Search results for: "The Breath"

  1. Page 85
  2. Fire Escapes
     … And how do you know this space? You know it through the breath energy. There’s the in-and-out breath but then there are also the more subtle energies that flow throughout the body, throughout the nerves and the blood vessels, out to every pore. See how fully you can inhabit the space defined by the breath. Back into it. Feel it all … 
  3. Keep Things Simple
     … The whole purpose of the talk here is not to distract you from the meditation but to act as a fence so that when the mind leaves the breath it runs into the talk and turns back to the breath. If anything in the talk is relevant to what you’re doing in your meditation, it will come right in, echoing through your mind … 
  4. Perception
     … If you stick with that perception of the breath, trying to keep it as constant as possible, you learn two things. One is that you get more and more sensitive as to what you’re doing in order to maintain the perception. You start seeing the process of perception a lot more clearly. Two, you get the breath to calm down so that it … 
  5. How Completion is Found
     … Think of the breath flowing whichever way feels best right now throughout the whole body. And be aware of the whole body, because that gives you a foundation for the times when the breath gets so subtle that you can’t even see the in-and-out movements of the breath. And once you get to that spot, learn to maintain your balance there … 
  6. Fabricating against Defilement
     … Bodily fabrication is the breath. Exerting the breath against an unskillful mental state means checking to see how that mental state has had an effect on the body, and how it gains strength from the effect. For instance, sometimes anger arises in the mind and it gets into the way you breathe, into your heart rate, into the hormones. And because that’s such … 
  7. The Buddha’s Standards or Yours?
     … But the Buddha’s highlighting the fact that when you’re meditating, you get to see these things really clearly, especially if the breath is the topic of your meditation. You’re directing your thoughts to the breath. You’re evaluating the breath, “Does it feel good right now? What would feel better? Longer? Shorter? Faster? Slower? Deeper? More shallow? Heavier? Lighter?” Then you … 
  8. Investigative Work
     … Then you go back to the breath. **You begin to realize that when a thought forms, there’s going to be a stirring in the energy of the breath, like a little knot. You learn how to zap it before it turns into either a thought or a breath sensation. There’s a point where you’re choosing: “Is this going to be a … 
  9. Pleasing to the Noble Ones
     … You focus on the breath because the breath, of all the physical properties, is the closest to your awareness. It’s also the most responsive to any acts of awareness, any acts of the mind. There’ll be times when something goes through the mind and you don’t see it clearly, but you do see the impact on the breath. So stay right … 
  10. Ajaan Suwat 100 Years
     … So, putting aside sensual thoughts, putting aside unskilful qualities, talk to yourself about the breath. Watch the breath. Breathe in a way that gives rise to a sense of ease. And then maintain that. We’ve all read the maps. We know how many jhanas there are. We’ve read the maps of the *vipassana-ñanas. *But you have to throw those maps away … 
  11. Ignorance & Deception
     … As you’re riding the breath in, riding the breath out, all of a sudden, there may be a moment of boredom or a moment of deciding you’ve had enough of this, you want something else. If that happens, immediately reaffirm your decision that you’re going to stay with the breath no matter what. You’re not going to fall for whatever … 
  12. Responsible for Your Goodness
     … You’ve got a place to stand here with the breath, apart from them, so try to make the breath as comfortable as possible. This is your nourishment along the way to getting the mind in really good shape. This is the energy field in the body that allows the breath to come in, allows it to go out. It nourishes the nerves, nourishes … 
  13. Learn from the Ants
     … That’s the Buddha’s image for your meditation as you try to figure out, “What’s a good topic for my meditation? Once I’ve settled on the breath, how do I make the breath interesting? How do I make it delicious? How do I keep it continually delicious? What variations do I have to make to keep it interesting?” Or a marksman … 
  14. Stubborn Clinging
     … looking after the breath, making sure your attention stays with the breath, making sure your thoughts stay with the breath, trying to be sensitive to how your thinking has an effect on the breath. You’re monitoring this at the same time as you’re doing it, creating the sense of concentration inside. Ajaan Lee was once teaching an old scholarly monk in Bangkok … 
  15. Where the Mind & Body Meet
    When you’re focused on the breath, you’re focused where the mind and the body meet. It’s through the breath that the mind is aware of the body, aware of having a body, and it’s through the breath that the mind exerts influence in the body; it can get the body to move around. And right here is where the Buddha … 
  16. Concentration that Bears Great Fruit
     … The breath is the most common one, the one he taught the most, because you can do a lot with the breath. You can change the breath, make it longer, shorter, deeper, more shallow. And it’s a process very intimately connected with your sense of the body, so it keeps you anchored right here, right now. So try to find a way of … 
  17. Three Stages in the Practice
     … Like focusing on the breath: That’s the beginning of concentration. Focusing on the body in and of itself: That’s the beginning of mindfulness, the beginning of concentration. If you find that you’ve been away from the breath, just come back and re-establish your mindfulness. That’s the beginning, the establishing, the giving-rise-to. Then from the next second on … 
  18. Beyond Inter-eating
     … Does it strengthen the mind? How about being really persistent in developing mindfulness and alertness instead? In other words, how about keeping the breath in mind and watching to make sure the mind stays with the breath, watching the breath to see what kind of breath is easiest for the mind to stay with. After all, as the Buddha said, this path is something … 
  19. Mindfulness the Gatekeeper
     … For example, the breath: If you’re concerned about the duties of the world, the breath has only one function for you, which is to keep you alive. So when you’re taking on duties for the sake of the world, the breath doesn’t have much meaning. It doesn’t play a large role in your awareness. But when you’re taking on … 
  20. Not Siding with the Hindrances
     … Then you get back to the breath, and then you find yourself wandering off again. So you’ve got to look into why. Why does the mind suddenly find the new idea so attractive? Part of the reason is simply that mindfulness is weak. The habit of the mind is that it tends to flit around. It tends to forget very easily. You have … 
  21. For What It’s Worth
    We focus on the breath to train the heart and the mind. In Pali they use one word, citta, to cover both what we mean by heart and mind. The mind is the calculating part, the part that reasons, takes things apart, tries to understand them. The heart is the part that wants true happiness, that wishes well, the good heart—and you’re … 
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