Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. The Treasure Hunt
     … When you’re focused on the breath properly, all these things are brought together. There’s the physical fabrication of the breath, there’s directed thought and evaluation directed to the breath, and there are the perceptions of the breath and the feelings that arise from how you deal with the breath. Everything you really need to know for Awakening is right here. And … 
  3. Good Work
     … As long as you’re with the breath, you’re in the present. If you’re not with the breath, there’s the possibility you could be away some place in the past or the future. But the breath is right here, right now. For sure. Then if you notice anything pulling you away from the breath, you know you’ve got a problem … 
  4. Be Decisive
     … You’re going to stay with the breath, stay with the breath.” Show a little more decisiveness than you have in the past. That’s how concentration arises and that’s how concentration is maintained— and how it becomes something you can rely on. If you’re the kind of person who sticks your toe in the water and says, “Oh! It’s a … 
  5. Worldly Dhammas
     … The breath doesn’t get caught, so stay with the breath. Make the mind in tune with the breath. Then nothing can pull you in, and nothing can cause you harm.
  6. Things as They’ve Come to Be
     … When you direct your thoughts to the breath and then evaluate the breath, this is how you settle down. The more precisely you evaluate the breath, the more sensitive you are to the breath sensations in the body, then the more you can make them a comfortable place to be. And in the course of doing that, you learn things both about the breath … 
  7. Holding On to the Path
     … Like the breath: You need to hold on to the breath in all your activities. You can call that an attachment, but it’s a useful attachment. It’s a tool. And this is the important criterion: When you find that holding on to something leads to greater happiness, greater stability for the mind, more insight, more freedom, hold onto it. As for the … 
  8. Bare vs. Appropriate Attention
    As you focus on the breath, it’s important that you try to be as sensitive as possible to how the breathing feels—in particular, to which ways of breathing feel comfortable, and which ones don’t. Observe the breath carefully with that question in mind. When you find yourself stuck in uncomfortable breathing, experiment with other ways to see if you can make … 
  9. Skills for Dying Well
     … So you’re with the breath. You’re talking to yourself about the breath. You focus on perceptions that lead to a sense of ease inside—the perceptions about how the breath comes in, goes out, where you are in relationship to it. So you can see these processes as they’re happening. The quieter you are, the more you’re going to see … 
  10. Guardian Meditations
    The Buddha talks of times when you meditate, you try to focus on the breath or any of the other topics in the body, but there’s a fever—a fever in the body, a fever in the mind. It doesn’t allow you to settle down. In cases like that, he says, try to find another theme that’s inspiring. Focus on that … 
  11. Significance
     … This is why we try to stay with the breath, being alert to the breath and to whatever else is coming in the mind. When you’re with the breath, all four frames of reference are right there. The breath itself is your experience of the body. Feelings come up. They’re right there with the breath. You try to decide: Is this a … 
  12. To Comprehend Pain
     … And here, we’re treating the pain with the breath, with the concentrated mind. To get the mind concentrated, you first have to focus on an area of the body that’s not in pain. That gives you a home base. Then you can work with the breath energy in that part of the body, to make it even more pleasant. It’s one … 
  13. Equanimity in Action, Equanimity at Rest
     … In concentration, it’s simply a matter of now learning how to apply these activities to the breath and keep them with the breath—to keep the conversation on topic. Don’t let it wander off into other areas. And learn how to evaluate wisely. As Ajaan Lee points out in the factors for the first jhana, directed thought is basically concentration, singleness of … 
  14. Cooking the Present Moment
     … If you learn to get the mind to settle down, it requires being with the breath, and being with the breath at the same time that there’s pleasure arising from your being with the breath. You allow the pleasure to be there, but you don’t go running into the pleasure. The cause is the fact that you’re with the breath, so … 
  15. No One Size Fits All
     … Sometimes the breath is not the topic for that particular problem, so you need to have a wide range of other tools to choose from. We see this in the Canon as well. When the Buddha taught breath meditation to his son Rahula, he didn’t teach just breath meditation. He taught contemplation of not-self, contemplation of inconstancy. This was even before the … 
  16. A Well-thatched Roof
     … What’s happened is that you’ve dropped the breath, maybe because the breath was too subtle or simply because the pleasure that came with the breath was so much more interesting—more enjoyable. So you drop the perception of the breath, and you just go wallow in the pleasure. Then you come out, and you realize that you’ve totally lost your alertness … 
  17. Serenity
     … If there’s a sense that the breathing requires a lot of effort, just remind yourself: The breath is going to come in and out on its own. There are pores all over your body. You don’t have to pull it in or push it out. The breath will come in naturally, go out naturally. Any perception you can hold in mind that … 
  18. Becoming
    Becoming July 23, 2007 Try to keep track of the breath. Don’t think about the fact that you’re going to be here for a whole hour. Just think about this breath, and then this breath, each breath, one breath at a time. Think about it and watch it, see what it does. What do you notice when it comes in; what do … 
  19. Endurance Through Discernment
     … So work with the breath, work with your ways of talking to yourself around the breath, work with your perceptions of the breath, and then use the same factors, the same fabrications, to deal with pain. You’ll find that you can endure a lot more than you could have otherwise. But it’s not just a matter of endurance. You develop discernment—discernment … 
  20. Strategic Thinking
     … You’ve got form, which is the form of the body, the breath; and you’ve got feeling—feelings of pleasure and pain in the body, which you’re trying through the breath to turn into more feelings of pleasure. There’s also the perception of the breath, there are fabrications, in other words, directed thought and evaluation—verbal fabrication—and finally there’s … 
  21. The Skills of Truth & Calm
     … Under the factor of fabrication, you’ve got the breath. Okay, we’re focused on the breath. You’ve got direct thought and evaluation, which means you’re talking to yourself. Well, you’re talking to yourself about the breath, about the mind settling down with the breath, trying to get them snugly together. Then you’ve got perceptions and feelings. You’re trying … 
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