Search results for: "Perception"

  1. Page 77
  2. Right Speech, Inside & Out
     … Ajaan Fuang asked him, “Has your own practice reached that stage yet?” “Well, no.” Ajaan Fuang said, “In that case, I’m not going to answer, because whatever I say would just be perceptions in your case. It wouldn’t be a tool to actually help you.” So he was very strict with himself about what should be said, what shouldn’t be said … 
  3. Over-informed
     … So when the mind is there, drop all that chatter and just stay with the perception of breath. Then you’ll notice, “Is there still some stress here?” Don’t go too quickly through these levels. We’re not trying to jump through jhana hoops. We’re trying to observe our minds. Sometimes it takes a long time, sitting with one thing, to sense … 
  4. A Safe Harbor
     … The mental side is the way you talk to yourself, the things you focus on, the things you say about them, along with the feelings and perceptions that go along with them. As we practice with the breath, we learn how to shape these elements more consciously so that we can begin to rely not only on our thoughts, but also on our emotions … 
  5. The Basic Medicine
     … our lack of skill in managing our thoughts, our lack of skill in relating to feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs, and consciousness. And so what we’re doing is learning new skills to relate to what’s going on in the mind, along with a new sensitivity that comes with these skills. The skill is not just staying with the breath but also finding ways … 
  6. Loss
     … He had suffered brain damage in an accident and he said, “You know, my brain is telling me all kinds of weird things; all kinds of weird perceptions are coming up.” At the very least, he had the mindfulness to recognize that they were weird. And then he added, “But that thing I got from my meditation. That hasn’t left.” That’s something … 
  7. Choices
     … Or try to see what other image or perception will be really useful in getting the mind to settle down, feeling really at home with the breath, at ease with the breath, comfortable in the breath. Then look at the mind: What attitude are you bringing to the meditation? One of the lessons I learned very early on was that you come to a … 
  8. Thinking Your Way to Stillness
    Thinking Your Way to Stillness January 8, 2009 There’s a common perception that meditation doesn’t involve any thinking. You just force the mind to stay alert in the present moment and refuse to get involved in any thoughts at all. Then it will settle down. That approach works for some people in some circumstances, but not for everyone. This is why the … 
  9. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … We anchor it in the present moment with the breath and make up our minds that we’re going to breathe in such a way that we minimize bodily fabrication and minimize mental fabrication, to calm the bodily fabrication, calm the mental fabrication— in other words, too calm the breath, calm our perceptions. Then we’ll be able to pick up subtle things that … 
  10. Figuring Out Concentration
     … You’ll find there are different perceptions, different obstacles, different hindrances that get in the way. You’re trying to figure out: Why are they there? Why does the mind hold on to them? And holding on, of course, it doesn’t mean it has a hand that holds on. They’re actions that you keep repeating. So why do you keep repeating them … 
  11. Wisdom as a Tool
     … See how inconstant your perceptions are. That’s making good use of a vision. As for insights that come, Ajaan Fuang used to say, “Don’t try to memorize them. You’re not here to write a book. If an insight comes, try to apply it right now and see what impact it has. If it’s not relevant to what’s happening right … 
  12. Visakha Puja
     … There has to come a point where you get disenchanted with the way you identify with your body, the way you identify with your feelings, perceptions, thought constructs, even your sensory consciousness, seeing that these things are inconstant. You can’t really depend on them. They’re stressful. They can’t provide the true happiness you want. And they’re not-self: They’re … 
  13. The Power of Present Karma
     … You have some preconceived notions, you have some perceptions, you have some intentions. Air them out. Open them up. Think of the Buddha on the night of his awakening. He could have fallen in line with what everybody else had done with that knowledge, but he asked questions from a different angle. In a way, he asked the obvious question—if action is what … 
  14. Close to What You Know
     … It’s like having different perceptions of the world – the physical world, the psychological world, whatever worlds you are involved with: Tune in to the frequency that’s helpful right now, and let the other ones go. This is why we focus on the breath, because the breath is an area where you can establish an awareness that can begin to see these activities … 
  15. Tranquility & Insight Together
     … We’re already shaping our experience—through the way we breathe, through the way we think about things, the perceptions we apply to things, the labels, the ideas we impose on our experience. These are all active processes. And as the Buddha said, we do these things out of ignorance for the most part, and as a result, even though we’re looking for … 
  16. To Have a Purpose
     … In other words, you take the things that you’ve been holding on to and that have been causing you to suffer—feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs—and you turn them into the path that will take you across. Like right effort: That requires a lot of thinking, a lot of fabricating of your thoughts, because you’re doing this for a purpose. When the … 
  17. Return of Wisdom for Dummies
     … We’re told that insight is seeing things in terms of the three characteristics or the three perceptions of inconstancy, stress, and not-self. Those are basically standards for judgement. You don’t have to repeat those words to yourself, just look at what you’re doing, see where you’re creating a sense of well-being, and then ask yourself: Is it good … 
  18. Generating Power
     … Next time around try to be even more perceptive as to what’s going on, what’s needed where. As for singleness of preoccupation, make sure the mind doesn’t lose itself, doesn’t start wandering off in other directions, getting distracted. And watch out for the hindrances, because they drain your energy. Even though you may be generating a lot of power here … 
  19. Cut the Currents
     … If you have thoughts about who you are, you see those are just perceptions. They’re flowing away from right here, right now. So, let go of them. 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 … 
  20. The Origination of Suffering
     … the breath coming in, going out, your conversation inside, your thoughts, acts of evaluation, perceptions, feelings. Try to see these things simply as “those events” until you get a sense of dispassion for them. That’s how you can get past this dilemma of the fact that both craving for becoming and craving for non-becoming can lead to more suffering. So. We’re … 
  21. Shelter
     … Mental fabrication covers perceptions—the labels the mind applies—and the feelings that go along with whatever you’re experiencing. You want to learn how to adjust these to make your inner home just right. Adjusting feelings may seem the strangest of the group, but as you work with the breath, with the way you perceive things, with the way you think, then you … 
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