Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. The Third Frame of Reference
     … So she focused on just thinking space, space, space and she developed a sense of space. One way to do this is to think of the different atoms in your body. They all have a lot of space in them and between them. So focus on that space and think of it spreading throughout the body, out beyond the body. She maintained that perception … 
  3. Mindful of Death
     … What things do you want to take as your nourishment? As we’re focusing here in the present moment, it’s to see processes that are bigger than the present moment as well. They can be found here, they can be seen here, but they’re going to play out in larger realms as well. The way the mind relates to itself in a … 
  4. Potentials for Awakening
     … It comes from focusing on one point but having a soft, open focus. It starts out not all that impressive, just a feeling of “okay.” Well, maintain that “okay.” Don’t allow any tension to build up inside it or around it. When the sense of “okay” seems steady, think of it spreading, because one of the reasons why people have trouble gaining a … 
  5. The Fourth Frame of Reference
    The Fourth Frame of Reference March 29, 2009 Ajaan Lee often made the point that when you’re focused on the breath, you don’t have just the first frame of reference or the first foundation of mindfulness. You have all four right there. The breath is the body in and of itself. That’s the first frame of reference. The feelings of pleasure … 
  6. Gather Around the Breath
     … So you stay focused around the breath—everything gathers right here. Some people object to the idea of working on having one focus for the mind, because it requires desire. But the Buddha is very clear that desire is part of the path. It’s part of right effort: You’re trying to generate desire to give rise to skillful qualities, and this is … 
  7. Learning from What You Do
     … You start noticing how your intentions affect the breath by intentionally playing with it, experimenting with it, then learning to maximize the amount of pleasure that can come simply from having your mind focused on the present moment. Once there’s a sense of ease in the spot that you’ve been focusing on, allow that sense of ease to spread through the body … 
  8. The Choice Not to Suffer
     … You keep in mind that you don’t want to get sucked in to your thoughts, and so you develop mindfulness but staying focused on the breath, or the body in and of itself, as your frame of reference. Any thoughts that would pull you into thought worlds you put aside. If you get worked up about something that you want in the world … 
  9. Breath Meditation: The Third Tetrad
     … You’re focused on the body, being sensitive to the breath, sensitive to the whole body as you breathe in and breathe out, and then you calm the process of bodily fabrication, i.e., you gain some rapture and then calm the effect that the breath has on the body so that it gives rise to a sense of ease and well-being. In … 
  10. The Fourth Noble Truth
     … In other words, your inner chatter focuses on the breath. You want to stay right here. Of course, this builds on all the other factors of the path, but it also brings them all to fruition. Ajaan Lee has a nice explanation, saying that when the mind is in right concentration, really noble right concentration, you’ve got all the factors of the path … 
  11. Shoulds & Ideals
     … They’re actually four categories for understanding what’s happening, for focusing on what’s really worth noticing in the present moment. We have four categories because there are four different things you can do in the present moment. You can either try to comprehend what’s there, or you can try to let it go, or just verify for yourself that it’s … 
  12. The Steps of Breath Meditation
     … In the later stages of breath meditation the emphasis is focused less on the breath than on the mind as it relates to the breath. In the beginning stages, though, the emphasis is on the breath itself, on using the breath to snare the mind and bring it into the present moment. In the first two steps you’re simply with long breathing and … 
  13. Respect
     … But if you’re focusing just on the results, then what happened to the causes? They’ve been abandoned. So, turn around and focus on the causes. Once you’ve got those mastered, everything you want out of the practice will have to come. So again, it’s a matter of having respect for the principle of cause and effect, respect for your ability … 
  14. WYSIWYG
     … When you look at the breath in line with the Buddha’s instructions on breath meditation, you start out by focusing mainly on the breath and on the process of bodily fabrication. But then the instructions themselves are a kind of verbal fabrication. You’re thinking about what you should do and tell yourself how to do it. Then you evaluate what should be … 
  15. Appropriate Attention
     … So he focused on that principle in the second knowledge, the principle of action. What was action? Action primarily is intention. It’s a mental factor. He realized that your actions are determined by how you view things. So how about just looking at action in and of itself, intention in and of itself? Where do you look? Well, you look at the present … 
  16. The Gradual Path of Skill
     … Ajaan Mun’s final sermon focused in on this. He talks about the different aspects of the practice as being different parts of an army. And as for the warrior and his weapon: That’s the desire never to come back and have to suffer ever again. The desire not to suffer, which we all have, is what forms the foundation of how we … 
  17. Training Your Minds
     … Are you staying with the breath? When you’re focused on the breath, does it feel good, or are you focusing in a way that confines the breath, makes it ill at ease? Okay, try to change your focus. That’s what the third quality is, what the Buddha calls ardency: You’re trying to do this skillfully. If you notice that something is … 
  18. Food for Consciousness
    As we’re sitting here meditating, we’re focusing on something that nobody else can know—how our bodies feel from the inside, how our awareness feels from the inside. It’s an area that we ourselves don’t pay that much attention to, because our attention is too often diverted outside. And for that reason, we don’t have much of a vocabulary … 
  19. Hold on to Your Frame of Reference
     … Like right now, we’re focusing on the breath. This is part of the body in and of itself, and that’s what you want to hold in mind: that you’re going to stay with the breath in and of itself, regardless. Earthquakes can come, huge tidal waves can come crashing over on you, but you’ll just hold on to the breath … 
  20. When You Practice on Your Own
     … You start out focusing on the breath, and as you’re focusing on the breath, you can’t help but notice how the breath has an impact on feelings, and how the fact that you’re alert to the breath will influence what feelings you have in the body, and how you can develop them. That gives you some insight into the process of … 
  21. Open Are the Doors to the Deathless
     … The Buddha himself had found this on the night of his awakening by focusing on the breath, like we’re doing right now. You can breathe in ways that are intensely pleasurable. And, as he said, you can take that sense of pleasure and spread it through the body, together with rapture or refreshment. That way, the mind gets to feed on a healthy … 
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