Listening to someone and being mindful

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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Kamran
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Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 3:14 am

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by Kamran »

Part of your attention is on the speaker the other part is on your body, or breath. Depending on how much attention is needed to understand what is going on you may need to put 80% on the speaker and 20% on your body, 50/50 or whatever. Just don't let your awareness completely go out of you. I believe the 99% that Thanissaro recomends is specifically while listening to a dhamma talk which he gives to monks while they are meditating(i.e not when your at work or in a class ).
Buckwheat
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Location: California USA

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by Buckwheat »

purple planet wrote:Thanks all posts are great - i dont ask cause i dont know enough to even ask but i like reading the answers
studying facts
- what do you mean by this ?
I find it very hard to remain mindful when I study. I cling to knowledge and this takes me to a very restricted mind space, with very little mindfulness of the present moment. Only clinging to facts. If I study too long, hours can pass without notice, and then when I try to re-engage with the moment it can take a great effort to shake off the habit of clinging, clinging, clinging. Maybe this is just me?
Sotthī hontu nirantaraṃ - May you forever be well.
Buckwheat
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Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:39 am
Location: California USA

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by Buckwheat »

Kamran wrote:Part of your attention is on the speaker the other part is on your body, or breath. Depending on how much attention is needed to understand what is going on you may need to put 80% on the speaker and 20% on your body, 50/50 or whatever. Just don't let your awareness completely go out of you. I believe the 99% that Thanissaro recomends is specifically while listening to a dhamma talk which he gives to monks while they are meditating(i.e not when your at work or in a class ).
Yes, Ven Thanissaro gives his dhamma talks in a dimly lit sala house after chanting for quite a while. What's really fun is that if there are any people from the Thai community in the sala house, he gives a second dhamma talk in Thai. It's quite interesting to listen to him give a 15 min dhamma talk in Thai while you are trying to meditate.
Sotthī hontu nirantaraṃ - May you forever be well.
xtracorrupt
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Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:47 pm

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by xtracorrupt »

purple planet wrote:I guess this question was asked a million times in different ways but i never got the answer -

i remembered it watching this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhDsCFhD ... ure=relmfu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that got the sound removed from it and i was thinking : noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

so the question is : how to be mindful while listening to someone and to actually listen to him and not just saying in the head "hearing hearing hearing .... "
I think one must want to be mindful towards that person in reason of wanting to end suffering.
theres is no need for needing
pegembara
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Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:39 am

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by pegembara »

purple planet wrote:I guess this question was asked a million times in different ways but i never got the answer -

i remembered it watching this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhDsCFhD ... ure=relmfu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that got the sound removed from it and i was thinking : noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

so the question is : how to be mindful while listening to someone and to actually listen to him and not just saying in the head "hearing hearing hearing .... "
When that someone has something useful to say eg. Dhamma talk, you pay attention to what he is saying.

But if that person has nothing useful to say eg. hurling abuse, useless chatter, making hateful speeches etc use "hearing ...."
In this way unwholesome thinking is not allowed to develop.
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
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Assaji
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Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:24 pm

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by Assaji »

Hi Purple Planet,
Thanks for the link!
how to be mindful while listening to someone and to actually listen to him and not just saying in the head "hearing hearing hearing .... "
You may find useful Gregory Kramer's guidelines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdkH-gXZCk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://metta.org/insight-dialogue-3/ins ... uidelines/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://secularbuddhism.org/2012/07/05/e ... -dialogue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
xtracorrupt
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:47 pm

Re: Listening to someone and being mindful

Post by xtracorrupt »

pegembara wrote:
purple planet wrote:I guess this question was asked a million times in different ways but i never got the answer -

i remembered it watching this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhDsCFhD ... ure=relmfu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that got the sound removed from it and i was thinking : noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

so the question is : how to be mindful while listening to someone and to actually listen to him and not just saying in the head "hearing hearing hearing .... "
When that someone has something useful to say eg. Dhamma talk, you pay attention to what he is saying.

But if that person has nothing useful to say eg. hurling abuse, useless chatter, making hateful speeches etc use "hearing ...."
In this way unwholesome thinking is not allowed to develop.
I don't think this mindset of concentration is able to just happen but I think i can be developed. I think what your explaining is part of rightful concentration. :clap:

:anjali:
theres is no need for needing
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