carecodeconnect/jhana-sentences · Datasets at Hugging Face

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It may go to past experiences, and suddenly you may find yourself remembering places youve visited, people you met, friends not seen for a long time, a book you read long ago, the taste of food you ate yesterday, and so on.
As soon as you notice that your mind is no longer on your breath, mindfully bring it back and anchor it there.
However, in a few moments you may be caught up again thinking how to pay your bills, to make a telephone call to your friend, write a letter to someone, do your laundry, buy your groceries, go to a party, plan your next vacation, and so forth.
As soon as you notice that your mind is not on your object, bring it back mindfully.
Following are some suggestions to help you gain the concentration necessary for the practice of mindfulness..
Counting In a situation like this, counting may help.
The purpose of counting is simply to focus the mind on the breath.
Once your mind is focused on the breath, give up counting.
This is a device for gaining concentration.
Any counting should be done mentally.
Do not make any sound when you count.
Following are some of the ways of counting.
a While breathing in, count one, one, one, one until the lungs are full of fresh air.
While breathing out count two, two, two, two until the lungs are empty of fresh air.
Then while breathing in again count three, three, three, three, three until the lungs are full again and while breathing out count again four, four, four, four until the lungs are empty of fresh air.
The second method of counting is counting rapidly up to ten.
While counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, breathe in, and again while counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, breathe out.
This means that with one inhalation you should count up to ten and with one exhalation you should count up to ten.
The third method of counting is to count in succession up to ten.
The fourth method is to take a long breath.
When the lungs are full, mentally count one and breathe out completely until the lungs are empty of fresh air.
When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally four.
The fifth method is to join inhaling and exhaling.
When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally one.
This time you should count both inhalation and exhalation as one.
This way of counting should be done only up to five and repeated from five to one.
Repeat this method until your breathing becomes refined and quiet.
Remember that you are not supposed to continue your counting all the time.
As soon as your mind is locked at the nostril tip where the inhalation and exhalation touch and you begin to feel that your breathing is so refined and quiet that you cannot notice inhalation and exhalation separately, you should give up counting.
Counting is used only to train the mind to concentrate on one object..
Connecting After inhaling do not wait to notice the brief pause before exhaling but connect the inhaling with exhaling, so you can notice both inhaling and exhaling as one continuous breath..
Fixing After joining inhaling with exhaling, fix your mind on the point where you feel your inhaling and exhaling breath touching.
Inhale and exhale as one single breath moving in and out touching or rubbing the rims of your nostrils.. Focus your mind like a carpenter carpenter draws a straight line on a board that he wants to cut.
Then he cuts the board with his saw along the straight line he drew.
He does not look at the teeth of his saw as they move in and out of the board.
Rather he focuses his entire attention on the line he drew so he can cut the board straight.
Similarly, keep your mind straight on the point where you feel the breath at the rims of your nostrils..
Make your mind like a gatekeeper gatekeeper does not take into account any detail of the people entering a house.
All he does is notice people entering the house and leaving the house through the gate.
Similarly, when you concentrate you should not take into account any detail of your experiences.
Simply notice the feeling of your inhaling and exhaling breath as it goes in and out right at the rims of your nostrils.
As you continue your practice, your mind and body become so light that you may feel as if you are floating in the air or on water.
You may even feel that your body is springing up into the sky.
When the grossness of your in-and-out breathing has ceased, subtle in-and-out breathing arises.
This first appearance of a sign-object will be replaced by a more and more subtle sign-object.
This subtlety of the sign can be compared to the sound of a bell.
When a bell is struck with a big iron rod, you hear a gross sound at first.
As the sound fades away, the sound becomes very subtle.
Similarly, the in-and-out breath appears at first as a gross sign.
As you keep paying bare attention to it, this sign becomes very subtle.
But the consciousness remains totally focused on the rims of the nostrils.
Other meditation objects become clearer and clearer, as the sign develops.
But the breath becomes subtler and subtler as the sign develops.
Because of this subtlety, you may not notice the presence of your breath.
Dont get disappointed thinking that you lost your breath or that nothing is happening to your meditation practice.
This is the time you should practice more vigorously, balancing your energy, faith, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.
Suppose there is a farmer who uses buffaloes for plowing his rice field.
As he is tired in the middle of the day, he unfastens his buffaloes and takes a rest under the cool shade of a tree.
When he wakes up, he does not find his animals.
He does not worry, but simply walks to the water place where all the animals gather for drinking in the hot midday and he finds his buffaloes there.
Without any problem he brings them back and ties them to the yoke again and starts plowing his field.
Similarly, as you continue this exercise, your breath becomes so subtle and refined that you might not be able to notice the feeling of breath at all.
When this happens do not worry.
Take a few quick breaths and you will notice the feeling of breathing again.
As you keep your mind focused on the rims of your nostrils, you will be able to notice the sign of the development of meditation.
You will feel the pleasant sensation of a sign.
It will be like a star, or a round gem, or a round pearl, or a cotton seed, or a peg made of heartwood, or a long string, or a wreath of flowers, or a puff of smoke, or a cobweb, or a film of cloud, or a lotus flower, or the disc of the moon, or the disc of the sun.
Earlier in your practice you had inhaling and exhaling as objects of meditation.
Now you have the sign as the third object of meditation.
When you focus your mind on this third object, your mind reaches a stage of concentration sufficient for your practice of insight meditation.
Master it and gain full control of it so that whenever you want, it should be available.
Unite the mind with this sign that is available in the present moment and let the mind flow with every succeeding moment.
As you pay bare attention to it, you will see that the sign itself is changing every moment.
Also, notice that your mind can be concentrated only on the present moment.
This unity of the mind with the present moment is called momentary concentration.
As moments are incessantly passing away one after another, the mind keeps pace with them, changing with them, appearing and disappearing with them without clinging to any of them.
If we try to stop the mind at one moment, we end up in frustration because the mind cannot be held fast.
It must keep up with what is happening in the new moment.
As the present moment can be found any moment, every waking moment can be made a concentrated moment.
To unite the mind with the present moment, we must find something happening in that moment.
However, you cannot focus your mind on every changing moment without a certain degree of concentration to keep pace with the moment.
Once you gain this degree of concentration, you can use it for focusing your attention on anything you experiencethe rising and falling of your abdomen, the rising and falling of the chest area, the rising and falling of any feeling, or the rising and falling of your breath or thoughts and so on.
To make any progress in insight meditation you need this kind of momentary concentration.
That is all you need for the insight meditation practice because everything in your experience lives only for one moment.
When you focus this concentrated state of mind on the changes taking place in your mind and body, you will notice that your breath is the physical part and the feeling of breath, consciousness of the feeling, and the consciousness of the sign are the mental parts.
As you notice them you can notice that they are changing all the time.
You may have various types of sensations, other than the feeling of breathing, taking place in your body.
Dont try to create any feeling that is not naturally present in any part of your body.
But notice whatever sensation arises in the body.
When thought arises notice it, too.
All you should notice in all these occurrences is the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless nature of all your experiences whether mental or physical.
As your mindfulness develops, your resentment for the change, your dislike for the unpleasant experiences, your greed for the pleasant experiences, and the notion of selfhood will be replaced by the deeper awareness of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness.
This knowledge of reality in your experience helps you to foster a more calm, peaceful, and mature attitude toward your life.
You will see what you thought in the past to be permanent is changing with such inconceivable rapidity that even your mind cannot keep up with these changes.
Somehow you will be able to notice many of the changes.
You will see the subtlety of impermanence and the subtlety of selflessness.
This insight will show you the way to peace and happiness, and will give you the wisdom to handle your daily problems in life.
When the mind is united with the breath flowing all the time, we will naturally be able to focus the mind on the present moment.
We can notice the feeling arising from contact of breath with the rim of our nostrils.
As the earth element of the air that we breathe in and out touches the earth element of our nostrils, the mind feels the flow of air in and out.

It may go to past experiences, and suddenly you may find yourself remembering places youve visited, people you met, friends not seen for a long time, a book you read long ago, the taste of food you ate yesterday, and so on.

As soon as you notice that your mind is no longer on your breath, mindfully bring it back and anchor it there.

However, in a few moments you may be caught up again thinking how to pay your bills, to make a telephone call to your friend, write a letter to someone, do your laundry, buy your groceries, go to a party, plan your next vacation, and so forth.

As soon as you notice that your mind is not on your object, bring it back mindfully.

Following are some suggestions to help you gain the concentration necessary for the practice of mindfulness..

Counting In a situation like this, counting may help.

The purpose of counting is simply to focus the mind on the breath.

Once your mind is focused on the breath, give up counting.

This is a device for gaining concentration.

Any counting should be done mentally.

Do not make any sound when you count.

Following are some of the ways of counting.

a While breathing in, count one, one, one, one until the lungs are full of fresh air.

While breathing out count two, two, two, two until the lungs are empty of fresh air.

Then while breathing in again count three, three, three, three, three until the lungs are full again and while breathing out count again four, four, four, four until the lungs are empty of fresh air.

The second method of counting is counting rapidly up to ten.

While counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, breathe in, and again while counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, breathe out.

This means that with one inhalation you should count up to ten and with one exhalation you should count up to ten.

The third method of counting is to count in succession up to ten.

The fourth method is to take a long breath.

When the lungs are full, mentally count one and breathe out completely until the lungs are empty of fresh air.

When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally four.

The fifth method is to join inhaling and exhaling.

When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally one.

This time you should count both inhalation and exhalation as one.

This way of counting should be done only up to five and repeated from five to one.

Repeat this method until your breathing becomes refined and quiet.

Remember that you are not supposed to continue your counting all the time.

As soon as your mind is locked at the nostril tip where the inhalation and exhalation touch and you begin to feel that your breathing is so refined and quiet that you cannot notice inhalation and exhalation separately, you should give up counting.

Counting is used only to train the mind to concentrate on one object..

Connecting After inhaling do not wait to notice the brief pause before exhaling but connect the inhaling with exhaling, so you can notice both inhaling and exhaling as one continuous breath..

Fixing After joining inhaling with exhaling, fix your mind on the point where you feel your inhaling and exhaling breath touching.

Inhale and exhale as one single breath moving in and out touching or rubbing the rims of your nostrils.. Focus your mind like a carpenter carpenter draws a straight line on a board that he wants to cut.

Then he cuts the board with his saw along the straight line he drew.

He does not look at the teeth of his saw as they move in and out of the board.

Rather he focuses his entire attention on the line he drew so he can cut the board straight.

Similarly, keep your mind straight on the point where you feel the breath at the rims of your nostrils..

Make your mind like a gatekeeper gatekeeper does not take into account any detail of the people entering a house.

All he does is notice people entering the house and leaving the house through the gate.

Similarly, when you concentrate you should not take into account any detail of your experiences.

Simply notice the feeling of your inhaling and exhaling breath as it goes in and out right at the rims of your nostrils.

As you continue your practice, your mind and body become so light that you may feel as if you are floating in the air or on water.

You may even feel that your body is springing up into the sky.

When the grossness of your in-and-out breathing has ceased, subtle in-and-out breathing arises.

This first appearance of a sign-object will be replaced by a more and more subtle sign-object.

This subtlety of the sign can be compared to the sound of a bell.

When a bell is struck with a big iron rod, you hear a gross sound at first.

As the sound fades away, the sound becomes very subtle.

Similarly, the in-and-out breath appears at first as a gross sign.

As you keep paying bare attention to it, this sign becomes very subtle.

But the consciousness remains totally focused on the rims of the nostrils.

Other meditation objects become clearer and clearer, as the sign develops.

But the breath becomes subtler and subtler as the sign develops.

Because of this subtlety, you may not notice the presence of your breath.

Dont get disappointed thinking that you lost your breath or that nothing is happening to your meditation practice.

This is the time you should practice more vigorously, balancing your energy, faith, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.

Suppose there is a farmer who uses buffaloes for plowing his rice field.

As he is tired in the middle of the day, he unfastens his buffaloes and takes a rest under the cool shade of a tree.

When he wakes up, he does not find his animals.

He does not worry, but simply walks to the water place where all the animals gather for drinking in the hot midday and he finds his buffaloes there.

Without any problem he brings them back and ties them to the yoke again and starts plowing his field.

Similarly, as you continue this exercise, your breath becomes so subtle and refined that you might not be able to notice the feeling of breath at all.

When this happens do not worry.

Take a few quick breaths and you will notice the feeling of breathing again.

As you keep your mind focused on the rims of your nostrils, you will be able to notice the sign of the development of meditation.

You will feel the pleasant sensation of a sign.

It will be like a star, or a round gem, or a round pearl, or a cotton seed, or a peg made of heartwood, or a long string, or a wreath of flowers, or a puff of smoke, or a cobweb, or a film of cloud, or a lotus flower, or the disc of the moon, or the disc of the sun.

Earlier in your practice you had inhaling and exhaling as objects of meditation.

Now you have the sign as the third object of meditation.

When you focus your mind on this third object, your mind reaches a stage of concentration sufficient for your practice of insight meditation.

Master it and gain full control of it so that whenever you want, it should be available.

Unite the mind with this sign that is available in the present moment and let the mind flow with every succeeding moment.

As you pay bare attention to it, you will see that the sign itself is changing every moment.

Also, notice that your mind can be concentrated only on the present moment.

This unity of the mind with the present moment is called momentary concentration.

As moments are incessantly passing away one after another, the mind keeps pace with them, changing with them, appearing and disappearing with them without clinging to any of them.

If we try to stop the mind at one moment, we end up in frustration because the mind cannot be held fast.

It must keep up with what is happening in the new moment.

As the present moment can be found any moment, every waking moment can be made a concentrated moment.

To unite the mind with the present moment, we must find something happening in that moment.

However, you cannot focus your mind on every changing moment without a certain degree of concentration to keep pace with the moment.

Once you gain this degree of concentration, you can use it for focusing your attention on anything you experiencethe rising and falling of your abdomen, the rising and falling of the chest area, the rising and falling of any feeling, or the rising and falling of your breath or thoughts and so on.

To make any progress in insight meditation you need this kind of momentary concentration.

That is all you need for the insight meditation practice because everything in your experience lives only for one moment.

When you focus this concentrated state of mind on the changes taking place in your mind and body, you will notice that your breath is the physical part and the feeling of breath, consciousness of the feeling, and the consciousness of the sign are the mental parts.

As you notice them you can notice that they are changing all the time.

You may have various types of sensations, other than the feeling of breathing, taking place in your body.

Dont try to create any feeling that is not naturally present in any part of your body.

But notice whatever sensation arises in the body.

When thought arises notice it, too.

All you should notice in all these occurrences is the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless nature of all your experiences whether mental or physical.

As your mindfulness develops, your resentment for the change, your dislike for the unpleasant experiences, your greed for the pleasant experiences, and the notion of selfhood will be replaced by the deeper awareness of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness.

This knowledge of reality in your experience helps you to foster a more calm, peaceful, and mature attitude toward your life.

You will see what you thought in the past to be permanent is changing with such inconceivable rapidity that even your mind cannot keep up with these changes.

Somehow you will be able to notice many of the changes.

You will see the subtlety of impermanence and the subtlety of selflessness.

This insight will show you the way to peace and happiness, and will give you the wisdom to handle your daily problems in life.

When the mind is united with the breath flowing all the time, we will naturally be able to focus the mind on the present moment.

We can notice the feeling arising from contact of breath with the rim of our nostrils.

As the earth element of the air that we breathe in and out touches the earth element of our nostrils, the mind feels the flow of air in and out.