Search results for: "Concentration"
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- Determination… Of course, that would be the practice of right concentration. The description of right concentration starts out by saying that you’re “secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mind states.” You focus the mind in on one topic, like the breath. Stay with the breath. As for other thoughts that would come in right now, just let them go. Stay apart from them. Try …
- Ways to Think… The practice of concentration and developing concentration, developing discernment: These are precisely the skills you’re going to need as death occurs. So remind yourself that no matter what happens in life, no matter how bad things get, there’s always a skillful response—and that you benefit and the people around you benefit as you try to find that response and act on …
- Why the Breath… If your concentration is totally limited to one focal point, then as soon as anything disturbs it at all, then you’re gone. You’ve lost the concentration. But if your concentration encompasses that background, then even though there may be a little bit of wavering in the focal point, you’ve still got the background in place. Your foundation is still there. So …
- A Self Rightly Directed… You want to go in the direction of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment, and not let yourself get waylaid by petty affairs. That’s when you can say that you have some real appreciation for the goodness you’ve done in the past to get you to where you are now. Then you direct your attention inward, to the good you can do inside. Now …
- The Real Thing… But if your mind is in a good solid state of concentration, it’s not deflected by those things. It just keeps looking in, looking in. Once the mind is in good concentration, there’s a strong sense of well-being and a willingness to look in deeper and really get to the root of what is all this going on right here. And …
- A Sucker for Random Memories… And even though many of the tools that you need at that time are the tools you do develop as you get the mind into concentration, you also need the tools of insight. Knowing that you face difficulties that are going to be a lot more difficult than, say, a pain that you have to endure while you meditate, requires you to be stricter …
- Right Exertion at Play… We’re working on concentration, and concentration includes rapture and pleasure. You get to think about things in the body and mind, to figure them out. In other words, you keep the mind occupied with something that can be entertaining and educational at the same time. It’s like giving a child a toy car to play with. The child can play with the …
- Dhamma Medicine… For example, when people are starting out with concentration practice, you don’t tell them, “Concentration is not-self. It’s going to be beyond your control,” because the problem at that point, of course, is that it really is beyond their control. That’s not the medicine they need. And also it’s not timely. They need to be taught what they can …
- Sucked into the Tube… Even in very strong levels of concentration, there will still be a little level of stress, a little bit of activity. And it’s very easy when you first hit strong levels of concentration not to see it. Everything seems soothing, silent, and totally still. But that’s because your mindfulness and alertness are not yet ripe. Stay there for a while, and as …
- A Strong Sense of Self… Based on mindfulness and persistence, you get the mind into concentration, and the concentration becomes a new source of strength. Based on that, you develop discernment. When you see the ways you’re acting that lead to suffering and you realize, “I don’t have to do that,” that takes a huge burden off the mind. So we develop these strengths inside. This is …
- Compassion for People on Fire… In the beginning, that’s why we focus on concentration. Instead of focusing on desires for sensuality, we focus on desires related to form, inhabiting the form of the body. It lifts the mind. You’re looking for a happiness in a place where you don’t have to fight anybody else off. No one’s going to come in and try to push …
- The Fabrication of Pain… And it’s endowed with wrong view, wrong resolve, all the way down to wrong concentration. The way you’re talking to yourself about how the pain and the body have interpenetrated, and the pain and the body and the mind are all the same thing: That’s wrong view. The resolve to get rid of the pain: That’s wrong resolve. The way …
- Three Levels of Evaluation… how you can maximize them so that the mind can stay still and balanced for a long period of time, how to keep the mind clear so that you can get the higher benefits of concentration, i.e., the discernment that can come when things are very clear in the mind, with a strong foundation of mindfulness and alertness. It’s a lot easier …
- Stay… Once you’re here, you’ve got to protect it, maintain it, because the mind that has been nurtured with concentration gives rise to discernment that’s more and more reliable. It’s not the case that you can trust everything that comes up in your concentration, but still, it’s a lot more likely to be reliable, and you’re also in a …
- Asalha Puja… As you work on comprehending suffering, you need to develop the path, because the path includes right mindfulness and right concentration. Without the stability that comes from right concentration, without the clarity that comes from right mindfulness, you wouldn’t be able to stay with suffering for long enough to comprehend it. So these truths, as you work on their duties, begin to come …
- A Frame of Reference… There are actually four qualities that can lead to concentration. One is desire: You simply want to do it, and that means that you’re interested in it, you find that it captures your imagination. Another is energy: You put energy into it, persistence, you stick with it. That gives rise to concentration. Then there’s intent, when you find that you can get …
- Even Common Animals Can Be Trained… With concentration, you restrain your mind from wandering around as it ordinarily might. You keep your mind tied to an object. The Buddha’s image is of an elephant tied to a post. It’s been a wild elephant wandering through the forest, but now they’re going to tame it. So they tie it to a post, and even though it may pull …
- The Pain of Conviction… The skillful mental state that says, “I want to have more concentration, I want to get past this,” is a painful thought, but it’s a good one. But as the mind settles down in concentration, you’re going to have a sense that you feel relatively okay right now. You’re on the path, and it’s going somewhere good. And there is …
- Worlds… They get a little bit of concentration and they say, “Okay, the next step is discernment.” So they abandon their concentration and destroy it before it’s really had a chance to do its work. We like to figure things out too much in advance. After all, we think we’re clever; it would take less energy, take less time if we could move …
- The Prison Break… The Buddha’s example here is an image for people who are beginning to gain some concentration and they’re discontent. They want to move on. But first you’ve got to learn how to tame your discontent. Realize that if you’re going to do a good job, if you really want to get out of suffering, you have to follow the steps …
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