Search results for: "Attention"

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  2. Goodwill & Kamma
     … It’s interesting that when the Buddha talks about how the steps of breath meditation develop feelings as a frame of reference, he classifies attention to in-and-out breaths as a kind of feeling. It’s a strange statement, because usually we don’t think of attention as a feeling. But he’s pointing out two things. One is that every feeling we … 
  3. Wisdom Through Doing
     … You pay a lot of attention to what you’re doing. You’re not just going through the motions, as Ajaan Suwat would say: “Sak-tae-waa tham,” which means you’re just doing it without really paying much attention to what you’re doing. You’re not going to get anywhere that way. You have to notice what you’re doing and what … 
  4. For the Sake of the Deathless
     … So give this your full attention. This is the fullness of attention that leads to a sense of fullness of mind. And that gets you closer and closer to the goal.
  5. Looking for Trouble
    We meditate with our eyes closed so as to cut down on distractions, so that you can focus all of your attention at the work in hand, which is being with the breath, being sensitive to the breath in the body. When the breath comes in, know it’s coming in. When it goes out, know how it feels when it’s going out … 
  6. True Friends
     … Try to keep your attention there. And don’t be surprised if it falls off, because the mind has a habit of wandering. We’re trying to teach it a new habit, and it’s going to take time. So have some patience, but also be persistent. Just keep coming back, coming back, coming back. This is a skill that you’re going to … 
  7. Determined to Practice
     … It’s called appropriate attention—looking at your life with the purpose of putting an end to suffering, reminding yourself that this is *the *most important issue in life, and not letting the mind get waylaid by other issues. There are so many other things we know in life, and the overload of information gets heavier and heavier all the time. But it is … 
  8. Open Door Meditation
     … Which means that the first man has to be extra attentive to that bowl of oil. In the same way, as you get up from meditation you’ve got to be very attentive to the center in the body where you’ve focused, where you find a sense of comfort. If it’s one of the spots that Ajaan Lee talks about, it’s … 
  9. The Desire to End All Desires
     … But you make up your mind to stay with the breath regardless of those other thoughts and you pay them no attention. You don’t have to snuff them out. You don’t have to chase them down and kill them. You just don’t pay them any attention. It’s like someone over in the other in the other corner of the room … 
  10. Meaning & Importance
     … When will they ever get a rest? He saw that intentions, which were the actions, and acts of attention—the views, the things that they paid attention to and how they paid attention—were the things that determined the rise and fall. Could there be intentions and acts of attention that could bring all of this to an end? So he extracted the pattern … 
  11. Skillful Desire
     … Pay it some attention, in the same way you’d pay attention to a friend. When you’re trying to make friends with a person, don’t make it too obvious that you’re using the person. You really want to have some compassion for the friend, be empathetic with the friend, be interested in the friend. And then the friend will be happy … 
  12. The Particulars of Your Suffering
     … what sort of special attention you want to demand, or you feel you deserve. I’ve run into some people who develop that feeling of deserving special attention to the point where, if they’re not given that special attention, they see themselves as martyrs. There’s a certain enjoyment in martyrdom, but it still leaves you unprotected. It’s still not a solution … 
  13. The No Common Sense Zone
     … You’re paying attention to this step and this step and this step, secure in your knowledge that they’re headed toward the goal. If you pay a lot of attention right here, right now, it takes you far. So stay with each breath, each breath, each breath. Try to develop a sensitive touch, because it’s in that sensitivity to little things that … 
  14. Protection for the Holidays
     … Because the nature of the mind is that moments of attention come up, they don’t last all that long, and you have to pay attention again. And pay attention again. If you want to stick with something, you have to keep reminding yourself, “This is what I want to work with.” Now, that’s mindfulness. The mindfulness is what provides the thread that … 
  15. Respect
     … Focus your attention there and let it stay there for a while. See what kind of breathing feels good there. It could be long breathing, short breathing, fast or slow, heavy or light. Just try to focus, pay careful attention because we’re trying to get ourselves grounded in the body, grounded in the present moment right now, staying with the breath. Think of … 
  16. Goodwill Is Respect
     … You do that by paying a lot of attention. This is a lot of what respect is: You’re paying attention to things, not just sloughing them off. For most people, the breath doesn’t have much potential. It’s there, coming in, going out, and as long as it keeps on coming in, going out on its own, you can turn your attention … 
  17. The Web of Pain
     … Why is that? Because your attention is focused outside, away from the pains in the body. As a result, you don’t start knitting together a web of pain. But here you’re sitting with nothing to distract you, except for your own thoughts. It’s just you and the body sitting here breathing, and you’re going to start noticing that there’s … 
  18. Less is More
     … We’re training the mind to be very attentive, continually attentive to what it’s doing, so that it can learn how to do it skillfully. This means that even though there is the quest for peace, the quest for stillness in the mind, it’s not just peace and stillness for its own sake. It’s for the sake of understanding what we … 
  19. Driving Lessons
     … Don’t pay those thoughts any mind because attention is one of the things that feed our thoughts. So, if you don’t give them any attention, they’ll come around like an animal that you used to feed, and you’re not feeding it anymore: It’ll be insistent, it’ll make whining noises, but if you decide that you don’t want … 
  20. Realities Right Here
     … What have you got in the mind on this level? You’ve got acts of attention, intentions. feelings, perceptions, contact. Learn to see them on those terms, because that’s what you directly experience in the mind. When you get into a feeling or a thought world, you don’t see them in those terms. But when you can step back a little bit … 
  21. Questioning & Conviction
     … But appropriate attention starts with the conviction that suffering is the important problem, and there must be a solution to it. This form of attention is not really knowledge yet, it’s a conviction, but it’s focusing you on a particular problem. You’ve chosen this one as the one most worth exploring, most worth trying to solve. That’s why we meditate … 
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