Search results for: "Focus"
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- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- You Can Make a Difference… You let the comfort do its work, but your main focus stays with the breath coming in, going out, and the breath energies running through the body. That’s how you train the mind not to be overcome by pleasure. Training it not to be overcome by pain: Again, there are going to be pains as you sit here—pains in the hip, pains …
- Comfortable with Yourself… Some types of breathing maybe relaxing for the body but just they’re a little bit too slow and blurred for the mind to focus on. So, make adjustments for that, too. This is a very immediate way of showing goodwill for yourself. There’s a potential for comfort in the body that we often overlook. We’re too busy concerning ourselves with other …
- Now & at Death… So focus on the drawbacks. The image the Buddha gives here is of a young person, fond of beauty, looking in the mirror and suddenly discovering that she has a dead snake around her neck. She’d have a strong sense of revulsion and would want to get rid of that snake as fast as possible. Well, in the same way, you should have …
- Lessons for New Monks… In particular, if you notice that certain details of what you’re looking at or listening to tend to provoke greed, aversion, or delusion, either don’t focus on those details or else learn how to look at them in a different way. In the instructions for the new monks during the ordination procedure, the preceptor is supposed to teach them the five topics …
- Analyzing Suffering… If you can focus on this issue, you take care of everything else. And because it is such a big issue, the Buddha tries to break it down. He talks about suffering in various terms in different contexts, but his most condensed analysis is the five clinging-aggregates. Form as a clinging-aggregate, feeling as a clinging-aggregate, perception, fabrication, and consciousness as clinging …
- Actualizing Your Potentials… This means that you have to figure out what’s important in life and focus your energies there. As for the other things you have to do, anything worth doing is worth doing reasonably well. You need a clear sense of priorities, otherwise everything gets done to a small extent, a certain extent, but you find yourself pulled in so many different directions that …
- Understanding Pain… Meanwhile, the mind is going to keep telling you, “There’s pain, pain, pain over there, focus over there.” You don’t have to listen to it; you don’t have to believe it. Sure enough, there may be pain there, but you don’t have to focus there, you don’t have to get in the line of fire. You’re in the …
- Breath Teaches the Bramaviharas… You realize that some parts of the body won’t change no matter how well you breathe, no matter where you focus, no matter how strong your concentration—but you can work around them. You don’t have to let them be obstacles. You just do your best in spite of them. And this is how you have to deal with people outside. There …
- One Thing Clear Through… If you focus on feeding on things outside, even the good things of the heavenly world, the mind deteriorates. You can imagine what it’s like living in a land where there’s nothing but pleasure all the time: Everything you can think of, everything you would want, keeps coming back, right there when you want it. You get spoiled. But then when the …
- Establishing Priorities… This means that you want to do your best to strengthen your focus, strengthen your mindfulness, strengthen your alertness. And one way to do that is, as soon as you catch yourself wandering off, immediately come back to the breath but without engaging in self-recrimination. Don’t berate yourself for losing the breath. If you do, you’ll tie yourself up in another …
- Preparing to Meditate… just focus on the breath and there it is. Other times, there’s a resistance. Something’s wrong. Sometimes what’s wrong may be the breath itself, but other times it’s attitudes you carry around in the mind. We like to think that meditation is a process of not thinking. But it’s interesting to see how many of the meditation topics the …
- The Uses of Equanimity… The secret to patience or endurance is to focus not on the hard things you have to endure, but on where you can still find sources of help, sources of strength. Learning how to be with the breath in a way that induces feelings of pleasure, feelings of rapture or refreshment is an important source of strength both for the body and for the …
- The Pursuit of Excellence… And even though you don’t focus your primary attention on the goal—the strategy of having a path is that you focus instead on each step of the path—be confident that the path is leading you to a place so good that you can’t even imagine how good it is. It’s that special. And it’s way better than anything …
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