Search results for: "Concentration"

  1. Page 78
  2. Not-self
     … The same when you’re practicing concentration: anything that would pull you away, you have to regard as not-self. You hold on, though, to the breath, or whatever your object of concentration is. You develop qualities of virtue, concentration, and discernment so that you can apply them to that problem of why you crave things even though the craving itself causes suffering and … 
  3. Patience & Endurance
     … The reason for these instructions is that to get the mind into concentration, to be able to observe it, you have to start with a certain level of non-reactivity. The way the Buddha teaches this is interesting. He has you hold these images in mind, saying to “tune in” to that kind of energy. What’s the energy, say, of your bones right … 
  4. Strong Against Anger & Fear
     … That’s the basis of all the strengths the Buddha recommended—conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment: They’re all based on heedfulness. That’s a point that’s not stressed often enough. We hear so much about interconnectedness and the joy we should find in being interconnected—that somehow, if we appreciate our interconnectedness, we will be nicer to one another. Whereas the Buddha … 
  5. Purity of Heart
     … This involves using the food of contact, intellectual intention, and consciousness, but you turn these things into good, strong states of concentration: a more harmless form of feeding. That way, you have something to compare: There’s this kind of feeding, and then there’s the ordinary kind of feeding that goes on out there in the world outside. Which would you rather be … 
  6. A Sense of Space Inside
     … But when you realize, okay, you can be with the breath and these thoughts can come up and you don’t have to go with them, that’s when concentration gets stronger. You realize that you have this alternative place to stay, and by making it really comfortable and spacious, you make it easier to stay here without falling asleep. That sense of space … 
  7. Skillful Desire
     … As when you’re getting the mind concentrated right now: There has to be the desire to do it. It’s not going to happen on its own. But simply wanting it to happen is not going to make it happen, either. You have to take that desire and focus it on the right steps. Try to breathe in a way that’s comfortable … 
  8. Lift Your Mind
    The Buddha’s basic instructions for concentration practice are found in his description of right mindfulness. You’re doing two things: One, you’re giving the mind a focal point, a theme to stick with, and then two, you’re putting aside all other thoughts. He describes the focal point as being focused on the body, in and of itself—how you experience the … 
  9. Equanimity on the Path
     … For instance, when you’re getting the mind into concentration, anything that comes up that’s not related to the concentration, you’re just going to have equanimity for. Now, this may be temporary. It may be an issue that you have to deal with when you leave concentration. But for the time being, you want to keep the mind on an even keel … 
  10. Feeding Off the Future
     … The factor of the Buddha’s path that’s most directly related to nourishment is concentration. You learn to feed off a sense of well-being, even rapture, refreshment, that can come from being with the breath and allowing the comfortable breath sensations to spread through the body. You want to be able to tap into the sense of nourishment that comes from within … 
  11. Some Assembly Required
     … Everything from right view through right concentration helps you see through things you’ve chosen wrongly in the past, things you’ve assembled wrongly in the past. You see how things come into being and you realize that you’ve been playing a role—and not necessarily a good role. But as you make it more habitual to play a better role, you find … 
  12. Intelligent Design
     … Fourth and fifth are concentration and discernment. The discernment there is to help find ways over the obstacles that we all inevitably find on the path, and the concentration is to give your mind the food it needs to keep its energy up. The texts talk about persistence as a requisite for concentration, but the relationship goes the other way as well. Do your … 
  13. Steering the Raft
     … Get the mind into concentration. As the Buddha said, as you go from level to level in the concentration, different levels of fabrication fall away. They fall still. The chatter in the mind that you need to get yourself into right concentration can take you to a point where you don’t need to chatter anymore. You can develop a perception of the breath … 
  14. Happiness Without Conflict
     … What are the images the mind paints for itself of those pleasures? As you’re working on concentration, you don’t focus only on the concentration. You also focus on understanding the things that would pull you away. This is one of the reasons why we practice concentration to begin with: to give the mind a good place to stay where it can look … 
  15. Right View about Right View
     … For instance, you’re trying to develop concentration. This is not the time to be thinking about the inconstancy and stressfulness of your concentration. You can apply perceptions of inconstancy and stressfulness to the distractions that pull you away, but for the concentration, you want to focus on this question: What can you make constant here? What sensations can you develop in the body … 
  16. The Pleasure of Concentration
     … The Buddha speaks of the pleasure of concentration as a way of pulling yourself away from your sensual desires, your lust, your greed: the things that create trouble in the world. Wherever you go looking for something, somebody else has already laid claimed to it, which means you have to fight other people to gain those pleasures. And when that pleasure comes, it just … 
  17. Appropriate Attention
     … Like right now, you’re trying to develop mindfulness; you’re trying to develop concentration. Anything else that comes into the mind, you can regard it as a hindrance—something that’s blocking the concentration—and so it should be let go. You’re setting down some new rules inside. Usually, for most of us, when craving comes, we take it as our companion … 
  18. Looking After Yourself
     … But try to test to see how little sleep you can get by on and still maintain your focus, still have a sense of ease in the concentration. We’re not here to push you into a neurotic breakthrough by denying you sleep. That doesn’t get you any closer to awakening. But you do want to learn how to use your concentration as … 
  19. When the Mind Is Still
     … There’s a sense of ease, you just go with the ease, forget the breath, and you get into what’s called delusion concentration, where you’re quiet, things are kind of hazy, you’re not really sure whether you’re awake or asleep. That’s not where you want to be. When you settle down, there’s still work to be done. The … 
  20. Heedfulness & Confidence
     … There’s training in virtue, concentration, discernment; or generosity, virtue and meditation. These skills provide us with protection, in teaching us how to deal with whatever negative things do come up, and how to send out a good energy. There’s a good energy that comes with generosity, and it tends to attract other good energies in the world. The same with virtue, the … 
  21. Feeding on the Breath
     … This is why directed thought and evaluation are part of the first stage in right concentration. You have to learn how to direct your mind to a topic it finds interesting. Then you evaluate and adjust it in such a way that you feel you can settle down with a sense of ease and well-being. The image the Buddha gives is of a … 
  22. Load next page...