What is this?

The Subtlety of Dependent Origination - (Meditation on Emptiness) 32 mentions

• perception attention intention and contact perception vadna attention intention
• attention intention and contact perception vadna attention intention contact that makes up not makes up the
• tension take one of those aspects attention a couple of people have reported this
• mind in its movement of paying attention to one thing perception object experience or
• experience and actually the push pull of attention almost indistinguishable from the
• almost as if the mind in paying attention to something goes like this as if there's a kind of caliber it's
• can be caught there's actually implicit in our process of attention is a kind of push-pope
• you're okay do you want the chair okay what's attention how would we define attention
• what's attention how would we define attention say attention is consciousness plus
• attention say attention is consciousness plus intention
• agrees that there's this kind of push-pull involved in paying attention whether or not there's something else
• a sense of an object an object for consciousness depends on attention it's what makes an object an object for
• it's what makes an object an object for consciousness is my paying attention to again could be deliberate or
• seizing on something as attention up an object for consciousness depends on attention
• as attention up an object for consciousness depends on attention what does attention need to be attention
• consciousness depends on attention what does attention need to be attention i cannot have attention to something
• what does attention need to be attention i cannot have attention to something without an object for which it's
• right objects and attention mutually dependent mutually dependent
• mutually dependent attention needs an object objects need attention
• attention needs an object objects need attention to be there to be that for consciousness
• time this moment same for attention like we just said attention delineates a moment a moment
• same for attention like we just said attention delineates a moment a moment is delineated uh
• is delineated uh for attention attention needs and moment same thing saying it needs an experience
• say out of that then comes the intention to pay attention to something based on this sense of self belief in self no
• but even though as you say the intention to pay attention is a very subtle movement of sankara because you could
• also find that in namaroopa in our list of five perception vadna attention intention and contact that's why it's
• have to believe in this object to intend to pay attention to i have to have a sense of the next moment i can't have an
• consciousness knowing is also dependent on object attention intentions time if i look at the mind any which way i
• buddha or anyone else chops it up as attention it mine is attention plus intention plus this plus that and all
• there's nothing in there that's not empty it took attention attention depends on object object depends on
• a whole or including all the mental factors attention and i can go through them in the meditation and actually see
• consciousness awareness whatever i want to call it mind from attention from intention from perception from object

Working with the Emotional Body (Instructions and Guided Meditation: Day Two) - (The Boundless... 32 mentions

• tiredness that we arrive at on retreat but if i can begin paying attention to this experience of tiredness along this
• in other words maybe i have an ache in my shoulder and and the attention just gets sucked in there which it often does
• gets sucked in there which it often does we the attention gets sucked in to where it's a problem
• allowing and this this curiosity there so in that the attention can probe a little bit it can enter into the pain i
• the texture of it with with the attention and then what might i find just as i
• in a way when there's difficulty like i said the attention can tend to shrink into it and that's not helpful it's not
• it may not be that the way i'm paying attention to it is very helpful at all i'm just getting into a struggle and a
• penetrating it with my gaze so the intensity in the attention is very strong
• partly saying there can be more softness in the attention less intensity less hardness
• over time this might take some some days even to get a feel of when the attention is more intense and when it needs to be
• more soft and sometimes you know the attention that i'm giving something can can be touching it like like a feather
• just so briefly passing across the sun so is this alive gentle light attention the lightness of the attention to
• so is this alive gentle light attention the lightness of the attention to nothing much happening starts to reveal
• going on what happens when i pay attention for carefully lightly caringly to that
• feeling of calmness or not much going on now give that attention what happens if i can just sustain the attention on the
• now give that attention what happens if i can just sustain the attention on the experience of calm or not much
• calmness the experience of calmness grows by giving it attention and sometimes it even grows so much that it
• becomes a deep peace or joy but just through the attention possible
• possible and in time if i learn to pay attention to aspects of experience i would usually
• overlook they can really build with the repeated attentions actually joy becomes kind of a groove for the mind a groove
• but it's coming from staining attention on something that i would otherwise have overlooked because
• would otherwise have overlooked because it just doesn't seem worthy of attention okay
• and just touching that with the attention holding that in the open hands whatever it is
• care no demand no pressure just letting the attention be light letting the awareness receive whatever's
• when we do this okay so it's a different kind of attention there's a way that the attention can be very
• kind of attention there's a way that the attention can be very detailed or move in a way that it's
• is much harder and we're used to paying attention in a more directed way and to be more global like that is is very
• yeah okay really what we're doing is just we're paying attention in in a in a more open way than whatever way helps
• that so it's this field it's a field that i'm paying attention to rather than a point or or an air it's a field that
• a point or or an air it's a field that i'm then inhabiting with attention yeah so whatever whatever works
• of it does that make sense uh in time the mind gets used the attention gets used to doing that it becomes a real
• are different the sort of styles of attention are different completely fine so but right now i think we have two

Working with the Emotional Body (Instructions and Guided Meditation: Day One) - (The Boundless... 31 mentions

• right now is we're paying attention to what's happening emotionally or in the mind
• is higher bigger it dwarfs the energy of the attention do you understand so it's like the
• do you understand so it's like the energy of the attention is swamped overwhelmed by the energy that's caught
• everyone's looking very puzzled no attention our capacity pay attention also can be very low energy we're not
• high and and the energy the energy and the attention is low it it will submerge it
• but if i can raise the energy of the attention it's like it takes the energy away from the emotion the problematic
• when the emotion has more energy than the attention i am sunk i am sinking i am drowning
• am drowning when the attention has more energy than the emotion
• body and we're going to sustain uh the attention on that that's going to be the focus and in a way trying to find ways
• there on this line in the body somewhere wherever the attention gets drawed
• can i draw close to it touch it with the attention can i you can see this gesture it's
• can i you can see this gesture it's almost like the attention opens so there's
• cupped together and we are literally with our attention holding the experience not pressuring it just
• it simplifies so because we're paying attention a very simple way to something that's simply happening in the body
• and because it's simple and the attention is simple it can simplify what's going on
• in this moment is it possible that the attention can delicately
• completely okay giving that a kind interested attention maybe
• feels like it's there and what does that feel like can i pay attention to that so whatever it is is okay and worthy
• so whatever it is is okay and worthy of my interest and my attention thank you
• so if it looks like i'm i'm paying attention what i'm getting is is something i'm not quite sure what it is
• happening what's drawing my attention maybe in a quiet way what's drawing my
• maybe in a quiet way what's drawing my attention on that central line right from the top of the head down to
• explore it a little bit with the attention to touch it with the attention so if what is happening is
• that's completely okay very helpful to pay attention to that how that feels
• touching and allowing the attention like the open hands together
• so this thing i said about relative energies of the attention and and the uh the emotion
• because we're finding something to pay attention to it becomes an object it become it becomes something in awareness
• simply feel like to stand and that's what i'm paying attention to then when you begin to walk you can walk
• and again it could be that you're paying attention just to your feet and the feeling of the feet on the floor or it
• so whatever pace you want and whatever exactly you want to pay attention to in the body is fine
• maybe there's something going on that you can give attention to maybe you're standing there for the next 10 minutes

Dukkha and Soulmaking (Part 1) - (The Mirrored Gates) 31 mentions

• and areas and not enough sensitivity and attention and we don't have certain prerequisites
• aspects elements that we might need to pay attention to to be aware of to bring it on into our awareness and what
• sensitivity in our mindfulness of what we can actually pay attention to notice state stay focused on attuned to really
• aware of this but i think because i have paid so much attention to my uh let's call it my heart life my emotional life
• can be become that's that's the way that i pay attention to emotions in my meditation practice and sometimes for
• it's kind of um in this way and that's the sole way of paying attention um of being mindful of the emotions it
• there to their practice it can become that's the way they pay attention to emotions in their life and there's this
• really if you like amplifying the energy of the attention the intensity of the energy and focusing it very now very um
• um that that's a really unskillful way of paying attention um sometimes what happens is just
• as if we have again a kind of dial for the intensity of our of our attention and it might be uh that we can you know
• lightest piece of cloth uh just with the lightest touch the attention is just just
• is fragile and so i need to approach it with a very delicate attention in order to learn about it in order to care for
• that's not such a good word is is the is the attention to to the sensations of the emotion in the body
• and then a third possibility might be um that we hold that the attention is is less of a kind of beam that goes out
• kind of holding as if metaphorically um where the attention is more like the hands gently cupped and the sensations
• possibilities where one's actually just paying attention to sensations so instead it's almost like the mode of
• is aware of the emotion it's just paying attention at the level of the sensations so less to do with what emotions are and
• and again useful but if it's the only way we ever pay attention to our emotions yikes are quite limited and
• we're not going for this kind of reductionist attention which can as i said be really helpful at times we're
• that's why i'm with and i'm just steady with my attention there and uh
• um the the the lens possibilities here on my on my awareness and my attention um but another possible is actually
• letting the self constellate including the self inc so the attention includes the sense of self and the care includes
• a habit of kind of um paying attention to sensations or bare emotions if you like so to speak
• um or somewhere else in the body and one's paying attention to it in a way of finding the right kind of frequency and
• finding the right kind of frequency and modulate modulating the attention in a caring way of finding oh yeah that
• that but just through the sustained attention and and the kind of appropriate and caring attention there
• attention and and the kind of appropriate and caring attention there um the whole the whole seeing including
• circumstances we're very clear what i'm trying to do when i pay attention this way when i think that way when i pet it
• um where's the other person at are they paying attention are they being respectful are they open are they
• respectful are they open are they sensitive how am i paying attention am i attuned am i in touch with my body
• and it depends also on the qualities of attention sensitivity openness um emotional attunement conceptual

The Imaginal-Energy Body (Q & A) - (Roots into the Ground of Soul) 29 mentions

• we need to be something's going on it needs my attention i don't i don't want to be uh pulled out and into contact and
• to be uh pulled out and into contact and the attention needs to be here is fine so if you uh if that's what's going off
• the image of what it is that i'm paying attention to so shut my eyes and teacher says be
• really energy body awareness or it's a kind of poise of the attention a kind of stance or attitude or modulation of the
• stance or attitude or modulation of the attention that allows rather than shuts down the range of
• whatever that is on the wall there i i i i can okay i put my attention in a certain location
• with the kind of the modulation or the delicacy of the attention i was trying to think what's an example
• delicate then it's not that i have to scrunch up and force my attention actually as i need to somehow make my
• actually as i need to somehow make my hearing attention more delicate yeah something similar with the energy body
• um that actually takes a kind of delicacy of attention it's a delicate uh perception which
• it's a delicate uh perception which needs a kind of delicate attention does that make any sense yeah so when we
• constricted many times a day in and out um you're not paying enough attention it's just whoever you are even if you're
• is in the energy body depends on the kind of attention i give it it's not like i can separate this subjective and
• objective pole so that if my attention is oh if i keep opening the attention
• so that if my attention is oh if i keep opening the attention for any the experience of the energy
• experience of anything is dependent on the way i pay attention not always and it might take some time
• experience it's it's more the as i said the poise the stance of my attention yeah
• give then then if let's say in my attention as well either deliberately or by the grace of the angels in the divine
• then i've got a different kind of attention and that different kind of attention because everything is a
• attention and that different kind of attention because everything is a dependent arising will give rise
• you understand everything depends on attention on the kinds of attention the modes of
• everything depends on attention on the kinds of attention the modes of attention the way of looking
• kinds of attention the modes of attention the way of looking everything depends on the way of looking
• like yeah and i can give that more attention and i can see if it if i can kind of
• and i can see if it if i can kind of take care of the kind of attention i give it so that it's helpful
• about the balance of attention toeness practices and also the energy body so
• duckling dyad in tunis in the balance of attention um it's not wrong i sit down in front of
• tells me whatever i've just done i've given more intensity to the attention and like really drilled into the breath
• telling me maybe what i've just done with the intent attention is a bit too much and it's causing a contraction or i

The Psychodynamics in Meditation (Part 1) - (November Solitary) 27 mentions

• the qualities that are in and with attention in the present moment in other words we can pay attention i'm
• attention in the present moment in other words we can pay attention i'm going to go into this we can pay
• going to go into this we can pay attention in a lot of different ways credible range incredible subtlety there
• credible range incredible subtlety there those qualities of attention are a major factor in in what unfolds for us and and
• changes how it unfolds causes attention the meanings that we give
• our views with our associations with the meanings with the qualities of attention with the views all of that we actually
• okay the energy of the attention has to be greater than the energy of the emotion
• difficult emotion it leeches it out and it goes into the energy of the attention and that that works together
• wrapped up in in helping to get more attention and more energy in the attention so this first one i'm calling
• attention and more energy in the attention so this first one i'm calling it differentiation
• out with the mindfulness differentiate the different strands pay attention to each one feel each one particularly in
• basically deep down we love sensitivity we love being precise in the attention as well
• energetically has more energy in it than the than the attention if i if i
• identify there really sustain keep the attention there and not get distracted so much
• more there's more energy that comes into the attention without that energy that comes in the
• without that energy that comes in the attention i cannot break free of of the loops
• so like i said if the energy of attention is higher then then it won't be collapsed it won't be stuck in in
• sensitivity by the way you could also say something like delicacy of attention the delicacy of attention what is it to
• say something like delicacy of attention the delicacy of attention what is it to really put the attentiveness on
• about emotions but it could be anything and and have the attention must be like a feather just so lightly touching the
• assertive one you could call it the breadth of attention and we all said questioning which is the fourth
• is it that we assume that we are not worthy of attention in some way or that the experience isn't worthy in some way
• you know perhaps it was that i didn't get good attention when i was very young except when there was a problem when
• also reflecting this person you know i'm also a natural extrovert my attention naturally goes outside introverts
• but when all that's there the energy of the attention rises and the whole experience begins to come alive what
• felt like not interesting not much going on not worthy of my attention begins to reveal its subtlety it's beauty it's
• is around it what else it's almost like the attention just gets vacuumed into the centerpiece of of what feels

Aspects of Mindfulness (Part 1) - (Meditation Day) 26 mentions

• in a way mindfulness is based on the human capacity to pay attention now
• now all animals can pay attention but humans have this quite extraordinary capacity
• of really being able to really refine attention and develop it as a skill out of that attention that attention to
• attention and develop it as a skill out of that attention that attention to our life comes uh we have the the basis
• then for investigating our life we can pay attention and then we can investigate our life we can look at our
• to human beings we can know when we're paying attention when we're aware and know when we're not
• awareness it's a mindfulness awareness attention these are all words that are somewhat
• and mindfulness is that quality actually we begin to pay attention to our life the actual fact of our life
• about what it is that we need to pay attention to if we're interested in freedom if we're interested in in
• relieving ourselves from suffering so human beings we can pay attention to all kinds of things i could go through
• all kinds of things i could go through my life paying attention to how can i make the most money how can i impress
• there are some things there's some areas of life that really need uh attention so he talks about giving a talk more
• about this later on about giving attention to our body our bodily life our feeling life
• very we need to draw close to them with a very kind attention and explore them and understand these areas because these
• so there's a reason that the buddha says pay attention to these things because these are the fundamental areas where we
• uh the practice of mindfulness includes bringing attention bringing this quality of mindfulness
• the first is what's called bear attention so
• b-a-r-e not the big very animal uh bear attention means when where uh well for instance with the
• coming back with this beautiful simplicity of attention just to touch life in its most elemental aspects
• so it's like the second act that's bare attention the second aspect is what's called what the buddha called clear
• the breath of course so these two aspects bear attention and clear comprehension
• and there's a way that this this bear attention and clear coverage really ground our lives ground our bodies in uh
• we return we return to the intention to pay attention to be mindful and we do that we bring the attention back
• pay attention to be mindful and we do that we bring the attention back countless times an infinite number of
• and then we bring we just notice that and bring the attention back without judging
• we bring it back so what we're developing is this quality of attention we're also developing non-judgmentalism

Eros and Equanimity in the Movements of Soul - (Of Hermits and Lovers - The Alchemy of Desire) 24 mentions

• there's also two other aspects we could draw attention to um in the experience of eros one is
• it or or just in attending to it out of habit we put the attention on the object so it wasn't making the attention a
• habit we put the attention on the object so it wasn't making the attention a little bit bigger to notice what's
• including all i have to do is include it in my attention just what's happening with the self and sometimes just
• including the self sense the image of the self in the attention allows it to to be fertilized by image and eros and
• or the eros itself so sometimes it's just a matter of attention that we might have as individuals we
• might have certain habits of tendency so some people the attention tends to be more habitually to the self and when
• captivated by the divinity of the object that we don't pay attention to the self sense
• the way i'm sensitizing in the practice opening the energy body paying attention to the resonances if i just let it do
• so sometimes it's just a matter of attention other times we have
• that which oftentimes just means is it just opening the attention there to include well let's include the self so
• she had become captivated her attention and consciousness had been captivated in not
• she acts actually at that time had given was giving less attention to the image funnily enough so this is what actually
• energy body then started to give just less attention to the image the attention on the heart area was actually
• less attention to the image the attention on the heart area was actually um putting it under too much pressure
• there wasn't enough spaciousness in the attention to uh to allow the energy to kind of
• now this opening can happen in two ways the opening of the attention can happen in two ways
• sometimes we don't give it enough space with the attention and it constricts and it becomes unbearably uncomfortable or
• but there's a second way the awareness can open all the attention can open to help related to this example i gave of
• this case she had too much um attention was too tightly bound and kind of myopically focused on the
• and again i i start being interested in the attention gets interested again in their beauty etc not at the expense of
• balance and that they're always equally balanced where the attention is it's more that actually
• total imaginal experience that we can pay attention to um within our field and at any time we
• being compelled to engage or give our attention to anything at all and that skill and capacity to let go is

Healing the Imagination (Q & A) - (Re-enchanting the Cosmos: The Poetry of Perception) 24 mentions

• then lean more the emphasis of the attention into that loveliness of the feeling in the energy body and with the
• an awareness a sensibility a subtlety of attention um than it is about the body per se
• really talking about a way of paying attention a sensibility a subtlety of awareness to that space of the body
• available in that mode of paying attention to the body and and some of you will know that well-being has a huge
• that through my through the way that i'm paying attention through the way that i'm conceiving of the body in the moment
• not for the sake of um a microscopic attention i can divide the lifting moving and placing of my
• um nine or whatever and this microscopic division of attention that's that's actually not a priority i'm going to
• and um in in in in two aspects that i want to draw attention to one is actually as continuity the first first
• going about practice is not the continuity of mindfulness or attention that's not what liberates so unlike say
• prioritizing of trying to keep the attention on one thing whether that's the breath or the body or the
• prioritizing is trying to keep the attention on one thing these are so often emphasized and we're
• um not just microscopic attention more generally but also understanding of the
• precision means a microscopic kind of attention but for us the precision is really in
• um an an increase of subtlety of the awareness and the attention deepening meditation involves jet
• increase a greater degree of subtlety awareness of attention so subtlety in this way of thinking
• microscopicness of the points of attention microscopic points of attention
• attention microscopic points of attention um in in whatever scent store
• um on microscopicness of moments of attention i can you know divide this second into however many moments it
• so necessarily becomes more and more refined and the attention to inhabit that world to stay with it needs to
• the perception there is this increasing subtlety of attention so right there for example you have three different
• is more subtle and refined and and thereby subtleizing the attention these get missed they get
• what you said you know obviously try and pay attention and be here because that also creates the field of the retreat
• trying to do anything deliberately directing the attention or or um playing with the way of looking
• obvious by now it doesn't mean mindfulness is bare attention to the experience in the six senses the

The Art of Perception - (Re-enchanting the Cosmos: The Poetry of Perception) 24 mentions

• then lean more the emphasis of the attention into that loveliness of the feeling in the energy body and with the
• an awareness a sensibility a subtlety of attention um than it is about the body per se
• really talking about a way of paying attention a sensibility a subtlety of awareness to that space of the body
• available in that mode of paying attention to the body and and some of you will know that well-being has a huge
• that through my through the way that i'm paying attention through the way that i'm conceiving of the body in the moment
• not for the sake of um a microscopic attention i can divide the lifting moving and placing of my
• um nine or whatever and this microscopic division of attention that's that's actually not a priority i'm going to
• and um in in in in two aspects that i want to draw attention to one is actually as continuity the first first
• going about practice is not the continuity of mindfulness or attention that's not what liberates so unlike say
• prioritizing of trying to keep the attention on one thing whether that's the breath or the body or the
• prioritizing is trying to keep the attention on one thing these are so often emphasized and we're
• um not just microscopic attention more generally but also understanding of the
• precision means a microscopic kind of attention but for us the precision is really in
• um an an increase of subtlety of the awareness and the attention deepening meditation involves jet
• increase a greater degree of subtlety awareness of attention so subtlety in this way of thinking
• microscopicness of the points of attention microscopic points of attention
• attention microscopic points of attention um in in whatever scent store
• um on microscopicness of moments of attention i can you know divide this second into however many moments it
• so necessarily becomes more and more refined and the attention to inhabit that world to stay with it needs to
• the perception there is this increasing subtlety of attention so right there for example you have three different
• is more subtle and refined and and thereby subtleizing the attention these get missed they get
• what you said you know obviously try and pay attention and be here because that also creates the field of the retreat
• trying to do anything deliberately directing the attention or or um playing with the way of looking
• obvious by now it doesn't mean mindfulness is bare attention to the experience in the six senses the