first order of business … 
  12. Right Resolve & Right Speech
     … So what’s the connection? Part of it may have been because right resolve leads naturally into right concentration, but to get the mind ready to be concentrated you need to develop some skills, and one of the important skills is learning how to talk to yourself. A good way of getting practice in how to talk to yourself is looking at your speech … 
  13. Dependable Friends
     … As the Buddha said, that’s what concentration is: an enlarged, still awareness. It’s not just focused on one point. You have one point that’s more prominent than other parts of the body, but all the images in the Canon for concentration are full-body. When there’s a sense of ease in any one spot, focus there. And learn how to … 
  14. Discernment Is in the Doing
     … The other factors, he said, are its requisites, its aids, but right in the middle of the path is right concentration. It’s not in the middle of the list, but in the actual practice, that’s where it is. So the effort to bring the mind into concentration and then to reflect on it, seeing what you can learn from a mind in … 
  15. Observe Yourself in Action
     … But whatever the state of concentration, eventually you’re going to have to step back from the concentration, too, and start observing it. So it’s good that you develop this ability to step back: to observe thought processes simply as thought processes, and not get involved in their worlds. The Buddha said this is how you get past the process of becoming. He … 
  16. Timeless Practice
     … Some people think that for concentration, they’ve got to block out all their senses. That’s not what the Buddha taught. As he said, the senses are not a fetter. The fetter is sensuality. To get into concentration, he says you seclude yourself from sensuality, which means that you seclude yourself from your obsession with thinking about sensual things. You learn to drop … 
  17. Hypocrisy
     … This is one of the reasons why we get the mind into a good state of concentration, so that it feels secure enough to look into its issues without sweeping them under the rug. When there’s the sense of stability, the sense of well-being that comes from concentration, you can start looking at the issues of your life without feeling threatened by … 
  18. Shoulds & Ideals
     … But to see that, you have to develop the path—like we’re doing right now, practicing concentration. That’s one of the elements of the path and that’s to be developed. You work at mindfulness, you work at concentration, you work at all the elements of the path. It’s not that you simply sit here and watch things come and go … 
  19. Happy to Be Here
     … As you get better and better in the concentration, you gain a sense of how you can manipulate these different potentials, so that they can give rise to a sense of well-being. Whether you’re in concentration or just on the verge of concentration, whether you’re formally sitting, or doing walking meditation, or just walking around not specifically for the purpose of … 
  20. You Are Not a Textbook
     … Then you take that sensitivity and you apply it to the mind, because in order to have the strength to do the right thing you need to get the mind into concentration. And the question is, where are you right now with respect to concentration? Are you north of it, south of it, east, or west? Left or right? In other words, which direction … 
  21. Ready for the Truth
     … the practice of virtue, concentration, and discernment—or what the Buddha called heightened virtue, heightened mind, heightened discernment. Discernment, concentration, virtue: all for the purpose of freedom. That’s the alternative, and it does set you free. The ways of the world tie you down. The more you acquire, the more responsibilities you take on, and the less time you have to devote totally … 
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