Search results for: "Focusing"

  1. Page 73
  2. How to Feed Mindfulness
     … That means that you could sit here focusing on whatever potentials for pain there are, and you could turn almost anything into a pain—but you don’t. You focus on the potentials for pleasure. Notice, when the breath comes in, where it’s feeling good, which part of the breath cycle feels nicest. Is it the middle of the breath, the beginning of … 
  3. The Right Medicine
     … That’s why we work with the breath, both because the breath can be very calming—it can provide a good, steady foundation for the mind so that it can stay continually in the present and feel content to stay in the present—and also because the breath is about as close as you get to the mind without actually focusing on the mind … 
  4. Taking a Stance
     … When Ajaan Lee talks about mindfulness practice, that’s where he focuses the quality of discernment: in your ardency. You realize that if there’s going to be happiness, it has to come from your actions. And you can’t wait around. Whatever you can do now, you do now. We focus on the present moment not simply to hang out here, but because … 
  5. Skillful Desire
     … Find a spot in the body where it’s easiest to remain focused on the breath. Watch over your breath so that it stays comfortable at that spot. When the sense of comfort seems relatively steady, you expand it. Think of it seeping through all the nerves and blood vessels in the body, as far as you can go. And then see if you … 
  6. Skills Needed at Death
     … You’ve got to keep your mind focused, because as the Buddha said, we’re going to be reborn: For most of us, that’s what’s going to happen. Only a very few of us don’t have to be reborn. But if we’re going to be reborn, it’ll happen in line with our clinging and craving. The image he gives … 
  7. Empathetic Joy
     … All of this helps make for an easy break with all the issues of the day so that you can focus on the work at hand, which is your awareness right here, keeping your awareness focused on the breath. If you can’t be generous in practicing the brahmaviharas, it’s really hard to settle down. There’s a passage where the Buddha actually … 
  8. Asalha Puja – Completeness
     … This is why we meditate, focusing on the breath here in the present moment, because the breath is about as close to the mind as you’re going to get until you can look at the mind directly. It’s a good place to bring your attention, because the breath is very sensitive to what’s going on in the mind. Fear arises in … 
  9. Grief & Regret
     … It keeps the mind from being focused on its own pains. And it’s strengthening to be able to have goodwill. It’s something that makes you strong. So these are some of the ways for dealing with loss. They call come down to having this foundation with concentration. Goodwill does lead to concentration—it’s one of the topics that leads the mind … 
  10. Not-self for the Sake of Happiness
     … This is one of the reasons why the Buddha is so adamant about focusing on the negative side of worldly pleasures to let you realize that what you’re holding on to is suffering itself. He’s saying this not to bad-mouth your pleasures. It’s because he’s got something better. He’s saying negative things, but he has a positive purpose … 
  11. To Know the Buddha
     … So you’re meticulous in focusing your desire in the right place, i.e., on the causes. Then you put forth the effort, whatever is required, and you pay careful attention to what you’re doing. This is the beginning of the reflection. It’s not that you do and then look. You look while you’re doing. And then you look at the … 
  12. A Refuge from the Winds of the World
     … And so how do you keep the mind rightly established? Well, right now you’re focused on the breath—that’s part of right mindfulness, remembering to stay with the breath in and of itself—and you’re putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. Any thoughts of the world that come up right now, you’ve got to put them … 
  13. Appropriate Attention Always
     … Often it’s not so much focused on the object itself, but on you in your fantasies. But you have to ask: Are the fantasies worth it? What do you get out of them? Ajaan Lee’s image is of a dog gnawing on some bones that have no meat at all. What does it get out of it? The taste of its own … 
  14. Some Assembly Required
     … But it’s because you can make a difference here—and it’s going to make a huge difference between whether you’re going to suffer or not suffer—that’s why we’re focused here. The Buddha saw that on the night of his awakening. People can do things skillfully for much of their lives, and you’d think that they would have … 
  15. Help Others, Help Yourself
     … Stay focused. As you do this, developing more skillful qualities in your mind, the people around you are going to benefit, too. Your greed, aversion, and delusion don’t go prowling around the neighborhood, disturbing the neighbors. Other people benefit, too, from your practice. But in that sutta, the Buddha isn’t talking just about how helping yourself helps others. He also talks about … 
  16. Shame & Acceptance
     … These are all the things you need.” And so a lot of his Dhamma talks focused on, one, the fact that people were suffering; and, two, they had the resources that, if they worked at them, could take them out of suffering. That’s the important point: if you work on them. You need to have a strong sense that where you are is … 
  17. The Happiness & Suffering of Others
     … Instead of focusing on his own pain, he thought of the happiness of all beings. It’s a useful strategy to adopt in lots of different situations where your pain is pretty heavy and it’s weighing you down. Try to get out of yourself, think about other beings. Remember the pattern on the Buddha’s night of awakening. When he got his mind … 
  18. A Home of Your Own
    When we focus on the in-and-out breath, we’re focusing not so much on the air coming in and out through the nose as on the feeling of breathing as we feel it from inside. When you breathe in, which parts of the body move? Do they feel coordinated or do they feel like they’re working at cross purposes? Do they … 
  19. Taking Stock
     … You’re sitting here focusing on the breath: That’s form. You breathe in ways that give rise to a sense of ease, fullness, pleasure, refreshment: That’s feeling. You hold the perception of breath energy in mind and look for the sensations that correspond to that. You evaluate how things are going and make adjustments as necessary; That’s fabrication. And then you … 
  20. Fear of Death
     … Use it, especially focusing on the breath, as a means for getting past your attachment to sensuality, but then also learn to get beyond being attached to the body. You can develop a sense of space around the body, through the body, and that helps you with the perception that you don’t really need this physical body in order to be aware. You … 
  21. The Good We Already Have
     … Other good qualities both in body and mind can develop in the same way—just by focusing your attention on them, giving them the right chance to grow and whatever other things they need for their nourishment. You tune in to all kinds of good things. There are many different levels, for instance, of the breath energy in the body. They’re all there … 
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