Search results for: "Conviction"

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  2. The Treasure of Equanimity
     … The first is conviction, which begins formally with the conviction in the Buddha’s awakening. What that means in terms of your life is conviction in the principle of kamma: that our actions are what make the difference between finding true happiness and not. The second noble treasure is virtue, not wanting to do anything that would be harmful, learning how to restrain yourself … 
  3. Making the Dhamma Your Own
     … You have the power of conviction to get you through a difficult situation; the power of endurance, when you find that you can do things you didn’t think you could do. That gives you a lot more confidence. And we need to test these things, because we face a lot of issues in life that we don’t like to think about and … 
  4. A Tradition of Ingenuity
     … What are your strengths right now in the practice? What are your weaknesses? You measure yourself in terms of six qualities, starting with conviction. How is your conviction? Is your conviction strong or is it weak right now? Are you convinced of the Buddha’s awakening, or are you convinced of other teachings that you’ve picked up here and there? Are you convinced … 
  5. Unentangled Compassion
     … Which is why you need to have conviction that this really does work, that the Buddha knew what he was talking about when he said you can find true happiness by developing these qualities of the mind. That conviction right there is a form of strength because it keeps you on the path. It keeps you looking here rather than hoping to find happiness … 
  6. Defiant Like the Buddha
     … As he says at one point, it’s because of our suffering that we gain conviction that there’s got to be a way out. So, what are the steps leading from the suffering of grief to a conviction that there’s a way out? They start by going through compassion. There’s the case when King Pasenedi came to visit the Buddha. As … 
  7. The Culture of the Practice
     … The four qualities the Buddha pointed out—and these apply not only to monks and nuns, but also to lay people—were (1) conviction, (2) virtue, (3) generosity, and (4) discernment. These are the qualities that create the culture of awakening, the culture of the practice. There has been a tendency in Buddhist circles, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, to reduce everything … 
  8. The Mind Like Water
     … The first is conviction in the Buddha’s awakening: that he was able to cleanse his mind through his own efforts. And it took a lot of work. It’s easy to focus on the extremes that he went to and say, “Well, he was trying too hard, pushing himself too much.” Which is true, but then the question is, how much pushing is … 
  9. Start the Year Right Here
     … The first is conviction: belief that, yes, you do have this power, that the mind has the power to shape your experience for good or for bad, and it’s something that can be trained. It’s not that the mind has certain habits and is going to have to have those habits forever. If that were the case, then there’d be no … 
  10. Delight in Stillness
     … Have a sense of confidence, conviction, inspiration that you’re involved in something really good. Whether the results are quick or slow, the work itself is good.” Learn how to delight in that, and it’ll help you get through a lot of barren patches in the practice—because there will be barren patches. It’s not the case that everything develops smoothly and … 
  11. Defilements with Their Bambi Eyes
     … And even in the lists where discernment comes after concentration, conviction comes first: conviction that your actions do matter. And where do your actions come from? They come from the mind. This means that you’ve got to get the mind under some control. So before you focus on the breath, it’s always good to think about why you want to get out … 
  12. Strong-hearted
     … developing both a good mind and a good heart, developing these strengths of the heart—conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment—so that our wisdom, our discernment, has a good grounding, the kind of grounding that keeps it honest. This is a total training, and it deserves our total attention, our total conviction. The more we give ourselves to the practice, the more we gain … 
  13. In the Eyes of the Wise
     … And part of it comes from the conviction and trust that what the Buddha taught was right, that it seems reasonable and good. You’re going to be testing it and, of course, people will be testing you. But you have to be able to maintain the conviction that this is the right way, because many people have followed this way and they’ve … 
  14. The Seven Treasures
     … They start with conviction—conviction in the Buddha’s awakening, conviction in the principle of karma. You’re convinced that the Buddha really did discover that there is a deathless and that it was possible for him to do that through his own actions. That’s his discovery of the fourth type of karma: the one that leads to the end of karma. That … 
  15. Respect for the Training
     … We submit ourselves to the training with the conviction that the Buddha knew what he was talking about. And we’re here to learn. Now, if over time you’ve developed all the qualities the Buddha talks about and you’ve reached all the attainments he talks about and you still feel there’s something lacking, then you’re in a position to judge … 
  16. The Noble Search Makes Us Human
     … It’s the conviction that there’s a way out and that through human effort, you can find it. We’re lucky we have the example of the Buddha. The Buddha didn’t have any examples in his day. People within Indian society apparently knew that at some point in the past there were Buddhas, but nobody knew what they were or what they … 
  17. Setbacks
     … If you have the conviction there’s a way out, you find it. Better than the person who doesn’t have that kind of conviction. If you lack that conviction, then no matter what, you get stuck in someplace and think, “Well this is it! No way out.” And you give up. You’re lost. But if you’re convinced there must be a … 
  18. The Five Strengths
     … The first strength is conviction, believing that if you want to be happy in life, it’s going to come from your own actions. If you’re convinced that your actions really make a difference, that’s got you on the right path right there. If you think that your actions make no difference, that things are already set in the stars or that … 
  19. Faith in the Buddha’s Awakening
     … This is why one of the major strengths you need in the practice—in fact, the first of the five strengths that the Buddha lists—is conviction. Saddha is the Pali word, sometimes translated as faith. It’s one of those dirty words in Buddhist circles here in the West. Nobody likes to say “faith,” because that’s what we’ve run away from … 
  20. Rightly Directed
     … So imbue your breath with conviction. Imbue it with persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment, all the qualities that are developed in those sixteen steps, and then just keep the breath in mind. That will be your connection to all these other good qualities, beginning with virtue and discernment. Virtue is what keeps you honest. Discernment is what reminds you of the importance of your actions … 
  21. Recollection of the Buddha
     … As you reflect on the Buddha, it gives rise to conviction, which is one of the inner strengths that keeps you on the path, keeps you going. And it also gives you a sense of direction. We’re not just trusting the Buddha, we’re trusting in his awakening: that he really was awakened, he knew what he was talking about, he really was … 
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