What is this?

Energy Body: Instructions (2) - (Path of the Imaginal) 54 mentions

• there in different ways and generally giving it attention will really form a thread through the whole course here
• in fact uh giving attention to the energy body and developing that sensitivity
• so we have the salani practice which we talked about and the attention of the direction to to tend to that well-being
• um an attention to any emotion or any uh experience which may not be an emotional
• could be either uh it doesn't have to the attention to what goes on there along that midline
• that midline it becomes the foreground a steadiness of attention that's the foreground of what we're paying
• foreground of what we're paying attention to in this practice the second practice and the whole body the whole
• background so there's a foreground of attention and a background of attention the foreground
• so there's a foreground of attention and a background of attention the foreground is this for example this tightness in my
• and i'm really tuning into that with this steadiness of attention but in the background i'm still aware of the whole
• towards it and and give it as much as i can a steady attention keep the attention lightly focused on what's
• can a steady attention keep the attention lightly focused on what's going on there on the mid either the
• head or something give it that steadiness of attention light holding the attention on it
• steadiness of attention light holding the attention on it and then giving
• some awareness to the quality of attention so it's not just that it's trying to be steady and when it goes off
• mind back but also does the attention need or want to be quite delicate with this emotion
• to be quite delicate with this emotion or energy that i'm paying attention to on the midline
• on the midline does the attention need to have a kind of holding
• midline needs a much more light holding as if the attention is like cupping the hands and letting the energy or the
• cupped hands metaphorically of of the attention so the kind of attention as well as
• attention so the kind of attention as well as trying to keep it steady relatively
• in this practice we want to really check that the attention has enough energy in it there's enough of a sort of vitality
• to kind of show up with a bit more brightness to to this paying attention to this emotion or this this feeling
• difficult emotion has more energy than the awareness and the attention we're actually overwhelmed we'll get
• deliberately kind of shift gears and bring the attention to the midline and maybe something's going on there and you
• just stay steady with that delicate holding it with energized attention or sometimes you go to the midline
• of nothing happening and just stay very light very steady with the attention on not much happening
• or uh something was happening but as you pay attention to it gets more it gets more subtle and maybe it seems like oh
• with the subtlety and i let the attention get correspondingly subtle very very helpful
• at the same time as we're paying attention to what is difficult because we mentioned we can sometimes
• what's difficult there because remember we can just pay attention even when it's not difficult and just station the
• actually i just want to mention one thing about uh attention in general uh in regards to both
• um working with the energy body and the samadhi or this attention to emotions or working with images
• differentiate to delineate three aspects of attention or three capacities of attention that we can sort of
• of attention or three capacities of attention that we can sort of um be aware of and check
• um be aware of and check um one is the directing of attention this is the first aspect so we direct
• this is the first aspect so we direct the attention to an object to a sound or an image or a site or or a sensation in
• in general or whatever so this is one aspect of attention it's the directing of attention where am i
• so this is one aspect of attention it's the directing of attention where am i directing it do i want to hold it a
• is the um energizing of attention the brightening these sort of
• sense of presence so that's a that's an important aspect of attention what is it to
• to um to know how to energize the attention to to be more fully present more alive
• and intensity in in the presence in the attention that would be a second aspect and the third aspect
• um is what i would call the tuning of the attention so these three aspects are not really separate they certainly
• differentiating them um the tuning of the attention so with the energy body and the energy space
• but when we're doing the second practice of attention to the emotions [music]
• um jesus's love and compassion um tuning the attention in these different ways is a very important
• energizing and tuning three aspects of attention sometimes it's good to differentiate especially this last one
• that practice and the second practice of just stationing the attention just staying slightly steady sensitive
• intense but just stationing the attention sensitively on the midline or some area
• um kind of attention sometimes what will happen is what's happening what what
• stay and let it grow more subtle and let the attention become grow more subtle so that we're also developing the
• that so these practices or the somali and this attention to the emotions in the energy body they also fluidly move
• and the uh secondly the just delicate sensitive attention to the um emotional manifestation the energy

Pain, as Void and as Sacrament - (In Psyche's Orchard) 52 mentions

• there's this pain and it's pulling on the attention but it's not possible to give it the wholehearted
• um skill and subtlety and sophistication of the kinds of attention of some of the practices i'm going to talk about all
• other stuff can't give it the same quality of attention as i can when i'm not doing anything else but sitting down
• artful meditation meditative attention with it all the time
• call just simple mindfulness or bear attention if we even want to use that word but
• so just bringing mindful mindfulness and a kind of bear attention to the pain what does that mean it means
• attempt with the way of looking we call simple mindfulness or their attention is to drop the story that's one of its uh
• aspect here uh an aspect of what we call mindfulness and their attention to even sometimes drop the label pain
• looking that we call mine from simple mindfulness or bear attention is is this see if i can drop drop the labeling pane
• um that way of looking the mindfulness of their attention is that it might just become the pain just becomes it's just
• knee or something and focuses the attention in a kind of narrow way on those on those sensations there and just
• um to kind of support the way of looking recording mindfulness or their attention which when we unpacked it meant those
• focusing there in that small region narrow attention over and over supporting engaging that way of looking
• supporting engaging that way of looking we call mindfulness will bear attention but one could also do the same thing
• distances and directions and just give some attention to listening if you can do that for a while just
• um that are uh arising and passing there flickering as we pay more attention we'll notice all kinds of
• but whether we practice it with a narrow attention as i described it first or with this much more spacious attention
• attention as i described it first or with this much more spacious attention and awareness
• that method of mindfulness will bear attention both those ways of doing it will lead to a lessening of suffering in
• through the through this way of looking my friends bear attention narrower or large attention we are we are
• my friends bear attention narrower or large attention we are we are fabricating less suffering there's less
• narrow tension with a spacious um attention or awareness we can talk about directing matter to phenomena to
• again can be done narrow and spacious attention we can talk about emptiness practices such as
• actually some of them some of them can be done with a narrow attention focused on the pain or with a wider attention
• be done with a narrow attention focused on the pain or with a wider attention many possibilities and many variations
• unnoticed uh let's so just be unconscious intention to pay attention whenever we pay attention to something i
• unconscious intention to pay attention whenever we pay attention to something i don't just mean as a oh right now i've
• don't just mean as a oh right now i've really got to pay attention or a deliberately in meditation i mean just
• deliberately in meditation i mean just paying attention to anything whenever we hear a sound there's a movement of the
• hear a sound there's a movement of the attention there or if if we hear a sound and there's a movement of attention to
• attention there or if if we hear a sound and there's a movement of attention to uh towards that object and so that
• uh towards that object and so that attention is something that invo that needs an intention behind it and that
• actually making an exercise and trying to pay attention then we are only going to pay attention but even then we only
• to pay attention then we are only going to pay attention but even then we only realize uh usually a very gross level of
• moment of appearance or phenomena the mind is paying attention and with that there is an intention to pay
• that there is an intention to pay attention to that phenomena now we could
• subtle sense of the intention to pay attention is a very very subtle moment to them
• subtle in the mind and we could regard that intention to pay attention as anata does not mean at mine
• are and again with the intention to pay attention with the aversion the aversion it has no inherent existence
• and you start to see if i can really pay attention engage some of these ways of looking the
• it's also dependent on all these other factors it's dependent on attention it's dependent on
• these all these other factors of attention and whatnot but it's also dependent on ways
• genre and the thing that i'm giving most attention to the the primary perception um and if one's familiar enough with the
• that area of pain there it's not that okay i'll just go and pay attention to where it feels good i mean that's a
• i'm actually in contact with i'm paying attention to it this look at here now this experience i take that on
• with the most sacrificial intention and and the attention to the to the unpleasant vader which is attenuating
• so that rather than paying a lot of attention to an actual image there's this thing going on where this you know
• even if one isn't trying not to even pay much attention to the pain or if one is or if one can't help
• or if one is or if one can't help including any attention for any dharma practice should bring a reduction in
• i'm distracting myself because i'm paying attention to my meta phrases or whatever
• and deliberate meditative art and attention the pain was experienced again it was refabricated again
• slightly less fabricating and also the fullness and attention the intention is the soulmaking

Dependent Origination, Awareness, and Time - (Meditation on Emptiness) 48 mentions

• radiance in the present moment in the aliveness of the attention at the present moment the past and future are
• you're there in the moment with your attention on the present moment and then you delicately start contemplating the
• them he says their perception vadana attention attention intention and contact so we're getting
• so let's take this apart a little bit let's take attention because we've talked a lot about perception in vadna
• talked a lot about perception in vadna let's take attention now on this retreat so far we've talked
• mutual dependency so what is attention if we think about what is attention as a factor of mind
• so what is attention if we think about what is attention as a factor of mind um to me what attention is is
• what is attention as a factor of mind um to me what attention is is intention plus consciousness you intend
• to put your consciousness somewhere you intend to pay attention sometimes that's what intention is it's holding the mind
• a perception yeah that's what attention is now a few people have actually begun to
• bring this up already in interviews it turns out that that process of attention actually has its own kind of push and
• actually has its own kind of push and pull to it in a way let's pay attention to this bell a kind of
• put everything else aside and kind of clamp clamp on it with the attention there's a kind of calipers action of of
• and pull that's going on in the process of attention now actually when it gets really subtle
• it turns out that objects are dependent on attention and attention is dependent on an object
• on attention and attention is dependent on an object if there's no object to pay attention to
• and attention is dependent on an object if there's no object to pay attention to i can't pay attention right i need to be
• if there's no object to pay attention to i can't pay attention right i need to be paying attention to something
• i can't pay attention right i need to be paying attention to something and to make that thing an object for
• consciousness actually needs some attention this is where i was saying it very
• of movement in consciousness to actually pay attention to anything anything to be an object for consciousness not
• necessarily deliberately but there is a movement of intention and attention it's an consciousness awareness is an active
• this moment same is true for attention so we could substitute attention for consciousness
• same is true for attention so we could substitute attention for consciousness there this moment is dependent on
• there this moment is dependent on attention and attention is dependent on this
• attention and attention is dependent on this moment i need to be
• attending to something and it's the attention that makes it this moment for experience
• something's empty attention well it's actually drawing out slightly
• other parts so what i'm what we say when we mean attention is um it implies being aware because you
• not be consciously accessible that the mind is kind of paying attention some so it involves i would say awareness and
• it involves i would say awareness and intentionality wrapped up make attention okay
• even more fundamentally the intention to pay attention we believe in this reality of things and
• it's like okay because of an investment what shall i pay attention to the intention for attention comes out of a
• what shall i pay attention to the intention for attention comes out of a belief in the inherent existence of
• intentions even the intention to pay attention again needs an object it needs an i can't have an intention towards
• ignorance gives rise to intentions and even the intention to pay attention it's based on you know the belief in subjects
• change it i can't even intend to pay attention to it without the thing there thing depends on intention intention
• dependent on the object it's dependent on attention it's dependent on intentions it's dependent on time
• um consciousness perception vadana attention intention whatever or you say it like this or like that whatever we
• like that so for example attention that's part of the mind
• tension depends on objects objects depend on attention tension depends on objects
• tension depends on objects and need something to pay attention to objects depend on attention mutually
• and need something to pay attention to objects depend on attention mutually empty
• or any of the mental factors that you'd like attention and intention etc based on what we've talked about today
• why are they empty because they depend on empty objects taking attention again as an example attention depends on the
• on empty objects taking attention again as an example attention depends on the object the object is empty therefore
• consciousness is not separate from attention not separate from intention not separate from perception from the
• consciousness and perception or any of this stuff consciousness and attention or intention

Contact and the Construction of Self - (Metta and Emptiness (Level 1)) 44 mentions

• necessity i would say is a simplification of the attention so what happens when mr geranium expert
• and um the attention is spinning at quite a complex level in terms of quite a
• contraction heat etc in the body so rather than keep the attention spinning at the complex level at the level of
• complex find something really simple to put the attention on and the body is usually very simple so right there in
• it to be unpleasant that simplification of the attention simplifies the whole construct do you understand because part
• um so there's not feeding the view the simplification of attention and a little bit related to that third
• so if i'm going to simplify the attention and go right in there and need to
• to rest with the attention on that physical simplicity but in a way of allowing just
• something that we might call bear attention some of you might have heard this phrase before so it's like if i
• um but but that's slightly different than the kind of attention we're going for in terms of bear attention
• than the kind of attention we're going for in terms of bear attention now the mind sometimes just labels you
• now if you notice just like paying attention to the breath the mind stays there and it goes off or it starts
• um and the kind of bear attention beneath beneath the words beneath the labels
• simple the simple simple simple bear attention of it that makes sense too yeah good
• doing so this bear attention [music]
• two possibilities there if we if we get a little bit more subtle the attention amazing thing about human attention
• a little bit more subtle the attention amazing thing about human attention actually
• that's one sound that you're deciding to pay attention to and zoom in on that the zoom lens is focusing on that one thing
• or so that's that's a real possibility is you direct the attention to one uh phenomenon of experience and you just
• other words it's not and so much attention getting pulled into one thing and then pulled into another thing or
• uh it's it's everything together rather than the attention narrowing down and picking one thing out
• you can kind of with with this practice of bear attention there's still something to bring the mind back to and
• remains an object that one can return to and kind of um pay attention to uh that's an option
• one might move in that in that mode of bare attention staying at contact and then one might feel uh it's pretty
• and you still come back to their attention is that should we try to let go of these emotions
• that go and just staying at the bare attention of the flower and just just noticing that this stuff is going on
• around the side and just letting that go and staying more with the bare attention or going to the bare attention of how
• and staying more with the bare attention or going to the bare attention of how the beautiful emotion feels in the body
• thing you shift right out of the gear of bear attention you just enjoy the beauty of it
• in that oftentimes when we pay attention to one thing it starts to feel contracted because
• how many people have told me that trying to pay attention to the breath as is usual on a retreat is actually they end
• because it's one object and we try to pay attention very easily you can see if i'm paying attention to one object it's
• pay attention very easily you can see if i'm paying attention to one object it's like holding it's like the mind actually
• because this is the important thing now we're all paying attention to this thing the whole retreat is about paying
• the whole retreat is about paying attention to this how silly and yet by the end of it would be measuring
• or another thing that one can begin to pay to pay attention to is the sense that one might not even pick up at first
• so it's hard to have bear attention to a thought thoughts are so quick
• there were two modes you could be more directed or more open in the attention one of the things that helps is allowing
• and it's just like sounds coming sounds going also just with the bare attention of sound
• like sounds there's this kind of bear attention to the arising of thought without getting
• saying so you can decide to pay attention more to the vade inequality that's with something or you can decide
• neutral at first but actually the more attention i give it starts to i mean i've become subtly pleasant so i'm
• that if we use the same for staying at contact or bear attention if that starts to uh
• now i'm gonna hip right now and i so pay attention to it and i can have a sense there's unpleasant vaden

Jhanas and Insight - (Practising the Jhānas) 42 mentions

• it will go in a different direction so so what we pay attention to is is what gets amplified but it's also then sets a
• but if you keep in mind you know there's lots of modes of attention but if you keep in mind these two sort of
• because of all my insight practice i noticed that my attention goes so easily to pain maybe it's just being a human
• the pain would go down just from the attention i guess there's a certain degree of letting go in the way that
• degree of letting go in the way that attention is that i'm not sure it doesn't really seem
• insight meditators is um is paying attention to the unpleasant and the difficult
• retreats doing is paying attention to what's difficult in one way or another and there's a real
• category which is as you said sometimes i bring the attention to the unpleasant and the unpleasant disappears okay
• and the unpleasant disappears okay just bringing attention to it makes it disappear
• that's the thing there's a certain kind of attention because i can certainly bring this is this is the thing we talk
• plus all this is in a moment of pure so-called bear attention it's not bare at all there's no such thing do you
• this is really really important so what you find is sometimes i bring attention to a pain and it makes it worse
• unpleasantness other times one looks and brings an attention and what's wrapped up in that attention or what's absent
• brings an attention and what's wrapped up in that attention or what's absent from that attention allows it to
• up in that attention or what's absent from that attention allows it to unfabric allows the paint to unfabricate
• teaching a member teacher saying if you um pay attention to a pain three things could happen
• um a that there isn't such a thing as bear attention or pure mindfulness and how do i know that because i start if i
• subtle and you start to realize when i bring this kind of attention let's say with no aversion the pain will decrease
• with no aversion the pain will decrease when i bring that kind of attention let's say with more aversion it will
• it at the moment it sounds like what you're bringing is a skillful attention and it's disappearing now i'm what i'm
• if that doesn't work then i can bring the attention to the difficult and i can actually
• actually bring the attention so if one you're not but if actually you are you're doing the
• the most part yeah okay so then i can bring my attention to the difficult and i can work with it in two different ways
• so then in a way i'm i'm again if we talk in terms of attention i'm bringing a certain kind of attention to i'm
• talk in terms of attention i'm bringing a certain kind of attention to i'm looking at it in a certain way there's a
• in this context um you bring the attention to it and uh and but you take care of what's wrapped
• and but you take care of what's wrapped up in that attention in terms of primarily in terms of aversion and
• philosophy it's a subtle subtle subtly woven in to the attention or you could say what we're doing is subtly taking
• getting at bear attention right in the scene just the scene
• form no perception there if it meant just bear attention he's given by here this instruction of their attention but
• just bear attention he's given by here this instruction of their attention but he has gone and done his bare attention
• this instruction of their attention but he has gone and done his bare attention practice
• uh reality that's what you get from bear attention practice but if you actually think about in the scene justice scene
• golden piece in the scene just the scene as an instruction for their attention the inspired utterance is actually at
• um but you know that's really also it's understanding what attention is like and things like that and understanding these
• you know it goes through each foundation a description of what you pay attention to and then there's a refrain after each
• the part is but something like pay attention to origination factors and dissolution
• could interpret that that refrain as saying pay attention not just the fact that things arise and seize but how they
• fact that when when there's this kind of attention a pain
• intensifies or arises more when there's that kind of attention it it fades it it gets fabricated more fabricated less and
• buddha says a practitioner should train themselves to pay attention to the aggregates of vadina and and perception
• something like um and see and pay attention um such is its disappearance such as

Energy Body: Instructions (1) - (Path of the Imaginal) 40 mentions

• bringing your mind first bringing the attention to the sensations that that gives rise to in the hand what does that
• necessarily layer too much on in terms of concepts it's a style of attention that's all that reveals opens the
• mean is not simply a focusing of the mind a steadiness of the attention a concentration on some small point or
• samadhi doesn't just mean focusing the attention or steadiness of attention or concentrating on one point somewhere
• concentrating on one point somewhere uh a steadiness of attention a focusing of the attack is one element of what i'm
• for the awareness for a delicate attention to pervade that whole space the whole body a little bit bigger than
• subtle so just very delicate with the attention not forcing anything just being present
• wider awareness but let go of uh the breath or any attention to the breath any deliberate attention to the breath
• breath or any attention to the breath any deliberate attention to the breath just let the breath be don't uh
• focus on it or or make it uh prominent in the attention let go of the breath but still with this whole energy body
• meditation on the energy body to involve the breath attention to the breath at all
• in one area of the body and we get kind of sucked into that the attention gets sucked into it and we fail to notice we
• and comfortable so i just keep the attention centered more in the belly where it feels good is sort of getting
• um fighting the dragging of the attention towards difficult just gently trying to keep it more centered in what
• bring a very light a steady attention on that area of difficulty in the body so just holding
• difficulty in the body so just holding it in the attention as steadily as you can but with a real lightness to the
• can but with a real lightness to the attention and then as you do that really allowing
• again and again holding it in the attention lightly steadily and just allowing it this moment this moment just
• but uh it's something we really want to give attention to notice and also learn to work with and i'll come back to that
• it is and um kind of nuzzle the attention into it get close to it penetrate it
• get close to it penetrate it with the attention really get inside that pleasantness trying to enjoy it
• open to it so one modality might be to penetrate it with the attention another modality might be to open the being to
• could talk about three sizes of attention that we can employ at any time um we can employ uh the the mind has
• so we can certainly employ at times as human beings a very narrow attention and many of you will be familiar with
• inside the nose it's a very small point we narrow the focus the attention down there and pay attention to that or some
• we narrow the focus the attention down there and pay attention to that or some point in the abdomen where we can feel
• is a narrow spatially narrow focus of the attention or when you sweep the attention through
• the attention or when you sweep the attention through the body for instance in if you know the
• the body for instance in if you know the goenka practice and the attention is moving but it's it's moving in a narrow
• way in other words a narrow focus of attention is mobile through the body it's still narrow or like when we began
• the guided meditation i said pay attention to your hands and the tingling in your hands or the sensations in your
• hands is quite a narrow area of attention so that's one modality one size of attention that we can employ in
• attention so that's one modality one size of attention that we can employ in practice at times very helpful
• practice at times very helpful a second is this uh a bigger attention the whole body and as i said even a bit
• second one and the third one is very very big vast attention of vast awareness like the sky or or the size of
• can get very skilled at just moving between these sizes of attention these modes of attention the apertures and
• between these sizes of attention these modes of attention the apertures and very skilled in all of them they each
• bigger that size that's the size of attention that we're mostly employing for this retreat
• need to train and develop a habit of a slightly larger attention if we want to as we develop the practice
• as we develop the practice um so we have a habit of the attention being the awareness being slightly

Soulmaking Dyad Practice - (Four Circles, Four Parables of Stone and Light) 40 mentions

• and the exercise of what we call the balance of attention or twoness um
• levels so far that we've put out the balance of attention exercise and this sort of three part what we call the
• be there and be present and sustain my attention uh you know to some extent sustain my focus on what's happening
• intention to the what we you know the fullness and attention and that and that element of the imaginal that node so all
• beginning you know we talked about the balance of attention exercise the three-part exercise
• for a while now i just need to practice the balance of attention thing um that's really what will serve me and
• imaginal practice so balance of attention is not necessary kind of
• the skill with this uh playing with the balance of attention playing with the sense of turners all that is really
• if we uh just spend a few moments talking about that balance of attention exercise or the twoness exercise
• particularly let's play exactly just with that with the balance of attention with the tuners
• um one thing is really important is to notice the tendency of your attention like what do you notice over time is
• sometimes it actually feels like um a person sort of their attention almost goes into the other person and
• almost goes into the other person and there's no attention in their in their own locus in their own space so just
• just to sit down and practice balance of attention or be in a diet with the intention to just notice what's my
• and in in that then we in terms of the balance of attention we could say the attention is not going out so much to
• balance of attention we could say the attention is not going out so much to this object it's in a more receptive
• this is again part of playing with the balance of attention there so
• intensity or fear in a diet but also the balance of attention because there the attention has gone to the field as well
• balance of attention because there the attention has gone to the field as well as a as a total space rather than just
• introduce this exercise with the balance of attention is play with okay can it be um uh 100 my attention is with my
• of attention is play with okay can it be um uh 100 my attention is with my experience so i'm maybe aware that
• you know how often if you're paying attention how often you will notice either in your own practice
• it will help the whole capacity of attention of sensitivity of receptivity of openness of energy of engagement
• of the temenos all of that um so uh yes the attention the quality of attention the brightness of attention
• um so uh yes the attention the quality of attention the brightness of attention the
• the um softness of attention these are all part of the terminals the sensitivity
• all my uh capacity all my sensitivity all my care and attention um it gives that signal it gives that
• port and some some kind of gathering and energization coalescing of the attention of the being some quieting some
• other kind of exploration or attention or response and then uh
• about the other's expression um their presence their attention their gaze
• to me in terms of their sensitivity and their attention but we're just kind of pulling in slightly different directions
• of what we're interested in right now and so that affects the attention all of this is normal and okay
• moments or movements of mind or energy or attention etc can really affect um quite sometimes quite dramatically
• about the same thing talking paying attention to the same dukkah even using the imagination in in working with that
• to be things that happen that need attention and need a lot of skill in kind of repairing and taking care of
• it might be even of course there's patterns of the balance of attention we talked about that it might be
• into words not quite the balance of attention but uh it might be that the the gaze tends to be
• rather than aware of one's erotic imaginal gaze and attention penetrating the other so to speak and one decides to
• does it have to do with the intention does it have to do with attention kind of attention
• does it have to do with attention kind of attention um does it have to do with the pacing of

Energy, Image, Emotion (Part 1) - (Path of the Imaginal) 40 mentions

• bringing your mind first bringing the attention to the sensations that that gives rise to in the hand what does that
• necessarily layer too much on in terms of concepts it's a style of attention that's all that reveals opens the
• mean is not simply a focusing of the mind a steadiness of the attention a concentration on some small point or
• samadhi doesn't just mean focusing the attention or steadiness of attention or concentrating on one point somewhere
• concentrating on one point somewhere uh a steadiness of attention a focusing of the attack is one element of what i'm
• for the awareness for a delicate attention to pervade that whole space the whole body a little bit bigger than
• subtle so just very delicate with the attention not forcing anything just being present
• wider awareness but let go of uh the breath or any attention to the breath any deliberate attention to the breath
• breath or any attention to the breath any deliberate attention to the breath just let the breath be don't uh
• focus on it or or make it uh prominent in the attention let go of the breath but still with this whole energy body
• meditation on the energy body to involve the breath attention to the breath at all
• in one area of the body and we get kind of sucked into that the attention gets sucked into it and we fail to notice we
• and comfortable so i just keep the attention centered more in the belly where it feels good is sort of getting
• um fighting the dragging of the attention towards difficult just gently trying to keep it more centered in what
• bring a very light a steady attention on that area of difficulty in the body so just holding
• difficulty in the body so just holding it in the attention as steadily as you can but with a real lightness to the
• can but with a real lightness to the attention and then as you do that really allowing
• again and again holding it in the attention lightly steadily and just allowing it this moment this moment just
• but uh it's something we really want to give attention to notice and also learn to work with and i'll come back to that
• it is and um kind of nuzzle the attention into it get close to it penetrate it
• get close to it penetrate it with the attention really get inside that pleasantness trying to enjoy it
• open to it so one modality might be to penetrate it with the attention another modality might be to open the being to
• could talk about three sizes of attention that we can employ at any time um we can employ uh the the mind has
• so we can certainly employ at times as human beings a very narrow attention and many of you will be familiar with
• inside the nose it's a very small point we narrow the focus the attention down there and pay attention to that or some
• we narrow the focus the attention down there and pay attention to that or some point in the abdomen where we can feel
• is a narrow spatially narrow focus of the attention or when you sweep the attention through
• the attention or when you sweep the attention through the body for instance in if you know the
• the body for instance in if you know the goenka practice and the attention is moving but it's it's moving in a narrow
• way in other words a narrow focus of attention is mobile through the body it's still narrow or like when we began
• the guided meditation i said pay attention to your hands and the tingling in your hands or the sensations in your
• hands is quite a narrow area of attention so that's one modality one size of attention that we can employ in
• attention so that's one modality one size of attention that we can employ in practice at times very helpful
• practice at times very helpful a second is this uh a bigger attention the whole body and as i said even a bit
• second one and the third one is very very big vast attention of vast awareness like the sky or or the size of
• can get very skilled at just moving between these sizes of attention these modes of attention the apertures and
• between these sizes of attention these modes of attention the apertures and very skilled in all of them they each
• bigger that size that's the size of attention that we're mostly employing for this retreat
• need to train and develop a habit of a slightly larger attention if we want to as we develop the practice
• as we develop the practice um so we have a habit of the attention being the awareness being slightly

Focusing on One Point (Intensity, Directionality, Subtlety) (Instructions) - (Practising the Jhānas) 33 mentions

• upper lip or the tip of the nose or the abdomen and just paying attention to the sensations there and and really really
• sensations there and and really really paying attention and in time other factors develop one of
• hear most most of you have probably spent a long time paying attention to the breath at the nose or the upper lip
• of very little sort of development or opening or joy from paying attention at one point opening up to the whole body
• that whole area it really doesn't matter the question is when i pay attention that sort of location where can i most
• classic spot is somewhere down in the abdomen and what you're paying attention to then is uh naturally when we breathe
• rising and falling and that's what you're paying attention to and people feel it in different places or it could
• matter but what you're really paying attention to you know there's more gross physical sensations at first than what
• a way you could sum this up as as saying let's emphasize quality of attention in any moment over quantity in other words
• our priorities and i would say quality of attention is much more important that means in this moment with this part of
• this breath what's the quality of my attention and what's what's meant in that what's
• i need to emphasize work with and pay attention to and actually bother about yeah
• whatever way of working with the breath or place you're paying attention as as it goes on in the mindsettle dance and
• to really keep developing then the attention the quality of the attention has to get correspondingly subtle it has
• whatever is breath and meta then my attention has to match it in subtlety yeah and that process
• yeah and that process subtlety del so in a way the attention needs to get more delicate there and
• that that process of matching following the subtlety down the attention quality matches the object quality that process
• it's very easy one way to construe the attention in other words to have a sense of the attention here somewhere
• attention in other words to have a sense of the attention here somewhere oftentimes in the head and it's going
• towards these sensations here's the attention and it goes towards the sensations and that's great it's it's
• can play with the directionality if you like of attention and this is something you can actually
• really important it's like can you get a sense to say pay attention to x but can you get a sense of actually dialing up
• or down the intensity the energy of your attention what is it so you might again you might
• about okay well subtlety what allows a subtle intention attention sometimes it's a delicacy of attention
• subtle intention attention sometimes it's a delicacy of attention that allows to go into subtlety and not
• are mixed at the same time what kind of mode of attention do you go into to if it's really exquisite and especially the
• there's a kind of delicate a delicate poise in relation to the taste attention to the gustatory attention so this is
• poise in relation to the taste attention to the gustatory attention so this is this is delicacy if i i can't kind of go
• you understand it's it's not the right kind of attention that will reveal those kind of subtle exquisite quality if it's
• yeah so if you just in a way pay attention to how you pay attention in these kinds of situations you might
• uh the the delightfulness of the attention increases with the delicacy of the
• increases with the delicacy of the attention so in other words
• i think as human beings we like paying attention in a delicate way we actually like that it feels good

Mindfulness, Insight, Liberation - (Mindfulness, Insight, Liberation) 33 mentions

• mindfulness equals this or one of the emphases would be with bare attention an equation or an emphasizing of the the
• aspect the the approach of bear attention the concept of bear attention as as being what mindfulness is
• and when we've talked a few times on the retreat so far but bear attention it's this
• it may not be that someone uses that phrase their attention but they might use
• now it's true it's very true to a degree that both bear attention and acceptance bring with them a letting go
• buddha there's not one instance of him using the word bear attention no no it doesn't there's no word in pali
• in in in the discourses for their attention and it turns out if we really
• investigate what is this thing that i'm feeling like is a bear attention but it seems so simple but when i look
• at it i realize that the actual act of attention it seems so simple i'm listening i'm seeing whatever it is
• but bear it's anything but bear it's actually being shaped attention is being shaped by our views and by
• so attention is being colored shaped uh
• of its what how and it's why what we pay attention to is being colored by views and
• to is being colored by views and delusions how we pay attention to it and why we pay attention to it
• delusions how we pay attention to it and why we pay attention to it the what the how and the why are being
• also not abstract so rather than this word bear attention the buddha uses a phrase called yon
• going to come back to this concept one is appropriate attention so rather the attempt that when the attention is
• is appropriate attention so rather the attempt that when the attention is so-called appropriate it's it becomes a
• practice in in the early years really we need to fall in love with bear attention we need to fall in love with the whole
• is not mindfulness practice it is i'm paying attention i'm bringing mindfulness there i'm learning what
• there's always something wrapped up with that attention wrapped up with with the looking
• contemplating impermanence in my looking in the very attention itself brings and letting go if i can find a way of doing
• manasikara means uh really it means somehow attention or reflection pondering something like that answer
• and a few of the translations are appropriate attention wise reflection the proper approach systematic attention
• appropriate attention wise reflection the proper approach systematic attention attention or reflection by way of source
• the proper approach systematic attention attention or reflection by way of source or attention reflection by way of matrix
• attention or reflection by way of source or attention reflection by way of matrix which sounds like a big mouthful it's
• envisage any other single factor so helpful as appropriate attention attention by way of matrix or origin for
• helpful as appropriate attention attention by way of matrix or origin for a practitioner who is a learner who has
• most important internal factor inappropriate attention let's turn this around inappropriate attention is not
• inappropriate attention let's turn this around inappropriate attention is not viewing experience in terms of those
• being with not enough acceptance bear attention not enough but we can talk about modes of working
• back right to the beginning bare attention is extremely useful to a degree extreme use and very
• in love with the simplicity of their attention the simplicity of acceptance and every and the beauty of that brings