Search results for: "Focusing"

  1. Page 84
  2. The Karma of Pleasure
     … And the editor of the magazine that I wrote this for said he was surprised that I had focused on that as the Buddhist issue, while I was surprised that he was surprised. Because the principle of cause and effect is what the Buddha said lay at the heart of his awakening When he summarized his awakening in one sentence, he’d state it … 
  3. The Water in Your Cup
     … And if you can think of that sense of well-being then spreading from whatever spot you focused on, you get more and more anchored in the present. As things begin to calm down in the body, it has a soothing effect on the mind. The chatter can get more and more subtle. And it’s when your chatter gets more subtle that you … 
  4. Over-informed
     … So he focused back on the present moment. “What am I doing right now?” “How do I understand what I’m doing right now?” and “What’s the best way to understand it so that I can stop causing suffering?” That was how he gained awakening. He kept looking at what he was doing, what was happening as a result, and being very honest … 
  5. The Karma of Perception
     … But consciousness is what basically receives sensory input, and perception is what then creates a world out of it, focuses on what’s important, puts aside what’s not. All the mind’s activities in terms of recognizing a figure against a ground: That’s the activity of perception. Think about the difference between sight and taste. With sight, it’s not just a … 
  6. The Buddha’s Safe Space
     … The description of mindfulness that we chanted just now—staying focused on the body in and of itself, ardent, alert, and mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world—describes what you’re doing as you’re trying to get the mind into concentration. You stay with the breath, remembering to keep the breath in mind: That’s mindfulness. You see … 
  7. Passion for Dispassion
     … a teaching that focuses us on where the real problem is, and how we can solve it. It’s amazing that such a teaching exists. What’s also amazing is how many people want to change it. Or to say, “Well, the Dhamma was just one person’s opinion. There are many versions of the Dhamma out there and none of them are totally … 
  8. The Power of Choice
     … When the Buddha’s inviting you to practice the Dhamma, he’s inviting you to be more conscious of your choices so that you can make more intelligent ones, to stop focusing on things that you can’t change and to focus on the things that you can. Like right now, you have the choice to focus on just about anything at all. No … 
  9. Step Outside the World
     … And as I said, the qualities that establish mindfulness include not only mindfulness itself but also alertness—knowing what you’re doing, knowing the results of what you’re doing—together with ardency, the ability to stick with it, to put effort into the practice to be skillful, the effort to be sensitive, the effort to be focused. When these are all working together … 
  10. A Mind like Wind
     … The thinking is focused right here, on the body in and of its self. Ajaan Lee compares this kind of thinking to grabbing hold of a post and running around it. As long as you hold on to the post, then no matter how much you run around, you don’t get dizzy. But if you let go of the post and try to … 
  11. What’s Relative, What’s Constant
     … So the question is, how are you conditioning your consciousness right now? What are you focusing on? What are you paying attention to? How are you talking to yourself? Your inner conversation: Have you ever stepped back and just said, “Well, this is just a bunch of directed thoughts and acts of evaluation,” and looked at it simply in those impersonal terms? When thoughts … 
  12. Here to Learn
     … Where were you focused? What was the breath like? If there seems to be a point where things were especially solid and clear inside, what were the steps leading up to that? Can you remember? If you’re mindful enough, you should have some memory. Try to apply that the next time around. Now, the next time around it may not work, which means … 
  13. Compassionate Duties
     … You’re focused on the body in and of itself, you’re ardent, alert, and mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s the standard formula. You stay with the body, right here, right now. You take one aspect of it that you experience, like the breath, and you stay alert to what the breath is doing, and how … 
  14. Don’t Focus on Jhana, Focus on the Breath
     … You don’t focus on saying, “I want to do this level or that level.” You just keep focused on this question of, “How can I get the breath and the mind really snugly together? And how can I let go of anything that seems unnecessary so that it doesn’t require so much effort all the time?” Because if you’re going to … 
  15. Equanimity in Heart & Mind
     … Other people, though, don’t find that that particular insight is joyful, so they have to take the route of concentration, as we’re doing right now, focusing on the breath in a way that gives rise to a sense of ease and a sense of fullness. You can think of the energy in the body as something you can fill up, not by … 
  16. Safe Haven
     … Each different craving focuses on a different point, and our sense of who we are then develops around the craving. So there’s not just one self in here. There are many selves that you’ve made. Some of them are skillful; some of them are not. Right now you want to develop a really solid sense of self that’s just aware of … 
  17. Figuring Out Concentration
     … Each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out, try to get focused like that, and you’ll find the mind gets more and more steady, more and more centered. Then finally, the last step, the Buddha says, is to release the mind. Anything you find that’s getting in the way of the concentration, you let it go. The question was raised … 
  18. Skills for Dying Well
     … You want to keep it focused and on target. You want to keep it, as they say, “with the program.” In other words, you want to keep it in line with your intention that you want to die well. And so you focus it on the breath as a means of maintaining that intention. There will come a point, though, where it’s difficult … 
  19. In Earnest
     … He was focusing on the fact that there is a problem. There is suffering and there is something you can do about it. If you don’t do anything about it, you’re just going to keep on suffering. So you’ve got to keep your priorities straight as to what’s really important in life. It’s very easy for us to distract … 
  20. Friends with Pain
     … That’s when you can really look into the pain and go back to focusing on it, to see it from a different attitude. Which part of the pain is physical? Which part is mental? Which part is given? And which part are you messing up? The Buddha said that normally pain is like an arrow, and we then we shoot ourselves with a … 
  21. Gratitude, Goodwill & Generosity
     … it focuses first on the power of your good actions:, that there is a special value to generosity. There’s a special gratitude you owe to your parents. Gratitude is considered the beginning of all skillful qualities. Generosity is considered the basis for all the practice. These qualities get you started with right attitude. So when you find your mind feeling ungenerous or ungrateful … 
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