Search results for: "Concentration"
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- As Days & Nights Fly Past… This is why we try to develop the mind in concentration, because one of the skills you have to learn to get the mind concentrated is to say No to impulses that would have you think about other things. It’s as if we have a committee inside, and not all the committee members are on board with the meditation right now. Some of …
- Conspiracies in the Mind… When you practice concentration to the point where the mind really does settle down in jhana, those levels of concentration are just footprints. Psychic powers are scratch marks. The only real guarantee is the experience of the deathless. And even with that, you have to be very, very honest and have a lot of integrity not to overestimate yourself. You have to work on …
- Fabrication at the Breath… I was reading the other day someone complaining that they’d read a piece saying that it’s important to have strong concentration in your practice, and this person said, “No, my teacher taught me that strong concentration is delusional, because you don’t see your defilements. You have to spark your defilements. You have to stir up your defilements to see them.” Well …
- Four Steps for the Heart & Mind… So that’s one of the areas where the Buddha says, “If the mind is out of balance, gladden it.” Another is to steady it or concentrate it. Get a clear image of the breath, hold that image in mind, and just stay with it as best you can. Any other thoughts that come up right now, you can let them go, let them …
- Sort Things Out… The discernment gets sharper the more the mind gets still, the more it has a sense of being well-fed by its concentration. This is why discernment is based on concentration. So do your best to master this skill, as this is the basis for all the things that you going to learn—that you need to learn—to find a happiness that really …
- Karma & Gratitude… That’s what the noble eightfold path is—everything from right view on through right concentration: It’s the karma that leads to the end of karma. So as we’re working on concentration—in other words, basically right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration all together—at least that’s what we’re trying to develop: The karma that’s going to get …
- What to Tolerate, What Not… That kind of concentration doesn’t accomplish anything. You want to be clearly aware. One of the ways of making sure that you don’t slip off into what Ajaan Lee calls delusion concentration is to try to keep your awareness of the body as full as possible. Spread it right from the beginning of the session and then adjust the breath from that …
- Samvega vs. Dispassion… What are you still holding onto? This is one of the reasons we practice concentration: to get the mind quiet so that you can really observe what’s going on, so that you can see, when the mind moves to something: Why is it moving there? We practice concentration together with restraint of the senses, all based on that principle that the Buddha taught …
- Lessons for New Monks… I mean, there are people who can know about the Dhamma without being virtuous—we see this all around us—but to really gain the concentration and discernment that allow you to see how the Dhamma applies in your life, in your mind, in your behavior requires that you be virtuous. To begin with, it requires that you have a sense of restraint and …
- Take Care… The more sensitive you are to that potential, the more solid your concentration’s going to be. The more solid your concentration, the more you can see. The two go together. So, as you’re meditating, take care. And even when you get up from the meditation, take care again. We’ve been receiving some Dhamma magazines recently, and they show lots of evidence …
- Ugly Body, Happy Mind… It’s interesting that non-return is also the point where you’ve perfected concentration. So when you can get the mind concentrated—focusing on the breath, getting some gladness out of the calm—see if you can also get some gladness out of the insight that comes when you contemplate the things that have tied you down for who knows how long. As …
- Part V : Finding a Teacher… This is why we sit here practicing concentration, to get everything as still as possible, so that we can see the slightest fluctuations in the mind—when there’s stress present and when there’s not. The practice of concentration not only gets you still so that you can see movements, but also gets you more and more sensitive to more and more subtle …
- Discernment Is in the Details… Now, the pleasure here can be the pleasure of concentration. But if there’s no pleasure in concentration, you have to be very careful about your physical pleasures. One of the things that always fascinates me about the Pali Canon is the fact that it’s got wilderness poetry. And it’s ascribed to Maha Kassapa, of all people, who was probably the sternest …
- How to Talk to Yourself… You’re here to develop some concentration. So you drop those thoughts and you’re back at the breath. No matter how many times you wander off, you just keep coming back to the breath. When you do come back, reward yourself with a breath that feels especially gratifying. When we talk of “breath” here, it’s not so much the air coming in …
- Opting Out… virtue, concentration, discernment, release. It’s the release that makes these dhammas noble. But they’re also noble in the sense that you’re not harming anyone. You’re not harming yourself, you’re not harming the people around you in your search for happiness. You’re taking responsibility for your happiness, but you’re not defining your happiness in terms of fitting in …
- Mature Strategies… Even when you try to make them constant in concentration, you find that even the most refined states of concentration have their ups and downs. In this way the Buddha has you cornered. You let go of the grosser forms of happiness, the grosser strategies for happiness, and get used to more and more refined ones. And they finally take you to the point …
- Facing Danger & Hardship… Second, try to make your concentration well-established. Third, develop tranquility, and fourth, put forth effort. It’s interesting that tranquility and effort go together there, but sometimes it requires a lot of effort to remain tranquil in the midst of dangerous situations. So mindfulness, concentration, tranquility, effort—this is how you create a skillful state of equanimity. This is the equanimity of a …
- A Full Life… Let go of anything you notice that’s unskillful, and delight in developing concentration, delight in developing mindfulness instead. Develop the right attitude toward the right effort on the path. Take joy in doing these things. When you see that you’ve been able to get past where you might ordinarily not be able to stay with the breath, but that you were able …
- Resources for Endurance… We sit to get the mind quiet, bring the mind to concentration, gain insight. If everything depended just on the quality of the intention, that’d be all you’d have to do, just hold on to that good intention. But the question is, does it work? A lot of times, other things need to be brought in as well. You check the results …
- Exploring the Basics… So one of the skills of concentration is knowing how to stay focused without tensing up around the spot you’re focused on. In my early years with Ajaan Fuang, he would say, “Try to catch hold of the breath.” So I would subconsciously tense up around it to catch it. One day I happened to be sitting on a bus in Bangkok and …
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