Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. One Person
     … And you’ll find that focusing on this one person is not a selfish thing—although that was another issue that Ajaan Suwat liked to talk about. The phrase they have in Thailand for “don’t be selfish,” literally means “don’t look after yourself.” He said that’s wrong. You do have to look after yourself. But look after yourself in a skillful … 
  3. Learning & Respect
     … You’re just holding this theme in mind, focused on watching it. And there, he says, you’re entering the second jhāna. The implication there being that when you’re doing the basic steps in right mindfulness, you’re getting into the first jhāna, where you’re thinking about the breath, thinking about your mind being with the breath, thinking about the feelings that … 
  4. Nimble with Your Questions
     … Or the simple act of being with the breath—the simple act of focusing on the breath in the body: What’s going on? We know the stories of Ajaan Maha Boowa’s battle with pain, and it’s very impressive, the amount of pain that he was able to sit through. But the really important part of the teaching was not so much … 
  5. Ideals
     … You’re focusing not so much on “things as they are” as on things as they have come to be so that you can manipulate them and can figure out what things can be. You can make them into a path to the deathless. That’s when the practice gets really good. Otherwise, you just keep on giving in to that old cynical voice … 
  6. The World of the Body
     … When you’re focused on the breath, you’re right next to the mind, so the intentions that are causing suffering, the whole process of becoming that starts with potentials that we then actualize, are all going to be found right here. So try to make the most of this awareness. Of course, you’ll be dealing with the negative sides of the body … 
  7. Resistance
     … But unlike psychotherapy — which tries to trace your thoughts back to their origins, where they’re coming from in time — he focuses on where they’re going, where they lead. Do they lead you where you want to go? And he gives some recommendations on ways of thinking that really help you go in the right direction. As you carry through with his ways … 
  8. Reflect
     … You’ve got to develop insight.” So the monk abandoned his concentration and focused entirely on insight, but he found that he was getting more and more distracted, more and more scattered. He was getting no joy from the practice. He came to see me, and I told him, “You’ve got to get back to your concentration.” He said, “I can’t. I … 
  9. Unattractiveness
     … That’s what we’re focused on as we meditate. You realize you want to be able to put the mind in good shape before it has to leave the body. Or even before then: You want the mind to be in good shape as it’s going to age, because we can cause ourselves a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, if … 
  10. A Good Narrative
     … That’s the one aim that’s really worth focusing on. Of course, the young prince had the question, “Is this possible?” Then the fourth vision he had was of a forest ascetic, a wilderness ascetic. “If there’s any lifestyle,” he said to himself, “that could accomplish the deathless, this would be it.” And the feeling he felt when he saw that ascetic … 
  11. The Buddha’s Rules of Order
     … There are times when you need to be focusing on the good things, the things that are pleasant. That’s the right time and place for that. There are other times, of course, when you’ve done something wrong. But here again, noting that you’ve done something wrong has to be done out of compassion because you want to do things right, and … 
  12. A Post-goodness World?
     … those distracting thoughts, or the state of concentration you can develop if you really stuck with the breath? This is one of the reasons why the Buddha recommends you develop the perception of inconstancy before focusing on the breath. Anything that’s going to be less than a reliable happiness: It’s good to see it as inconstant so that you can side with … 
  13. Remarkable Qualities
     … Use your ingenuity to think of different ways of breathing, different ways of focusing. Those principles in the seven basic steps in Ajaan Lee’s guide to meditation are very broad principles that allow a lot of room for variation. There’s nothing to say that you have to breathe in a particular way. You’re encouraged to figure out what kind of breathing … 
  14. Mindfulness: Get with the Program
     … Instead of focusing on the mind-state, you tend to focus on the object. But when you’re with the body in and of itself, then it’s a lot easier to see feelings in and of themselves—in other words, simply as events. Mind-states in and of themselves—simply as events. That way, you can get a handle on them. You can … 
  15. The Thread of Mindfulness
     … Sometimes you hear that mindfulness is a broad, open, easeful acceptance of whatever comes up, whereas concentration is narrower, more focused, effortful—in other words, two things you can’t do at the same time. I was even reading a book on mindfulness saying that basically there are two paths: the path of mindfulness on the one hand and the path of effort and … 
  16. The Buddha’s Encouragement
     … You come out of it wondering, “Was I awake? Was I asleep?” And while you’re in there, you’re not really clear about what you’re focused on. There’s restlessness and anxiety. You can worry about things you did in the past or about things that can happen in the future. Or doubt: You can decide that doubt is reasonable: doubt about … 
  17. Potentials for Rapture
     … The Buddha recommends that if you’re focusing on the breath, and the body doesn’t become comfortable, you can drop the breath for a little while and think about an inspiring theme. It could be the recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Sangha—something that you find it uplifting to the mind; something that allows the body to calm down. Then … 
  18. Choosing to Believe in Your Choices
    As you sit here focused on the breath, you’ll sometimes find that the mind is not with the breath. It’s someplace else. And when you notice that, you have a choice. You can either stay with that someplace else and follow whatever the thought is or you can come back to the breath. They’re both here: the thought and the breath … 
  19. The Bright Tunnel
     … People sometimes complain that the Buddha focuses an awful lot on suffering. That’s because he has a cure. If you had a cure for suffering, wouldn’t you want to talk about it too? The people who are afraid to talk about suffering: they’re the ones who don’t have a cure. They always try to cover things up, pretend it’s … 
  20. Fence Me In
     … Like this business of sitting here focusing on your breath. If someone totally unacquainted with Buddhism were to walk in right now, what would they say? “What are these people doing sitting here stock still?” Those who are well-trained in the meditation are sitting here and they’re getting a strong sense of stability inside, a strong sense of ease, and many of … 
  21. Recollecting the Devas
     … You’re supposed to be focusing on your mind. So try to keep your gaze controlled.” He reflected that that was a good instruction, so he gave it a try and found that it helped improve his meditation. This is the important point about how he handled those visions. It wasn’t that he accepted everything he was told. Whatever he saw in the … 
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