Search results for: "Focus"
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- Cut the Currents… As for other thoughts that focus you in on the object of your concentration, you hold on to them for the time being. But again, there’s no question about who’s doing this. It’s just something to be done; there are duties to be done here. You focus on that. That gets you away from that question that often obsesses people as …
- Dealing with Limitations… This involves recognizing when we’ve run up against a wall, so that we can turn around and focus our energies in the directions that will get us to shore. Our whole sense of who we are comes from the fact that as children we learned how to test the limitations we ran into: what things could we control, what things were beyond our …
- Developed in Body & Mind… As the Buddha said, you want to focus on this in and of itself, with no reference to the world—just the sensation of breathing coming in, going out. Make that enough for the mind right now. The mind is hungry, and it tends to want to feed in all kinds of places. It nibbles a little bit here, and says, “Well, how about …
- Purity… You focus on some things and have to hide other things in order to actually have any desire at all for a human body. So clear those thoughts out. Then remind yourself of the importance of what you’re doing here. That’s why we have the chant on aging, illness, and death. What do you have of any substance, here in this body …
- Adolescent Practice… You’re told, “Focus on the breath.” And in the beginning you’re often told, “Don’t meddle with the breath. Just let it come in and go out at its own rate.” You may get the basic idea that the less you interfere in the present moment, the better; the more passive you become, the better. But that makes it difficult to integrate …
- A Becoming Critic… You do it through the way you breathe, the way you talk to yourself, the perceptions you use—the images you hold in mind or the words by which you label things—along with the feelings you focus on. Notice how you put these things together to make a state of becoming. It’s like learning to be a film critic. You don’t …
- The Culture of the Practice… In terms of shelter, if your zafu is in the wrong place or a place you don’t like, well, you put up with it because there are more important things you’ve got to focus on. It’s not the case that having the right zafu or the right spot in the room will make the difference between whether you gain awakening or …
- Friends… When you focus on the breath in this way, this happens; when you focus on it that way, that happens. When you breathe this way, this happens; when you breathe that way, that happens. Again, you can read about this in books, but it doesn’t become a reality for you until you’ve been continually observant, continually aware. This is why, when they …
- Choose Your Cravings Wisely… What topic in the mind do you want to focus on now? Do you want to stay here or do you want to move on? That’s all an issue of craving. And that’s your companion. That’s who you’re talking to all the time. So, as the passage we chanted just now says, you want to choose your friends well. Who …
- A Centered but Broad Awareness… The body is not made out of gravel, but focus first on the areas where the sense of comfort flows. Then, as you allow the comfortable sensations to seep through the places that at first resist it, they’ll begin to dissolve away, dissolve away. But whether they’ll do that quickly or slowly, that’s their business. Your business is simply to keep …
- No One Size Fits All… There were some people who needed to focus on the unattractiveness of the body; others, on recollecting the Buddha or the brahmaviharas. Concentration is a matter of finding something the mind feels comfortable with, a place where it feels it can settle down and be at ease. So you have to explore which of the topics can be your home base. Again Ajaan Lee …
- An Examined Life… That’s why we focus on the breath, focus on the body. If you simply use one thought to watch another thought, it’s very easy to get swept along with the current. But if you can have at least part of your awareness with the breath, that gives you an outside standpoint. That’s your tower for watching these thoughts. Even if you …
- Becomings… This is one of the reasons why we focus on breathing in a way that’s comfortable. And, two, train the mind so that it knows what’s going on. These steps that go from craving to clinging, from clinging to a state of becoming, and then from becoming to taking birth in that becoming: That’s what’s going to happen at the …
- Start the Year Right Here… But when the cause of happiness lies within, we can focus right here where we can bring things more under our control. We talk about developing the power of the mind. What is the power of the mind made up of? Well, it’s fostered by five qualities. The first is conviction: belief that, yes, you do have this power, that the mind has …
- Sensual Passion… Of course, as the Buddha pointed out to Mahanama in the sutta, when you get the dying person to focus on the pleasures of the Brahma realms, you can point out to him that even the Brahma realms have their drawbacks. They still have a sense of self-identity, a sense of “me.” When you’ve latched onto the pleasure of the concentration, that …
- Conviction & Persistence… But we focus on the breath. It’s by focusing the mind on the breath and keeping it there that we’re developing some really good qualities in the mind: qualities of persistence, ardency, mindfulness, alertness. It’s by staying consistently with the breath in all the ups and downs of our lives that we learn some important things about the mind at the …
- Heedful of Death… As you focus on what’s actually happening with the breath, and on whether the mind is staying with the breath, that’s the quality of alertness. Ardency, however, is what actually develops these things. In other words, as soon as you’ve noticed that you’ve slipped off the breath, if you’re ardent you’ll come right back. If you’re not …
- Self-Control… It’s one of the reasons why you focus on the present moment in the meditation, so that you can see your intentions clearly. You can see the states of mind that motivate them, that drive them. All you have to do is see that much, and that can make all the difference in the world. The problem is that, for the most part …
- Practice in Dying Skillfully… A lot of things will be coming up in the mind, and you have to decide what to focus on and what not to focus on, just as you’re trying to decide right now. Now we’re telling you to stay with the breath. But at that point, of course, the breath will be leaving. One of skills that’s really useful to …
- Asalha Puja… So tonight, let’s take some time to really focus on developing concentration. *Vivicc’eva kāmehi, vivicca akusalehi dhammehi—***any **sensual thought that comes up right now, just put it aside. Think about the breath. Evaluate the breath so that you can give rise to a sense of pleasure and rapture. Then maintain that. It’s easy to focus on the breath; the maintaining …
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