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Ven. Pannyavaro
The Art of
Attention
2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
2
The Meditative Art of Attention
3
An Orientation to the Six Sense Doors
4
Try this Exercise in Orientating to a Sense-Door
5
Dependent origination
6
The Technique of Mental Noting
9
The Four Spheres of Attention
10
The Two Modes of Meditation
11
Three-fold Strategy of Practice
12
Restraint and Harmony
13
Recollectedness
14
Discernment and Insight
14
Three-fold Strategy and Mental Impurities
15
The Three Meditation Practices
16
Instruction for Sitting Meditation
16
Checking your posture
17
Technique in Walking Meditation
19
Awareness of Daily Activities
20
Awareness of Feelings
21
Achieving Balance in Meditation
24
Five ways to maintain the balance
26
Loving-kindness Meditation
27
Systematic Loving-kindness Practice
28
How to do loving-kindness meditation
29
Ways of arousing feelings of loving-kindness
30
Daily Meditation Practice
31
This Moment!
33
About Ven. Pannyavaro
33
3
The Meditative Art of Attention
Meditative attention is an art, or an acquired skill which brings
clarity and an intelligence that sees the ‘true nature of things’.
Among the variety of techniques in Buddhist meditation, the
art of attention is the common thread underpinning all schools
of Buddhist meditation: Mahamudra in the Tibetan tradition,
Zazen in Zen Buddhism and Vipassana meditation in
Theravada. Its ubiquitousness is illustrated by this Zen story:
A monk once asked his teacher, ‘What is the fundamental
teaching in Buddhism?’ the Master replied ‘Attention’. The
student, dissatisfied with the answer said, ‘I wasn’t asking
about attention, but was wanting to know the essential
teaching in Buddhism’. The Master replied, ‘Attention,
Attention, Attention’. So, it can be appreciated that the
essence of Buddhist practice is to be found in the word -
attention!
But how to do it? What is the practice? Vague advice to