Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Sensuality
     … Why is the Buddha focused so much on the negative side of sensuality? It’s because we tend to focus so much on what we see as the positive side, all the pleasure we get out of thinking about these things. But that, too, gets in the way. As these thoughts come into the mind again, and again, and again, they create ruts. From … 
  3. Getting the Most Out of Now
     … But if you focus on the present moment with the thought of developing skill, then you have something to carry with you. The more skill you develop, the better, the more you’ve benefited. So even though we’re focusing on the present moment, we do have an eye to the future. We’re not here just to chill out for a while. We … 
  4. You Can’t Clone Awakening
     … Even just sitting here, you could focus on the breath, you could focus on different meditation objects, or you could sit here focusing on how angry you are at somebody for something that happened 30 years ago—or who knows what else, lots of things you could focus on. But you have that choice. And you find that once you’ve made the choice … 
  5. Borrowing the Buddha’s Wisdom
    **](https://www.dhammatalks.org/audio/evening/2024/240404-borrowing-the-buddhas-wisdom.html) April 4, 2024 One thing I’ve noticed in Thailand when the ajaans get old, is that their Dhamma talks tend to focus more and more on the essentials. When you’re younger, you have the time and the energy to talk about all kinds of things. But as time gets … 
  6. A Sense of Direction
     … What would you like to accomplish in this life? You have to realize, of course, there’s so much in the world that’s beyond your control, but you can focus on developing good qualities in the mind. That’s something that does lie under your control and that should be the primary focus. What this all boils down to is that you’ve … 
  7. Dissolving Distress
     … And you begin to ask yourself, “What am I doing in this process of fabrication?” There’s verbal fabrication as well, as when you tell yourself, “Focus here, focus there, this breath is comfortable, that breath is not comfortable, how can I make it better?” There’s that kind of fabrication going on, too. You begin to realize that you’re shaping the present … 
  8. Filling in the Buddha’s Outline
     … You know that they’re there but you don’t focus on them. You focus on what you’ve got to do. The same with the other bases of success, like persistence: Your efforts may be too much, too little. The focus of your intent may be too narrow or too broad, and your analysis may be too much or too little. So you … 
  9. Honesty & Integrity
     … But in the beginning, don’t make the pain your primary focus. Make the comfort your primary focus. As for the pain, if it’s in the leg, let the leg have it. You don’t have to hold on to it. You don’t have to grab hold of it. This gives you a very basic lesson in the whole issue of self … 
  10. Leaving Meditation
     … Notice what the first thing is that you focus on when you leave the breath, when you open your eyes, when you start thinking about other things that have to be done. Notice how the mind moves to those things, and try to notice what’s the first thing that really knocks it off balance. See how long you can maintain your sense of … 
  11. The Karma of Pleasure
     … It has to blot out huge areas of awareness so that it can wallow in what it wants to focus on. That’s a metaphor for a lot of our lives, and the pleasures that we have. We have to pretend that a lot of things aren’t there so we can focus exclusively on the details we like. That’s pleasure. And then … 
  12. A Safe Harbor
     … So right mindfulness includes right effort, adds more onto it, giving you a place to focus, giving you a foundation, giving you a frame of reference. Then right mindfulness, in the establishing of mindfulness, becomes the theme for your concentration as you’re focused on the breath, focused on the body in and of itself, developing these qualities of ardency, alertness, mindfulness: That becomes … 
  13. The Hall of Mirrors
     … Everybody comes to the breath with lots of different preconceived notions about what the breath is, or, when you’re focusing on something, how you have to focus in order to stay with it. These are old habits we picked up a long time ago, and it’s up to you to observe them. The breath is a good mirror for reflecting the mind … 
  14. The Reality Principle
     … It simply points out the areas where you can’t do anything so that you can focus on the areas where you can, where you can be of help. It’s basically a reality principle. Notice in the statements for the four brahmaviharas: The first three start out, “May all beings be happy. May they not be deprived. May they be released from stress … 
  15. Determined to Stay with the Breath
    When you meditate, you’re making up your mind that you’re going to focus on one topic. And that phrase “making up your mind” means that you’re going to have to deal with all the different contrary impulses there may be in the mind. When you tell yourself that you’re going to focus on the breath for the next hour, what … 
  16. Compassionate Duties
     … The thoughts that were inspired by renunciation, in other words, trying to find happiness in a way that doesn’t involve sensuality—i.e., what we’re doing right now, trying to find a sense of well-being as we focus on the breath—thoughts based on non ill-will and harmlessness: Those he said you can encourage. And you do that by being … 
  17. Building a Home for the Mind
     … You’ve got all kinds of breathing that you can focus on, or you can start with the breath energies in the body. Some people find that easier to focus on those energies than on the in-and-out breath to begin with. Just scan through the body. Notice where there’s any tension or tightness. Think of it relaxing. Then move on until … 
  18. Body & Mind from Within
     … Yet this is where the Buddha wants you to focus. This is your area. This is where the suffering is happening. This is where the cessation of suffering can happen as well. This is where you can build the path out of things you’re immediately experiencing. Like right now, you’re focused on the breath. The Buddha calls the in-and-out bodily … 
  19. Dimensions of Right Effort
     … You have to focus your attention on the road. And even though the road doesn’t look like a mountain, it’ll take you there. So there’s work to be done on the path. We can’t let our impatience get in the way. This is one of the problems of our American educational system: It rewards people who get everything right the … 
  20. Switch the Context
     … Years back when I was first meditating with Ajaan Fuang, I began to notice that there was a bit of tension in one of my feet, and that if I tried to focus too intently on it, it just stayed tense, so I worked around the edges. Then one day it released, and as it released, I suddenly remembered an incident from my childhood … 
  21. The Cost of Happiness
     … The more still you are, the more refined your focus, and more refined your solidity, then the more refined the movements you can see. Always look for that. That’s your guarantee. That’s your protection against mistaking some halfway point on the path for the goal. It’s in this way that the Buddha’s first teaching and his last teaching are connected … 
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