Search results for: "Focusing"

  1. Page 57
  2. Four Mountains Moving In
     … And it’s important that we stay focused there. The media will divert our focus other places, but we have to hold firm in our conviction that what we do is important, what we do is going to make the difference between danger and lack of danger. Because it is possible to get to the end of danger, this interconnectedness of ours. Sometimes we … 
  3. The Languages of the Mind
     … Some people have noted that when they first read Ajaan Lee, his way of explaining the breath seems kind of strange, but as they start focusing on their own breath, they find that his way of analyzing the breath really does make sense. It really does correspond to what’s going on in their experience. That’s why we have separate languages and jargons … 
  4. Training like an Adult
     … Part of the training is focused on the practice sessions, i.e., what you’re doing right here as you’re meditating, as you’re here doing walking meditation, the skills you want to work on, because we are working on skills. A while back, I was talking to a group of meditators from a different tradition, pointing out the connection between the teachings … 
  5. How to Be Self-Centered
     … the voice of your inner critic that focuses on judging your behavior. This has to be trained. For all too many of us, our inner critic is not very helpful. We’ve been criticized in harsh, unfeeling, dismissive ways in the past, and we’ve tended to pick up those voices and internalize them. As I’ve said before, the Buddha said that our … 
  6. Like an Athlete in Training
     … As you’re staying here in the monastery, it’s relatively easy to get focused in this way and to content yourself with this kind of food. The problem is when you leave. The world outside is like a big supermarket. I remember when I first came back from Thailand, I was amazed at how supermarkets had changed in the States. When I was … 
  7. Ready to Evacuate
     … So you just keep focusing on holding on to the mindfulness that reminds you to act skillfully and the conviction that this really does make a difference. The Buddha talks about the different strengths of the mind. The number-one strength is discernment, this ability to let go of things that are not necessary. It makes it a lot easier to go around if … 
  8. Common Ground
     … Which is the same for everybody as you get focused on the breath in and of itself. And as you’re stepping out of the world, you’re also stepping out of yourself in the world. The “you” in here is just your awareness and the thoughts that you use to keep with the breath. That’s the only part of you that’s … 
  9. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … Because if your desires are focused on the causes, then you look at the causes you’re creating with your actions and then the effects you’re getting from your action. That way, you can get a better and better sense of which desires really are skillful and which are not. So when things are not going well, you don’t just content yourself … 
  10. Determined on Goodwill
     … It’s when you’re focused on something like that that opportunities appear. All too often, we use that quality of determination for unskillful things—trying to figure out how we can get money out of a situation or, say, with alcoholics, how they can get some alcohol out of a situation. The force of their determination actually opens up opportunities that might not … 
  11. You Can Do It
     … You start focusing on the breath and you give into all the voices that say, “Who are you to be meditating?” Think of the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree. That was one of the questions apparently that Mara asked him: “Who are you to become Buddha? Who do you think you are?” Tradition has it that the Buddha touched the ground, and the … 
  12. Stay
     … Basically, your awareness is focused toward the front. Try to change that around. Think of yourself backing into the body. When you’re aware of the hand, be aware of the awareness of the hand in the hand, the same with the chest in the chest, the foot in the foot, the head in the head. In other words, there’s an awareness already … 
  13. Mindfulness as a Goad
     … Don’t wander off, stay focused right here, because this is where important things are happening. The problem is that sometimes they’re very subtle and they happen in a way that we don’t really notice. That means we have to get our concentration deeper. The more stillness you have in the mind, the more you’ll be able to pick up. It … 
  14. Awe
     … That thought focuses you inside: What do you have? You’ve got just your awareness. You’ve got the mind. What shape is the mind in? Fortunately, the Buddha doesn’t leave us stranded here. All too often in the West, this sense of awe is left simply as an aesthetic sense or a vague religious feeling. But the Buddha gives you further instructions … 
  15. Refreshment
     … So you have to ask yourself, “What kind of persistence would give rise to a feeling of refreshment?” Having that in mind gives you an idea of where your efforts should go as you’re focused on the breath. What kind of breath would be refreshing right now? What way of conceiving the breath would be refreshing? The Buddha says that you develop this … 
  16. Peace on Earth
     … As you’re focusing on the breath, don’t push it too much but don’t wander away. Give it your undivided attention and see how it responds. If it responds well, stick with it. If not, you can change: Either change the breath or change the way you focus. The important thing is having a sense of harmony, because that’s an essential … 
  17. On Top of Your Actions
     … So all these factors of the path, even the outside ones, are focused back in, right here, because right here is where you’re generating suffering and this is where you can learn how to stop it. So try to bring your attention to what you’re doing right now. Your ability to reflect on your state of mind, reflect on the actions of … 
  18. Everybody Benefits
     … Sometimes when you read about the different teachers who emphasize just watching the mind or observing the mind, you might say, “Why are we spending so much time with the breath? Why aren’t we focusing directly on the mind?” Well, working with the breath helps expand your sensitivities, making you sensitive to areas of the mind you wouldn’t have known otherwise. If … 
  19. The Quest for Inner Happiness
     … You’re actually exploring and choosing which kind of breathing feels best, which part of the body seems to be the best place to stay focused. You may settle at a place for a while and then decide that you don’t like it after all. Well, you can move again. This way, the meditation is not an exercise in clamping down on the … 
  20. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … So how to bring the mind to concentration? Get it focused on one thing, like the breath while, as the formula for mindfulness says, you’re “putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.” All those disturbances related to the world right now—you can put them aside. They yell at you about how important they are, but remember, the Buddha’s … 
  21. Factors for Awakening
     … You start out ardent, alert, and mindful, focused, say, on the breath in and of itself, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. When you do that really well, you get the mind into the four jhanas. The list called the factors for awakening basically goes into the steps on how you get from right mindfulness to right concentration, up through … 
  22. Load next page...