Search results for: virtue

Inner Strength & Parting Gifts I. Inner Wealth
… All five of these qualities can be gathered under the headings of virtue, concentration, and discernment. Conviction comes under virtue; persistence, mindfulness, and concentration come under concentration; and discernment is discernment. To have conviction is tantamount to having wealth. Virtue is like a white cloth that enwraps the body and makes it beautiful, just as the petals of a lotus enwrap the scent of …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts III. Inner Release
… People who don’t realize what the shadows of virtue are, will end up riding only the shadows. Words and deeds are the shadows of virtue. Actual virtue is in the heart. The heart at normalcy is the substance of virtue. The substance of concentration is the mind firmly centered in a single preoccupation without any interference from concepts or mental labels. The bodily …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts Beyond Right & Wrong
… But when a person has the three above virtues in his or her heart, they will turn into the strength of concentration. The heart will be as clear as crystal or a diamond. The whole world will become transparent. Discernment will arise, the skill of liberating insight, and intuitive understanding, all at once. Whoever sees the world as having highs and lows doesn’t …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts The Lessons of Unawareness
… People who give rise to virtue, concentration, and discernment within themselves are sure to see that the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha can actually ward off insecurity and dread. Such people will also let go of: (iii) Grasping at habits and practices (sīlabbata-parāmāsa). The virtues of the five precepts will be firmly established in their hearts. To let go in this …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts A Mind of Pure Gold
… In other words, relinquishment (cāga) and virtue (sīla) are two things we should foster in our hearts so that we can begin to grow up, unfold, and go beyond being children…. Once we’ve reached the middle of life, things start getting shorter and shorter, so we’re taught not to be complacent. Whatever will give rise to knowledge, we should stir ourselves to …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts Fabrications
… The good that comes from our words and deeds, such as the development of generosity and virtue, is goodness on the crude and intermediate levels. The refined level, goodness developed by means of the heart, is meditation. For this reason, the issues of the heart are the most important things we must learn to understand. There are two issues to the heart: the aspect …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts Coming Home
… Think of your internal meditation object—the in-and-out breath—and then think of bringing your external meditation object—’buddho,’ awake, which is one of the virtues of the Lord Buddha—in with the breath. Once you can focus comfortably on the breath, let the breath spread throughout the body until you feel light, supple, and at ease. This is called maintaining the …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts As the Mind Turns
… If we attend too much to our physical pleasure, we tend not to give rise to virtue, like certain kinds of trees that are very healthy, with large branches and lush foliage, but tend not to bear fruit. If a person eats a lot and sleeps a lot, if he’s concerned only with matters of eating and sleeping, his body will be large …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts The Demons of Defilement
… We observe the precepts because we want to be good, but we don’t know what real virtue is. It’s the same when we practice concentration. We want to get results, but we can’t tell right concentration from wrong. We simply keep on wanting. This is called delusion, in that our knowledge isn’t in line with the truth. It’s not …
Inner Strength & Parting Gifts Knowledge
… When we practice generosity, it comes under the level of appropriate attention; when we practice virtue, it comes under the level of appropriate attention; and when we practice concentration, we don’t lose a beat—it comes under the same sort of principle, only more advanced: directed thought and evaluation. When you have directed thought and evaluation in charge of the mind, then the …
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