Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. Getting Yourself
     … The narrative is totally focused on what was going on in his mind, how when he was practicing austerities, whatever pain arose he made sure the pain didn’t overcome his mind. When he found the right path, when he was practicing deep concentration getting the mind into the various levels of jhana and gaining the different insights that came from that concentration, whatever … 
  3. Wise About Pleasure
     … We spend so much time thinking about the present moment, focusing on the present moment, but there are times when we have to prepare for the future. Say, you’re going into a difficult situation and you know that your buttons are going to get pushed, or there are dangers you have to face. It’s good to think beforehand about how to face … 
  4. Not Crushed by the World
     … In this case, the Buddha says, the post means establishing mindfulness immersed in the body, which can mean focusing on the breath, sensitive to the breath energy as you go through the day, noticing when any tension builds up, and releasing it. It builds up again, you release it again, so that the body is a pleasant place to be. When you have a … 
  5. Right View Comes First
     … Now, in giving this talk, when the Buddha got people to this stage, when their minds were focused, gathered into one, he would teach them the four noble truths. This is right view on the transcendent level. He would have them look more deeply into their minds and tell them that whatever suffering they had was something they were doing—they were clinging, to … 
  6. The Triple Training
     … When Ajaan Suwat was asked once about how to carry meditation into daily life, he focused entirely on the five precepts, because the precepts do develop qualities you need to meditate. Like the precept on speech: If you’re careful about what you say, making sure that it’s true and beneficial and timely, then when the time comes to sit down and meditate … 
  7. The Dhamma Eye
     … In this case, we’re focusing on the breath. Be mindful of the breath. In other words, keep the breath in mind. Be alert to it, what’s happening. And be ardent in trying to stay settled with it, concentrated on it. This combination of mindfulness, alertness, and ardency is what brings the mind into concentration. And what’s good about concentration? It enables … 
  8. The Buddha’s Basic Therapy
     … A while back I was reading an article in a magazine about gratitude, and the author was focusing on the gout-weed in her garden—which, apparently, is a really tenacious weed, very hard to eradicate. She said she was learning how to develop gratitude to the gout-weed because it taught her good lessons about persistence and acceptance. That’s missing the point … 
  9. Using Perceptions
     … She focused on the two spots at once. That pulled all of her thoughts into that line so that she could be anchored in the body and have a sense of feeling solidly here. As she said, if she imagined only one spot, it was hard not to think around that spot. It was as if she had one hand full, but the other … 
  10. Victory over Death
     … This relates to that other passage we chanted just now, about the importance of not thinking about the past or the future, but focusing on the present moment. You focus on the present moment not because it’s a wonderful moment or because your awakened nature is here. You focus on the present because there are things you need to do here, duties you … 
  11. Dealing with Confusion
     … Notice that the movement goes from individual narratives to looking at the world as a whole and then focusing on the present moment. So it’s good to think about that when you find yourself tied up in defilements in the mind, unskillful mental states in the mind that you really don’t feel comfortable with. Remind yourself: Everybody has these to a greater … 
  12. Life Well Lived
     … It’s only when your attention is focused but relaxed that you can maintain it. If it’s tense, it’s going to wobble, it’s going to jump off. And try to bring your full attention to what you’re doing. What you’re doing is developing good qualities of the mind that you can use in other parts of your life—because … 
  13. To Stay the Course
     … He focuses on the suffering that the mind creates for itself when it’s clinging. And where does that come from? It comes from the mind’s own actions. It comes from its cravings. That’s the suffering that’s weighing the mind down. Without that suffering, outside sufferings wouldn’t bother the mind at all. As you learn how to develop equanimity for … 
  14. The Balance of Power
     … Work through the body, section by section, making sure that whatever section you’re focused on feels at least undisturbed by the breath. And there may actually be a sensation that’s related to the breathing process, so allow it to feel comfortable as you breathe in, comfortable as you breathe out. And you can go through the body like this as many times … 
  15. The Noble Eightfold Path to the Deathless
     … And ignorance is not just “not knowing.” It’s looking at things in the wrong terms, focusing your attention in the wrong places. There’s a passage where the Buddha compares consciousness to a magic trick. And the nature of a magic trick is that the magician tries to divert your attention from what he’s actually doing. He gets you to focus on … 
  16. Forgiveness
     … What kind of kamma do you want to create? If the answer is “skillful kamma,” then one of the things you’ve got to learn how to do is not to get focused on how you’ve been wronged by other people. You don’t want to go around getting revenge because that just keeps the bad kammic cycle going on and on and … 
  17. The Rewards of Stream Entry
     … Think of the spot where you’re focused as spreading out, spreading out. Whatever energy is there gets spread out, so that you can suffuse the body with a sense of well-being. Then try to maintain that. This is what we do with the path: We maintain it. As the Buddha pointed out, the different noble truths have different duties. You’re trying … 
  18. Investment Strategies
     … As you’re sitting here focusing on the breath, you’re developing qualities that will be very useful, such as mindfulness and alertness. In other words, when you see the mind moving into unskillful directions, you can hold it in check and bring it back to the breath. And you can try to remember, as best you can, what is skillful at any particular … 
  19. Clearing a Space
     … And yet, why are we able to live without being consumed by that fear? This shows that the mind has practice, at least to some extent, in being selective in what it focuses on. Well, learn to use that capacity for the sake of your concentration. Create a little compartment for your practice here. Learn how to protect that compartment. It’s going to … 
  20. Using Your Many Minds
     … The strategy of the path is to get you focused more and more on higher levels of pleasure, more subtle levels of pleasure. You get more sensitive, and doing that you’re not only sensitive to the pleasure, but you’re also more and more sensitive to the movements of the mind. You begin to see what you’re doing as you deal with … 
  21. Honest & Observant
     … The other function focuses on the mind: If it’s wandering off, you’ve got to bring it back. It wanders again, bring it back again. While you’re with the breath, try to be as sensitive as possible to how the breathing feels, because that sensitivity is what’s going to develop into discernment. After all, discernment isn’t just a matter of … 
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