Search results for: "Attention"
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- The Committee of the Mind… We focus our main attention on the fourth, which is the path to the end of suffering, because that’s what we have to work at hardest. But it’s good to keep in mind that the Buddha promises that there is such a thing as the end of suffering. There was one Dhamma teacher I heard one time saying, “I don’t know …
- Safety in Awareness… And this was at a point when I was just beginning to learn how to trust it! That teaching came at the wrong time for me because up until that point, I had a lot of trouble trusting my own immediate awareness, my own immediate attention to things: this quality of knowing, knowing, knowing in the mind—what knows the breath, what knows the …
- Don’t Believe Everything You Think… They’ll say more and more outrageous things to catch your attention. But finally when they see that there’s no reaction at all, then they get bored and they go away. Many of your thoughts are like this. The mind will stir up these things, and if you latch on to them, then they’ll stir up some more. Or you can think …
- A Happiness Based Inside… So even though there may be pains in the body, you can focus on the breath in such a way that the energy in the body can help either alleviate the pain or at least provide you an alternative place to focus your attention. Now, once you’ve learned how to master this kind of pleasure, it’s not automatic that you’ll suddenly …
- Control from Within… You give your attention. You give your full energy to the practice. You restrain the mind from wandering off. These are lessons we learn in practicing generosity and virtue. As we meditate, we dig deeper into them. Even the Buddha’s more abstract teachings on not-self and emptiness grow out of the insights we gain from generosity and virtue, learning about the happiness …
- The Wisdom of Ardency… Others require what he calls the fabrication of exertion, where you have to figure out how the way you’re breathing is contributing to the problem, how the way you’re talking to yourself is contributing to the problem, how the perceptions you hold in mind, how the feelings you pay attention to are contributing to the problem. From there, you learn how to …
- Perceptions of Earth & Space… Of course, that’s not all it is, but for the time being, that’s all you’re going to pay attention to. Your body is earth, the people around you, the things around you are all earth, but you don’t think about the particular features of the earth. You don’t think about the mountains and the valleys, or the individual people …
- Anti-slacker Dhamma… You have to be that meticulous and that attentive to your concentration, because it’s your path out of suffering. Even in the relative comfort we have here, if you actually gain a taste of the Deathless, you’ll realize that ordinary sensory experience is extremely painful compared to what the Deathless is. So even the pleasures we have here have pain built into …
- It’s What You Give… fabrication, name and form, intentions, acts of attention, perceptions, feelings, even the way you breathe. This is what you bring to sensory contact, and what you bring is going to make the difference between whether it’s going to be a cause for suffering or part of the path to the end of suffering. So this principle of the mind comes first goes from …
- Good Traditions… If we’re not attentive to what we’re doing, then the major force in life is allowed to go on in whatever way it wants. It’s like turning the keys to your car over to a crazy person, someone who’s forgetful, someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. So you want practice in learning how to be more mindful …
- Defeatism? - Anything But… You pay very careful attention. This is how the Buddha was able to find the path to begin with. He noticed that he wasn’t getting the results he wanted, so he looked back on his actions. “What’s lacking in my actions? What am I doing wrong? What can I change?” Which means you have to look very carefully at what you’re …
- The Buddha Defines Wisdom… It’s not suffering, so you focus your attention there. Take that as your foundation. And then from that foundation, you can watch the suffering, watch the stress, watch the clinging. You can begin to sort out where’s the clinging and where’s the craving. You’ve found the pipe. Now you can seal it off. That’s what the Buddha tells us …
- Staying on Track… Or you can decide that you’re simply not going to pay attention to that kind of thought. It can chatter away in one corner of the mind, but you’re not going to go there. You’re not going to get involved in the chatter. The Buddha’s image here is of someone who sees something he doesn’t like, so he turns …
- Perfections as Priorities… is approaching, what do you want to look back on? And what do you want to take with you as a result of having lived this life? If you focus your attention simply on pleasures, you won’t have anything at that point—just memories of the pleasures, which may or may not be pleasant memories. Or you may decide that you want to …
- Practical Wisdom… So if you find yourself getting bored with the practice or tiring of the practice, it’s a sign you’re not paying careful attention. Because the most important thing in your life is what your mind is doing right now. It makes the difference between long-term happiness and long-term pain. So it only stands to reason that you want to know …
- Established in Full… Where do you feel that? Settle your attention there. Then ask yourself if it’s comfortable. After all, as you’re practicing mindfulness, you have to remember what mindfulness means. You’re keeping something in mind. And you develop not only mindfulness, but also alertness and ardency. Alertness is watching what you’re doing, watching the results of what you’re doing, and ardency …
- Together but Separate… But wherever you’re especially sensitive to how the breath feels, try to focus your attention there and ask yourself, “What kind of breathing would feel really good? What would nourish the sense of well-being at that spot?” As that spot gets comfortable, keep on breathing in a way that maintains the sense of comfort. Then let your awareness encompass the whole body …
- Overconfidence & Underconfidence… So when you realize great things grow from little things, and little things require care and attention, don’t look down on the little things. But at the same time don’t get complacent. It’s as if you’re raising a child. You encourage the child but at the same time you realize you’ve got to watch out for the child, because …
- Learning from Labor… Where do you focus your attention? How do you create a consciousness that fills the whole body and yet is well anchored? These are things you have to explore from within. As you explore them from within, you begin to see that this is how you create mental states, this is how you create physical states in general. You become more sensitive as you …
- Strong & Heedful… This is why it’s especially important to focus your attention on the breath, because that gets you out of your head, where the comings and goings mostly happen, and down into the body, so that you have the sense of foundation, the sense of solidity you need to watch the comings and goings. But even then, as long as there are comings and …
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