Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 76
  2. Complexities of Karma
     … You want that mindfulness to be really strong, which is why you want to develop it to the point of concentration, where you can stay focused on one thing in spite of the disturbances around you. Like right here, as we’re sitting: It’s a relatively quiet place. There’s a little bit of noise in the background, and there may be pains … 
  3. The Right Piece in the Right Puzzle
     … You have to see that these things, too, once you’ve mastered the concentration, are stressful, and inconstant—and they’re based on craving. So you have to let go of the craving even for the concentration. Even for your discernment: You have to let go of that craving too. That’s when you apply not-self as a perception all around. But again … 
  4. Staying, Moving, & Neither
    Staying, Moving, & Neither December 28, 2010 If you were to boil all the issues of concentration practice down to the most basic one, they’d come down to the question of when to stay in place and when to move. The next level up, when you’re going to stay in place, is how do you do it? How do you get the mind … 
  5. Things as They Function
     … This is why we have the training in the precepts, training in concentration, training in discernment. The Buddha’s giving us good things to do so that we can see clearly what it is for the mind to do something. As he says, we suffer because of the cravings that lead to becoming. So he has us engage in some skillful becoming, which means … 
  6. Stepping Back
     … Here you are, looking at the breath, and as Ajaan Lee says, “Just four concentrations, and you can’t master them.” The mind keeps slipping off, and no matter how determined you are to stay with the breath, you find yourself someplace else. Often it doesn’t seem like the meditation’s heading in any particular direction — just kind of mucking around — and you … 
  7. Attahi Attano Natho
     … It gets even better when the mind really settles down and can develop a state of concentration, because concentration brings with it a sense of pleasure, even a sense of rapture, as you can stay with one thing that feels really good. Traditionally, they talk about concentration as being food for the meditator because it provides that sense of ease inside, a sense of … 
  8. Hindrances to the Heightened Mind
     … It’s devotion to the heightened mind—in other words, to the practice of concentration. As the Buddha said, noble right concentration is the heart of the path, and all the other factors are its requisites or its aids. So as we sit here meditating, trying to get the mind into right concentration, we’re focusing right at the heart. The problem is, there … 
  9. Discerning Actions
     … But is there still some disturbance left? This is one way of appreciating the mind’s various stages of concentration as you get deeper and deeper. It’s also a reminder that these states of ease, states of well-being, are the results of actions. One of the big mistakes you can make in meditation is to hit something really spacious and blissful and … 
  10. Keep the Mind from Wandering
     … This is the discernment that comes through the practice of concentration. Ultimately, you get to the point where you have to learn how to outgrow the food even in the concentration, but until you reach that point—and it’s going to quite a while before you reach that point—learn to appreciate the food you’ve got here, the potential home you’ve … 
  11. Right Effort
     … To develop concentration, arouse a skillful desire to be concentrated. The term “skillful” here is important. Look at the meditation as a skill, not as something you’re just going to push yourself through with blind effort. But notice what skills are required to get the mind to stay still. Once it’s still and you get up from the meditation, how can you … 
  12. The Heart to Keep Going
     … Also remember that we’re not here just for the pleasure and the rapture that can come with concentration. We’re here for all the other skills that go into training the mind. Each time you find the mind wandering off and you bring it back, that’s strengthening a very essential skill—the skill to get your mind off a bad topic and … 
  13. Choices
     … It can provide a sense of well-being, a place where the mind can settle down and gain some concentration. That concentration can be your food. So breathe in a way that feels refreshing, that creates a sense of fullness in the body. That is possible. Then when the mind settles down, you can start seeing things in the mind more clearly. The little … 
  14. Cooking the Present Moment
     … It also has to do with your ability to get the mind into concentration despite the pain. Once the mind is in concentration, it’s not so easily overcome by pleasure or pain. 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 … 
  15. Abandoning & Developing
     … You base your concentration on your breath, and then you notice: Do you have the qualities of mind that help you stay with the breath? ** The two main sets of qualities that the Buddha teaches in that context are the hindrances on the one hand, and the factors for awakening on the other. They’re a paired set. Often you see them together in … 
  16. 1. The Entertaining Breath
     … Right concentration has among its factors the ease from concentration, the rapture that can arise from concentration, the ability to experience pleasure through the body. You can induce that ease and rapture by getting more interested in what this potential is that you have here. This is one of the basic messages of the Buddha’s teaching on kamma, that the present moment is … 
  17. Look After Yourself with Ease
     … When you see the suffering there, when you see the stress, then you need to ask yourself: “Is it worth it?” There will be voices in the mind that say, “Of course, it’s worth it! What else is there in life?” So again, this is why we have the concentration: to give you an alternative, to give you something else in life. Because … 
  18. Mindfulness, Discernment, & Peace of Mind
     … Sometimes people think that you do concentration first and then, when your concentration is really good, you’re going to get to discernment. But actually, you gain your discernment as you’re getting the mind into concentration and keeping it there, because you’ve got to figure out how to sidestep the problems, all the distractions that have been running through the mind all … 
  19. As They’ve Come to Be
     … So, we have to learn how to change our allegiance here, which is one of the reasons why we have to get the mind into concentration. Not only does the stillness of concentration allow you to see these processes, but the sense of well-being also allows you to look at them with a lessened sense of interest. You’ve got something better; why … 
  20. Perceptions of the Breath
     … That’s because all the states of concentration up to the dimension of nothingness are called perception attainments. You need a perception to stay concentrated on them. As you work with the breath, you find that different perceptions work at different times. You’ll also find that some are useful and some are actually obstacles to getting the mind to settle down. A few … 
  21. A Willingness to Learn
     … There are passages where the Buddha talks about getting the mind into strong states of concentration and then staying there long enough, not being in a hurry to jump onto the next stage. Otherwise, you get lost in between and then can’t get back to where you started out from. But there are also passages where he talks about an ability to step … 
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