Search results for: "Concentration"
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- It’s All in What You’re Doing… If you find that way of reflecting destroys your concentration, it’s a sign you’re not quite ready for that yet. Go back to the concentration. Give your full attention to the breath. But as things are getting more solid inside, you can reflect, and it’s in reflecting on what you’re doing that you can learn some important lessons. When you …
- Respect for the Path… When we start meditating, we try to develop concentration. To concentrate the mind, to get the mind to be willing to settle down, you have to give it a place where it likes to stay. So give it a comfortable place, a place that feels good right here in the body. You can arrange that place by the rhythm and texture of the breathing …
- Circumspection… When you’re practicing concentration, there’s a level of becoming right there. You create these worlds out of the raw material of your physical sensations and mental activities, and doing this involves blocking out certain things. To stay focused on one object of concentration, one frame of reference for your mindfulness, involves blocking out other things. But you work on it, you master …
- Equanimity… It goes together with calm and concentration. When your energy is too low, though, that’s not the time to be developing equanimity. You have to work on the factors that are more energizing: analysis of qualities, rapture, and persistence. Otherwise, your practice will stagnate. So you have to use your equanimity together with your discernment to figure out what’s just right. There …
- Inconstant, Stressful, Not-self… the form of the body sitting here meditating, the feelings of pleasure you’ve created through concentration, the perception that holds you in concentration, the mental fabrications that maintain the intention to stay in concentration, and the awareness of these things. There is a point where you want to take these apart as well. This is where, as Ajaan Mun says, our attachment to …
- The Power of Intention… We work on concentration so that we can see the mind more clearly. Why do we want to see the mind? We want to see what it’s doing as it forms an intention. All the qualities that are to be brought to bear on getting the mind into concentration—mindfulness, alertness, ardency—are focused on your actions, your intentional actions. Mindfulness keeps things …
- The Rivers of Karma… In this way you learn how to use the pleasure of concentration without being overwhelmed by it. Now, it’s not that you’re afraid of the pleasure of concentration. I don’t know many times you hear the topic of jhana or concentration introduced, and almost the first thing they say before they’ve even told you what it is, they tell you …
- Addictive Thinking… It’s not the case you get the mind into concentration once and it’s going to stay that way forever. It takes a while for your center of gravity to shift so that the state of concentration does become more normal. The state of being in the present moment, mindful and alert, becomes more normal. If you ever worked on a physical skill …
- Four Determinations… Even in the highest states of concentration, there is still some disturbance coming from within, which is why those states of concentration are not the ultimate. So, you want to look for that. Get the mind really quiet to see, “Okay, where is there still a disturbance? What am I contributing to that?” Sometimes it’s in the factors that got you concentrated to …
- The Solvent for Sticky Narratives… You can breathe in a way that gives rise to concentration; think in a way that gives rise to concentration; hold perceptions in mind; create feelings through the way you breathe and think: That can all get you into concentration. So which would you rather do? We find that the old ways have their appeal, and this is precisely why the Buddha has you …
- Worlds Inside & Out… You have to put aside greed and distress with reference to the world so that you can get the mind into good states of concentration. But you can’t really understand those worlds until you have the mind in concentration. What this means is that you work on these processes, developing a sense of home, a sense of belonging right here in the present …
- Arising & Passing Away… It’s actually a form of concentration, watching the arising and passing away. There are stages of concentration—Ajaan Lee mentions them—in which you’re not with a solid or single object but there is a sense of singleness in the mind because the mind is taking the arising and passing away as its theme of concentration. But ultimately, the insight into arising …
- Restlessness & Anxiety… That way, you can induce more concentration and more discernment in the mind. These hindrances are obstacles not only to concentration but also to discernment. To deal with them, you’ve got to first borrow the Buddha’s discernment. Then, as you follow his recommendations, you start developing discernment of your own. You get quicker and quicker at recognizing when the mind is going …
- Anti-slacker Dhamma… Not in the sense of being grim, but in the sense of being heedful of its importance—so that when things do go well in the mind, you don’t get careless about your concentration. You’re sitting here and concentration’s going really well, then when the time comes to end, you don’t just toss it off for the evening, say, “I …
- The Gift of Meditation… In the same way, you want your concentration to be solid, smooth and continuous. Each time you feel tempted to slip off, remind yourself, “I’m doing this for someone else. So let’s do it well.” Then, at the end of the meditation, you make the same dedication, “This is for you. May you be happy. May you enjoy the happiness coming from …
- Solid in the Face of Death… As the Buddha said, one day of insight, one day of mindfulness, one day of concentration, is better than a thousand years lived without insight, mindfulness, or concentration. Of course, none of us are going to have a thousand years of anything—at least not in this lifetime. And as I said, death can come at any time; illness can come at any time …
- Skillful Effort… As you develop your concentration based on the breath, you’re working on developing the skills you need to learn how to use these things in a knowledgeable and helpful way rather than as part of the cause of suffering. This is one of the reasons why there’s no clear distinction between concentration and discernment, or concentration and wisdom in the teachings of …
- Inner Refuge Through Inner Strength… This is how mindfulness begins to shade into the next strength, which is concentration. You stay consistently focused with the breath. To define concentration, the Buddha uses the word ekaggata, which can be translated as being one-pointed, but also can mean having one gathering place. In other places, he describes concentration as whole body awareness, so it’s more likely that in this …
- Learning & Respect… So have some respect for your concentration. Have respect for the concentration of others, too, because you learn and you allow them to learn. This is how, as we live together, it’s not a hindrance to the practice. It becomes an aid—as we respect one another, as we respect watching what’s going on in our own minds. Have a willingness to …
- Respect for What’s Noble… Then he realized that the way was going to involve right concentration—which required a certain strength of the body, enough strength that required a certain amount of food—then learning how to feed the mind with right concentration, and then adopting new ways of clinging. Instead of looking for sensuality, look for the pleasure of concentration. You also adopt views about how the …
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