Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 50
  2. The Problem of Suffering
     … Then, as your concentration gets deeper and more solid, you begin to see subtler distractions, subtler disturbances in the mind, even in the concentration itself. When the mind is really still, it can use those same three characteristics as tools for prying loose more refined attachments. That’s why the teachings are there. So keep this in mind. The Buddha’s teachings are best … 
  3. Moving Between Thought Worlds
     … In other words, you get hands-on experience in creating worlds by trying to create a world of concentration right here: inhabiting your body, staying with your breath, having a focal point. This is what these worlds are built around: a focal point based on a desire. In this case, you take the breath as your focal point, and your desire is to stay … 
  4. Hold on for All You’re Worth
     … I read a monk one time—yes, this was a monk— saying that getting the mind into concentration requires a strong sense of self, i.e., that this is something you can do and you’re the person responsible for this. But we all know that Buddhism is about getting us past our sense of self, so willed concentration is bad. That was his … 
  5. Bless Yourself
     … There are people who say you can do mindfulness and, as a result, gain wisdom and insight and awakening all without concentration practice. But as the Buddha said, if you want to develop mindfulness, you’ve got to develop concentration as well, because it’s part of the path. If you’re simply mindful of what you should do but don’t do anything … 
  6. Working Through the Breath
     … And Ajaan Lee says, “Right.” The senior monk said, “Well, why are we creating more states of becoming here as we create concentration?” Ajaan Lee responded, “That’s the whole point. You’re creating states of concentration so that you can study them, you can understand them: States of becoming like this—What are they? How are they made? As you learn how to … 
  7. Persistence
     … One is the path of right mindfulness and the other is the path of right effort and right concentration. In the path of right mindfulness, you don’t do anything aside from watching things arise and pass away, and letting them sort themselves out, whereas in the path of effort and concentration you put a lot of effort into getting the skillful things to … 
  8. Days Fly Past
     … To get there involves virtue, concentration, discernment: heightened virtue, heightened mind, heightened discernment. With heightened virtue, you really are meticulous about your precepts, you really are meticulous about your actions. The heightened mind is the development of strong concentration. Heightened discernment is the discernment that sees though our attachments. These are all activities, things we can do. And then there’s release, which is … 
  9. Heedful, Ardent, & Resolute
     … It’s an important part of concentration that you have something that’s interesting and pleasurable to stay with. Otherwise, the mind will resist staying and will go off someplace else. We also need the strength that comes from that sense of well-being with the concentration as food for the practice. You may have noticed the contrast between the two chants just now … 
  10. Meditation as Play
     … What would make your mind glad right now? When you concentrate the mind, how would the mind best like to be concentrated? When you can see that it’s weighed down by something, how do you release it? Those are questions for you to explore. And the things you’ve learned through exploration—**those **are the things you remember. They’re **your discoveries. It … 
  11. Responsible Conviction
    Meditation is a process by which you develop good qualities in the mind, qualities like mindfulness, alertness, ardency, concentration. We do this because we believe in the power of the mind. The mind is not just on the receiving end of material events. By working on the mind from within, you can make big changes in your life, big changes in the world around … 
  12. Delusion
     … You’ve got to learn how to figure out how to deal with, say, mindfulness or concentration as you’re getting into them here in the mind, trying to make them grow. With concentration, it’s largely a matter of doing everything you can to get the mind to stay with the breath or whatever your one object is. In the beginning, it’s … 
  13. Lighter & Stronger
     … The truths teach you to get the mind into concentration, and one of the things you’ll learn as you begin to do that is that you need a lot of activities. We talked today about how concentration is fabricated. In the beginning, to counteract all the streams of the mind that would head off in different directions, you have to protect your focus … 
  14. The Noble Truths Come First
     … Then you apply the perceptions to the concentration itself. When you can let go of the concentration, along with the other factors of the path, you go beyond them to what the Buddha calls the property of the deathless. And if you have passion for that, you don’t get fully awakened. But the fact that you’ve touched it means that you’re … 
  15. Not Resolved on Self
     … As you practice virtue, as you practice concentration, as you practice discernment, you want to develop each of these practices into a skill. Issues of self can get pushed off to the side. This is why when the Buddha described his own awakening, he didn’t describe it as awakening to the three characteristics. It was awakening to the four noble truths. The four … 
  16. The Duties of Compassion
     … developing our mindfulness, developing our concentration, trying to foster the qualities of the mind that allow us to see suffering clearly. Exactly where is there stress right now? And what can we do to minimize the stress? What can we do to understand why it’s there? Ajaan Fuang once noted that one of the major turning points in his meditation was after he … 
  17. Doing the Practice
     … First you develop states of concentration, which provide a temporary platform that depends on conditions. Anything that depends on conditions is going to have to change, but at least a state of concentration is relatively stable compared to other things. It allows you to form a foundation from which you can observe what’s going on in the mind. Then, as your powers of … 
  18. Serenity
     … This sense of well-being is important because concentration requires it. It’s an important part of the path. Sometimes you hear people saying that you’ve got to beware of getting stuck on the sense of pleasure or bliss or well-being that can come with concentration. But the Buddha reminds us that this kind of well-being is blameless. There are so … 
  19. New Feeding Habits
     … Once it’s settled down, there can be strong states of concentration and you can feed off the sense of well-being that comes from the concentration. As you do this, you’re getting to understand your mind in terms of the factors of fabrication. This leads to the fifth food, which is discernment. There’s a real satisfaction when you come to understand … 
  20. The Rewards of Stream Entry
     … As the Buddha said, stream enterers are complete in their development of virtue, and they have some concentration along with some discernment. The concentration was the amount of concentration that enabled them to get their minds to settle down, at least long enough for the path to come together. They haven’t mastered concentration yet; that comes later. And they’ve had the discernment … 
  21. Scribe Knowledge, Warrior Knowledge
     … You’ve got to get the mind into a state of concentration to give yourself time to rest and gather strength. As the Buddha said, you can know all the drawbacks of sensuality and yet still go for sensual pleasures if you don’t have an alternative kind of pleasure. So you need this other pleasure: the pleasure of concentration; the pleasure of a … 
  22. Load next page...