Search results for: "Perception"
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- Comfort Dhamma… If you learn to use these tools of analysis—taking things apart in terms of where’s the feeling, where’s the perception, where’s the thought construct, what’s the bodily element in all these things, and sort them out—you begin to realize that there’s not that much there that’s really worth holding onto. When you see things in that …
- A Full Heart… Then you place a perception on it and it goes one way or the other. But it’s actually potentially both. You can’t see this, though, unless you have this larger awareness, this awareness that’s really full. So those are two of the meanings of tem chai that are really useful when you think about this way you’re creating a lack …
- Truth… Look into the truth of these assumptions. “Is this really true? Is this really mine?” These are cases where the perception of not-self is crucial as a tool for letting go of the things that make you feel threatened by the truth. When you can let go of those things, the threat goes away. The result is that the more honest you are …
- The Desire for Truth… Then you refine your perceptions. In this way, you take that principle he taught to Rahula and you bring it into your mind. Then you make yourself more and more true in doing the concentration and in observing, and then letting go—even of the things you find attractive, as you begin to realize that they, too, have their drawbacks. This is how you …
- Steps in Concentration… Or you can think of them loosening up, using whatever perceptions can help spread things through the body. Of the various similes that the Buddha gave for the different levels of right concentration, this is the only one that has a conscious agent doing something: He stands for the evaluation. You get that comfortable sensation and you spread it through the body, work it …
- Body as Path… There’s the form of the body, there’s a feeling of pleasure, there’s the perception of breath. Directed thought and evaluation are the fabrications. And of course there’s consciousness. They’re all here together. You’re taking all the aggregates and you’re using to make them a path. Once you’ve done it, then you try to maintain it. Keep …
- Resolute Good Humor… It goes into a state of non-perception. That’s not awakening. That’s just blanking out. You need to know how to pace your mind, because we’re not here to explode. We’re not here to blank out. We’re here to wake up, to see ourselves doing things we didn’t realize we were doing, and to see that we can …
- An Island of Certainty… first with the perceptions dealing with the breath, and also with the thoughts that come wandering through. Why is it that when you’ve made up your mind to stay with the breath, something else comes in and immediately you go? When was the choice made? Sometimes it was made before you went, but then you hid it from yourself. So look for that …
- The Mind Isn’t Hot… Try to maintain that perception in your mind. And then focus on whichever parts the body in which the sense of movement, the sense of energy, seems to be clearest. And allow it to be comfortable. Don’t force it too much. Just let it be comfortable coming in, going out. Whatever it’s going to do, allow it to be comfortable. And then …
- Attached to Concentration… You can try that and see if that perception of the breath helps. Or you can wander around your body and see which parts of the body need breath energy or seem to be tangled in one way or another. Try to work out the tangles. There are a few general principles. One, you want to make sure that your feet and your hands …
- Wearing the Breath… As a meditator, you want to catch it at the stage before you’ve slapped on that perception. So, we stay with the breath as much as we can. Try to settle in. Feel as if you’re sitting here surrounded by breath, and your awareness surrounds you, too. In addition to having that subconscious idea that we’re watching the breath with our …
- Don’t Be Afraid of Jhana… You’re getting hands-on practice with how you can use the rhythm and texture of breathing to have an influence on how you sense the body; how to use the power of verbal fabrication—in other words, directing your thoughts to the breath and evaluating the breath—to give rise to feelings of pleasure; and how to use perceptions of the breath to …
- Sober Up… You have to look at the way you’re breathing, you have to look at the way you’re talking to yourself, you have to look at the perceptions you hold in mind and the feelings you focus on. You have to see where they’ve been kidnapped by your defilements, and where you’ve got to exert yourself to get them back. The …
- When This Is, That Is… The perceptions you have can be part of right view, but also right concentration and right mindfulness as well. The thought constructs you have, directing your thoughts to the breath, evaluating it: These become part of right concentration. Your awareness of all this becomes part of the path, too. In other words, you take all the aggregates, which normally you lug around as your …
- This Fathom-Long Body… Then you can also begin to work with different perceptions, different ideas, different emotions, but don’t let them pull you away from the body. Keep everything related to the body and you’ll find that you have a real handle on these things. As when an emotion seems to take over: A lot of its power comes from the hormones that are racing …
- A Tale of Two Kings… Hold certain perceptions of the breath in mind so that you can create a feeling of well-being and allow that feeling of well-being to spread through the body. The choices you make as you do that really do change your experience. And they teach you the lessons you’re going to need so that you can dig deeper and deeper inside to …
- Goodwill as Wealth… The Buddha talks about perception as being a mental fabrication that has an effect on the mind. Sometimes the effect is direct; sometimes it’s through the breath. The way you perceive the breath is going to have an effect on how you feel it in the body. The breath is something that we can intentionally do. It’s one of the few bodily …
- Look in the Mirror… After all, it accepts the truths of the three characteristics—or the three perceptions. It sees things as inconstant, stressful, not-self. But as the Buddha taught, seeing those things can simply take you to a very refined state of concentration. It’s attained by discernment, but it’s still a state of concentration—and it too is fabricated. Ajaan Lee has a good …
- Think Your Way to Stillness… Whatever perceptions that keep you here are very subtle. There may be a little thinking nibbling at the edges of your concentration, but don’t pay it any attention. You’ll find that you’ve thought yourself to stillness. This is how it’s done. Not by forbidding yourself to think, or just telling yourself that all thinking is bad; you have to learn …
- Meaning & Importance… As the Buddha says, we take the potentials for form, feeling, perceptions, fabrications, and consciousness, and we fabricate them into actual forms, feelings, etc., for the sake of something. Usually for the sake of happiness, which means that every present moment has a for-the-sake-of in it. It’s moving in a direction. It’s a means to an end. That’s …
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