Search results for: "Concentration"

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  2. The Dhamma Channel
     … So one of the reasons we get the mind into concentration is so it can settle down, get a shield from those rays, and tune in to the channel of the Dhamma. Seeing cause and effect, where there’s suffering, where there’s stress, what’s causing it, what can be done to put an end to it: When you look for that, you … 
  3. Flexibility
     … Ajaan Fuang would often talk of the different levels of concentration not in terms of this jhāna or that jhana, but he would say to focus on the breath and feel it this way, then think of the breath that way, then experience the breath this way, and you find yourself going through levels of concentration. Or sometimes he would have you give your … 
  4. A Timeless Foundation
     … The mind moves from a sense of being glad to be here, to getting concentrated, and then being released from disturbances. Ideally, all three tetrads work together. If there’s any disturbance, if your mind can’t settle down, you can ask yourself, “Is the problem with the breath and the body, or is the problem with the feelings, or is the problem with … 
  5. Generating Energy
     … You’re going to need mindfulness, you’re going to need alertness, you’re going to need as much concentration and discernment as you can muster. And when are you going to develop those qualities if you don’t develop them now? Right now is an ideal opportunity. You’re sitting here meditating. It’s quiet around you. One of the contemplations the Buddha … 
  6. Discernment Through Right Effort
     … If you’ve got some mindfulness, how do you keep it going? If you’ve got some concentration, how do you keep it going? I can give you advice on that, but the real discernment comes when you figure out how to do it for yourself: how to read your situation and figure out what kind of effort is needed right now. Then, of … 
  7. Little Decisions
     … Is the breath good enough? Is your concentration good enough? You want to look around in the mind to see if there’s anything at all that needs improvement. If you find something, you work on that. As the Buddha said, your attitude for the little things in the mind like this should be like that of a person whose head is on fire … 
  8. Think Calmly about Death
     … The right attitude basically comes from developing virtue, concentration, and discernment—and particularly concentration around the brahmaviharas, the sublime attitudes. Learn how to make your mind spacious. Have goodwill for all beings. There was the time when the Buddha had a wound in his foot. Devadatta had tried to kill him by rolling a rock off of a mountain, and a long splinter of … 
  9. Over the Pass
     … It’s interesting that in the three main divisions of the path—virtue, concentration, and discernment—everything under virtue is about abstaining. And yet, the path requires that you develop certain qualities of mind that we would call virtues in English: things like integrity, heedfulness, honesty. The Buddha says those are prerequisites for the path. So they’re there, it’s simply that they … 
  10. Self Power, Other Power
     … So keep that in mind as you’re working with your concentration and there are times when it seems difficult. These are little shoots and seedlings that you have to look after. But if you care for them, they’ll care for you. It’s like that old story of the mouse and the lion. There was one day when a lion caught a … 
  11. Appropriate Attention
     … Like right now, we’re trying to get the mind to settle down, create a state of right concentration, which is something we should develop. As for anything that would come up and interfere with the concentration, we should let it go. Notice: Your likes and dislikes don’t get involved, or they shouldn’t get involved. Which means that if the mind is … 
  12. Heedfulness for the Holidays
     … And the nourishment, of course, is your concentration. He compares the different levels of concentration to different kinds of food, which get better and better and more and more nourishing as you go up the levels. And finally, there’s discernment, which is the wall around the fortress. One of the features of the wall is that it’s well-plastered. In other words … 
  13. The Dhamma Mirror
     … The clinging is what you’re doing, and you’ll see that clearly as you deal with distractions in concentration, and as you’re doing the concentration itself. This is why, when the Buddha introduced his son to the practice, one of the first images he used was a mirror. Just as you use a mirror to reflect on your face, you look at … 
  14. Listening to the Body
     … If you had just this one breath, how could you make it comfortable? Don’t anticipate what the next breath is going to be like or when concentration is going to come or when a sense of ease or rapture you’ve read about is going to come. Just focus on this one breath. Make it comfortable. If you had only one more breath … 
  15. Respect
     … But have some respect for your concentration, as we chanted just now. Give it some time. Resist any temptation just to drop it and go off after whatever else catches your fancy. That’s one of the things that respect means: You go out of your way. You don’t follow your immediate desires, your immediate likes or dislikes. The Buddha spent his life … 
  16. Best Friends
    When you read the Buddha’s descriptions of right concentration, you notice that the two activities that help the mind to settle down are directed thought and evaluation. In order to clear away unskillful thoughts in the mind, you have to direct your thoughts in the right direction, toward the breath. And you keep directing them there, Keep reminding yourself: “Stay with the breath … 
  17. The Noble Truths of the Breath
     … We look for these areas and refresh them because the qualities of right concentration are pleasure and refreshment. And you can create those qualities by the way you breathe. The question sometimes comes up: Here we are, working with comfort, but isn’t the whole point of the Dhamma to understand suffering? Well, how are you going to understand the subtle ways in which … 
  18. Sensitive to the Mind
    We practice concentration to get the mind in one place—right here. There are different ways of doing that. The breath is home base: Of all the meditation methods that the Buddha taught, this is the one he taught in most detail because it helps to clarify a lot of the big issues in the mind, especially around the issue of fabrication, or saṅkhāra … 
  19. The Elephant in the Clearing
     … That’s when he knows that he’s got this big bull elephant” In the same way, when you’re practicing, you get into different levels of concentration. Those are footprints. They’re not proof, but they’re likely. You continue practicing and you gain psychic knowledges. Those are scratch marks. Still not proof. It’s when you’ve gained the Dhamma eye, when … 
  20. Ānāpānasati Day
     … From the calm there comes concentration. As the mind gets concentrated, it settles into equanimity. The equanimity that comes when your needs for a sense of inner well-being have been met allows you to view yourself, to view the world, with a lot more stability. Then, based on these seven qualities, you gain clear knowing and release. So it’s all there in … 
  21. The Kamma of Self & Not-self
     … Once you develop a good, strong body of skills on how to be mindful, how to bring the mind to a good state of concentration, you’ve taken the sense of self and its quest for a good long-term happiness about as far as it can go. But the quest for happiness doesn’t end there. It goes further. At that point, you … 
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