Search results for: "Focusing"

  1. Page 82
  2. The Whole Elephant
     … We get the mind centered and, once it’s properly centered, it can look around itself—because you not only see the object that you’re focused on when you concentrate, but you also begin to see the activities of the mind as they relate to the object. That’s what you want to see. You want to see what you’re doing. This … 
  3. Up for the Challenge
     … And then you just learn how to stay focused right here on one thing. This helps to counteract the mind’s tendency to worry about this, worry about that, be restless, fidgeting around. These are the five factors of concentration, the factors that go into getting your mind to settle down: singleness of preoccupation, directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure. They’re your weapons against … 
  4. The Body Doesn’t Care
     … The Buddha’s instructions are that you stay focused—the word is anupassana—continuing to follow and watch one thing. In this case, the one thing would be the breath. At the same time, you subdue or let go of greed and distress with reference to the world. So you’re developing your concentration, alertness, and mindfulness as you let go of everything that … 
  5. Skills of the Dhamma Wheel
     … Then we keep focusing on that stressful side until we can develop a sense of dispassion for it. The duty with regard to the cause of stress is to let it go. Letting go is also a skill. You don’t just toss things out willy-nilly. You look to see: Where is the craving, where is the ignorance that underlies that stress? As … 
  6. Admirable in the Beginning, Middle, & End
     … There are so many people who say that the Dhamma is pessimistic because it focuses on suffering, but that’s not the case at all. The whole point is that you can put an end to suffering, which is very optimistic. It gives you hope: There’s a way out, and it’s within your power to get there. If somebody else were making … 
  7. The Breath Soufflé
     … Notice what that does to your sense of what’s a comfortable way of breathing, because sometimes a way of breathing that feels comfortable when you’re focused on one spot doesn’t feel so comfortable when you’re aware of the body as a whole. Think of the breathing as a whole-body process. There are lots of different ways of approaching this … 
  8. Dreams & Voices
     … So get the mind focused with as little input from outside as possible, just enough to be aware that you don’t walk off the path.” He tried out the advice and found that it worked. He could get his mind into stronger concentration while he walked. That’s the kind of thing you can test: something that deals with what you’re doing … 
  9. Negotiating with the Committee
     … It’s focused right at something. One of the six senses is where the seed of an identity gets planted, and gets watered, nourished. There’s not just one sense of identity. There are lots of different identities that you develop over time. Each one is related to a particular skill set. Some of the skills may be really skillful and others are very … 
  10. The Six Properties
     … Ajaan Fuang would say, “Try to have that kind of tenacity as you stay focused. “ After water, he’d have you focus on earth. Where are the solid parts of the body? You could think of the bones, or just of a feeling of solidity down in the lower part of your torso. This is really useful for times when you’re feeling dizzy … 
  11. The Resolve to Let Go
     … So you can look over the drawbacks of the sensual thinking and also the drawbacks of the actual objects on which you’ve been focused, to see that they’re really not worth all of that obsession. That makes it easier to let them go. The same with ill will: If there’s somebody you’d really like to see suffer—even if that … 
  12. Luminous
     … And when you’re focusing on short breathing and long breathing, he doesn’t explain whether one is better than the other. Are they the only alternatives, breathing short or long? In other words, there are a lot of questions he doesn’t answer. He gives you the framework and he gives you an area in which to explore, because this is how you … 
  13. In the Mood
     … Sometimes, focusing on the breath is the way to put it in the right mood. You take a couple of long, deep, in-and-out breaths, and it feels good. You can just feel the stress and the strain melting away. The patterns of tension you’ve been holding in your body begin to dissolve. There’s a sense of nourishment that comes from … 
  14. Learning How to Learn
     … When you focus on the breath, are you focusing too hard? How can you tell? Or is your focus not strong enough? What are the telltale signs? You’re the only person who’s going to observe this for yourself. Here is your laboratory right here for seeing cause and effect in the present moment and for developing the skills that allow you to … 
  15. Levels of the Breath
     … Say you’re focused in the middle of the chest. Keep that sense of the middle of the chest wide open all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out, and then think of that sense of openness spreading throughout the body, wherever it’s going to go. Get in touch with the awareness that already fills the body as … 
  16. Pain & the Middle Way
     … the pleasure of the mind in concentration, focused on the breath with a sense of ease, well-being, and refreshment that spreads throughout the whole body. That’s the other alternative to pain. And it’s a good alternative for several reasons. One is that it keeps us from simply being bounced back and forth between our pleasures and pains. And two, it gives … 
  17. A Foundation for Restraint
     … Putting it down means putting it aside and not focusing so much on it. If we focus on the body to get the mind to settle down, we can focus on different aspects of the body and ask ourselves, “Why are we so attached to it?” So the body plays a double role. On the one hand, it’s our place of refuge, so … 
  18. The Truth of Perceptions
     … Depending on the power of your concentration and your ability to stay focused on single perceptions, you find you can get a very strong sense of solidity. Ajaan Fuang had a student one time who, as he was going through the different elements, found that he had a perception that his body was made out of brass. It was that solid and stiff. Okay … 
  19. Hindrances
     … In some cases, as you’re focusing on the breath and it’s making you sleepy, switch your topic. Try to find something else that’s more energizing, that requires more active thought. Then there’s the sloth and torpor that comes from boredom, in which case you have to ask yourself: Why do you find watching your mind boring? Well, because nothing much … 
  20. The Dhamma Mirror
     … After all, you’re focused on the breath. What is that? Form. Feelings—you’re trying to give rise to a feeling of ease, pleasure, refreshment. Perception—what’s the image you have of the breath as it flows in the body? What image would be best, most conducive, to a sense of ease and well-being? Thought fabrications—your intention to stay here … 
  21. Take Heart
     … Just make sure that it’s focused on the steps that lead to the goal. If you think too much about where the path is going and focus all your attention on the fact that you’re not there yet, that kind of desire can get in the way. Tell yourself, “Okay, this is a path that goes in this direction, and the next … 
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