Search results for: "The Breath"

  1. Page 86
  2. A Good Path to Be On
     … This involves thinking about how you conceive the breath. Which images do you hold in mind about how the breath works? How does it flow into the body? What is the breath? The in-and-out breath is not classified as a tactile sensation. In the Buddha’s teachings, it’s classified as part of the wind element in the body. It’s something … 
  3. To Be Trustworthy
     … In the beginning, it’s taken with the breath. Try to savor your breath, enjoy it. Get as sensitive as you can to the breath, because that’s going to help the mind settle down even more. Make yourself a connoisseur of the breath. But ultimately, even breathing gets laborious. As the mind gets very, very subtle, the breath gets more subtle until it … 
  4. Bojjhanga: Discernment Fosters Concentration
     … And then you can be with the breath. And it’s through working with the breath that you can create that sense of refreshment or rapture, which in some cases may be strong, and in other cases may be weaker. But it gives you a sense of “I’m here where I belong and it feels good.” And there’s an energy that comes … 
  5. Feeding Off the Future
     … You’re going to stay here with the breath. Because the fact that they’re chattering is not destroying your breath. The breath is still there. You can focus on it as much as you like. It’s just that you have to be careful. Don’t give in to the temptation to straighten out those members of the committee, because they’ll pull … 
  6. An Auspicious Day
     … Say that you’re trying to be with the breath: “If the breath isn’t comfortable, is the problem with the breath or with my focus? Or is it a problem with the way I perceive the breath?” The Buddha has ways of analysing these things so that you can sort out exactly what the problem might be. And then when you can see … 
  7. Part III : Daily Life
     … Notice where in the body you’re most sensitive to how the breathing has an impact on your feelings. These sensations may be around the heart, in the throat, in the middle of the head. Where are you most sensitive to the impact of the breath? And what way of breathing feels most soothing, refreshing, and nourishing right there? Stay with that spot in … 
  8. Dhamma in Line with the Dhamma
     … For example, you’re here with the breath. It’s called being with the body in and of itself. You’re ardent, alert, and mindful: mindful to keep the breath in mind, alert to see what’s actually going on with the breath, alert to what you’re doing around the breath and the results that you’re getting. And then ardent: This is … 
  9. Occupy Your Body
     … All the breath energy channels are connected, and the oxygen exchange at the skin will be enough to keep you going. It’s only when you’ve reached this state that the mind can go safely into the more formless states of concentration. Because you’ve learned how to maintain one perception in mind—the perception of the breath, the perception of the whole … 
  10. Your One Responsibility
     … In other words, you want to get right here at the breath. This is where the mind and the body meet. Every intention has to go through the breath in order for the body to move. The things that you sense coming in through the bodily senses have to go through the breath as well before they reach the mind. The breath is like … 
  11. Beyond Nature
     … You think about the breath — that’s directed thought — and you evaluate the breath. You explore to see which ways of perceiving the breath help in the process of making it feel more comfortable, so you’ve got perception and feeling there as well. In this way you’re taking the process of fabrication and turning it into a path to the end of … 
  12. Delight
     … It’s good that you’re able to sit here and find happiness just breathing, learning how to savor the breath. Become a connoisseur of the breath. Learn to expand your vocabulary for what the breath can do. The breath can be exquisite, it can be fulfilling, gratifying. Simply thinking those words opens possibilities. So, you’re not just selling yourself on the path … 
  13. Hurtful Memories
     … How does the mind go for it? What are the stages? You learn this by trying to stay with the breath as best you can and then noticing what happens as the mind leaves the breath. How many suggestions, how many whispers does the mind give you before you actually drop the breath and go off with the thought or the memory? The more … 
  14. Refreshment
     … So you have to ask yourself, “What kind of persistence would give rise to a feeling of refreshment?” Having that in mind gives you an idea of where your efforts should go as you’re focused on the breath. What kind of breath would be refreshing right now? What way of conceiving the breath would be refreshing? The Buddha says that you develop this … 
  15. Many Desires, Many Selves
     … You’re holding to a perception of the breath. The breath, of course, is an aspect of the form of the body. You hold on to a perception that allows you to breathe in a way that feels comfortable. You’ll also be thinking about the breath and adjusting the breath, evaluating it—that’s called fabrication. And you’re aware of these things … 
  16. Feelings Not of the Flesh
     … Sometimes when things settle in, everything seems automatic and simply connects, and the breath stops on its own. But if it doesn’t, there are things you can work with to get the breath headed in that direction. Think of all the energy channels in the body connecting up with one another so that they nourish one another. If one part of the body … 
  17. The Raft of Concepts
     … So think about the breath; visualize the breath in the body. Think about how to make the breath more comfortable. Once it’s comfortable, think about how to spread it around in different parts of your body. Think about the way you understand the breath. There are various levels to the breath, you know. There’s the in-and-out breath. There’s the … 
  18. An Island in the Flood
    Take a couple of good long deep in-and-out breaths to emphasize the feeling of the breath. Then make up your mind that you’re going to stay with those sensations, the breathing sensations, as long as you can. You want to get established firmly right here, with just the sense of the breath in and of itself. This is part of the … 
  19. The River Gauge
     … It’s part of the normal cycle of meditation.” When you have that calm attitude, it makes it a lot easier to try to figure out, well, what exactly is going wrong? Is it the breath? Is it the mind? So: patience and equanimity. Talk to yourself in ways that can develop these qualities. Of course, when the Buddha talks about the qualities of … 
  20. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … You have to put up with that disturbance, because you’re trying to fit the mind together with its object, the breath, and make the most of the breath to give rise to a sense of well-being and ease. You need directed thought and evaluation to do that. This is an important lesson in the practice: You don’t let go of things … 
  21. A Complete Training
     … It’s better just to be very still, and you can do that with the breath. In the beginning, of course, you have to talk to yourself about the breath. What kind of breathing feels good? How about long breathing? Try it for a while. How about short breathing? Try it for a while. See which feels better. When there’s a sense of … 
  22. Load next page...