Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. The Whole Story
     … You’re focusing on a few details and turning a blind eye to what you don’t want to see. A glance, a word, this part of the body, that part of the body that you can weave into a story: The whole point of the story is to act as a disguise. It’s like a cloth that we weave to cover up … 
  3. Getting Familiar with Concentration
     … After all, the Buddha said that insight is insight into the process of fabrication, and all of fabrications you need to know are right here when you’re focused on the breath. The breath itself is the bodily fabrication. It’s the factor that keeps the body going together. Then there’s verbal fabrication, the mind’s inner chatter, where it directs its thoughts … 
  4. Truth as Medicine
     … In other words, there are lots of truths out there, just as there are lots of medicines, and the question is, “Which ones are really useful?” The Buddha focused on truths that are useful for putting an end to suffering, an end to stress. He wasn’t interested in truth in the abstract, or about the true nature of things out there, for its … 
  5. Well-armed Efforts
     … For example, the Buddha says when you’re focused on the breath, try to breathe in a way that’s comfortable, breathe in a way that gives rise to rapture. But he doesn’t say how. When he talks about getting the mind into strong concentration, he says try to gain a sense of ease and well-being and let it spread throughout the … 
  6. What We’re Here to See
     … If you want to learn about the mind, you have to give the mind something to do, but you want that something to be very focused here in the present so that you can observe the machinations of the mind clearl. This is why we bring it to the breath. The task at hand now is to develop concentration around the breath, or if … 
  7. An Anthropologist from Mars
     … It means deciding what’s really important in life and focusing your energies there. As for the things that fritter away your time, just drop them. That simplifies life a lot. It’s the old-fashioned way of simplifying things. The modern ways of simplifying things, of course, is to buy a magazine that tells you what to buy to simplify your life. But … 
  8. Alighting on the Dhamma
     … am I doing that’s causing suffering? What could I be doing? What could I change, so that instead of causing suffering, I’m leading away from suffering?” So you’re focused but questioning at the same time. The questioning is directed by what you’re learning. You have the confidence that what you’re learning really is giving you information that you need … 
  9. Heedful of Death
     … It’s right here in the present moment we make our choices, which is that’s why recollection of death keeps our awareness focused right here. With each breath we have the opportunity to practice the Buddha’s teachings and accomplish a great deal.
  10. Faith in Present Intentions
     … Those are the qualities you want to keep in mind as you stay focused. Those are skillful images to keep in mind. So learning this principle of being skillful in the present moment is not just work. It’s not a chore. It’s also a matter of learning how to nourish the mind, feed the mind, so that it finds true happiness in … 
  11. Directed Thoughts, Random Thoughts
     … But when the mind is focused on one thing, directing its thoughts to an object, then its other thoughts, its random thoughts, become clear. So try to stay anchored in this one object. Get to know it really well. The breath has lots of ins and outs. If you have parts of the body that tend to have chronic pain, see if you can … 
  12. Possessed by Emotions
     … Then you’ve got images or perceptions in mind about how the breath comes in and out of the body, where you’re going to be focused. That’s mental fabrication. You’re getting some hands-on experience in how to use these fabrications to create a sense of well-being, right here, right now. Then you can take those same insights and apply … 
  13. A Meditation Karma Checklist
     … They had focused on an object. They put effort in. This was the result of all that. If you can remember these factors, then it’s very easy not to fall for these states. So keep remembering that concentration is a kind of karma. It’s a karma you want to develop as a skill whether it’s simply for the good results it … 
  14. The Power of Truth
     … So you’re going to suffer from that, too.” He says, “No, following this view, I see the escape from it.” That’s because it focuses you back on the process of how you relate to truths, and how you relate to your views, so it enables you to let go of it when you no longer need it, when it leads to nothing … 
  15. Fear of Death
     … Get the mind focused on the breath, and the pleasure that can come from that doesn’t count as a sensual pleasure. You can get the breath really, really comfortable, and there can be a strong sense of well-being. With that, you’re less inclined to be concerned about missing sensual pleasures in the human realm, because you’ve got something better: a … 
  16. Training the Mind
     … When the breath does get comfortable, though, it’s important that you start expanding your sense of awareness in the body, because if you stay focused on any one spot and the breath gets more refined, more gentle, you lose it after a while. The mind can fall into what’s like an air pocket for a second, and then you come out. So … 
  17. Goodwill for the Real World
     … In fact, you start with goodwill for them and then expand it out into the whole universe, so that you’re not focused on them and what they’re doing to you. You realize that your most important wealth is the state of your mind, and that you protect that above all else, even if it means you’d be faced with death. You … 
  18. Breath Energies
     … A good rule of thumb is if say you’ve got a pain in the lower right side of your back—if you find that focusing on the breath energy there doesn’t seem to have much effect on the pain or if it seems to be making it worse—focus on the lower left side; focus on the front, left or right. Or … 
  19. A Real Education
     … desire so that it’s not too weak, not too strong. “Too weak” means you just don’t put much effort in, don’t care. “Too strong” is when you’re focused solely on the results you want and you’re impatient. You have to learn to focus on the causes and be meticulous in what you’re doing, because training the mind is … 
  20. Treating the Diseases of the Mind
     … But your main emphasis should be on focusing on curing *your *own problems. You’ve got to learn to be a doctor for yourself first before you can give any kind of advice to anybody else. That’s how the cure is effected—and it’s how the whole purpose of the Buddhist teaching is effected as well. There is a word in Pali … 
  21. What Am I Becoming?
     … Experiment with different kinds of breathing; experiment with different places of focusing your mind. If the mind’s hung up on some issue from the day, learn how to think about that issue in a way that helps you put it aside, so that the mind can settle in with the breath and have a sense of well-being, a sense of belonging here … 
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