Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Counter-cultural Values
     … The people change the Dhamma as it comes to them. But the people who get the most out of the Dhamma are not the ones who change it to suit themselves, they’re the ones who change themselves to fit in with the Dhamma. They use the Dhamma as a tool to find freedom from their cultural conditioning, from their cultural background. It’s … 
  3. To Purify the Heart
     … So the Dhamma is not just words. In fact, the words that a Dhamma talk say are not the Dhamma themselves. They point to the Dhamma. Dhammadesana, the pointing to the Dhamma: That’s one of the terms for a Dhamma talk. The actual Dhamma is something that arises in your mind. It’s a quality of the heart composed of wisdom, compassion, and … 
  4. Ajaan Suwat 100 Years
     … And of course, it’s the way to taste the benefits of what the Dhamma has to offer. If we change the Dhamma to fit in with our preferences, we’ll never have an opportunity to test what the real Dhamma has to offer. If we practice fake Dhamma, then we’re going to get fake Dhamma. And if we’re fake people, we … 
  5. Observe Your Concentration
    The Vinaya tells us that after the Buddha gave his first sermon, Añña-Kondañña gained the Dhamma eye. In the days after that, the Buddha gave more Dhamma talks. And two by two, the others of the five brethren gained the Dhamma eye as well. Then, a few days later, the Buddha gave the sermon that we call the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, the Sutta … 
  6. The Dhamma Protects
    *Dhammo have rakkhati dhammacāriṃ: *The Dhamma protects those who practice the Dhamma. Sometimes it seems like those that practice the Dhamma are at a disadvantage. Other people get to lie, but we don’t. Other people can push for their own advantage without any scruples, but we have to stick by our principles. But those principles are what protect us. The advantage that people … 
  7. Perspectives & Priorities
    The ideal life for practicing the Dhamma is one where you can find solitude. Now, there are many levels of solitude: physical solitude, mental solitude, and what the commentaries call solitude from your paraphernalia—in other words, the possessions of the mind, the defilements in the mind, the baggage you carry around inside. The Canon talks about the first two. When you get away … 
  8. Right & Right
     … Some of the voices side with the Dhamma, other voices side with defilements, and sometimes the voices that seem to be siding with the Dhamma end up being defiled as well. The only way we’re going to learn that is to try putting what we’ve learned into practice and seeing where it works, where it doesn’t work. If you find that … 
  9. An Auspicious Night
     … The next quality is knowledge of the Dhamma. As one of my ajaans told me very early on, here in the Forest Tradition we don’t put too much emphasis on learning a lot of Dhamma, but we do emphasize learning the four noble truths, the noble eightfold path—all the Wings to Awakening. So make sure that you’re well-educated in those … 
  10. Independent of the World
     … Listening to the Dhamma, thinking about the Dhamma, putting the Dhamma into practice: That’s how your teacher gets trained, particularly by putting the Dhamma into practice. You can think about the Dhamma and listen to it, but if it doesn’t show its benefits in your life, it’s just going to be words. Ajaan Lee compares it to a recipe for medicine … 
  11. The Buddha’s Revolution
    After Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha’s stepmother, gained ordination, she went to see him and asked for a short Dhamma teaching that she could take and practice with. He taught her eight principles for deciding what really is Dhamma, what really is Vinaya: If any activity, any teaching, was in line with these principles, then it was genuine Dhamma, genuine Vinaya. If it was … 
  12. The Buddha’s Compassion
     … They will understand the Dhamma.” So the Buddha contemplated that and said, Yes, there would be. So out of his totally pure compassion, he gave us the teaching. He spent 45 years setting up the Dhamma, setting up the Vinaya, setting up the monastic Sangha, teaching people to become members of the noble Sangha, so that the Dhamma would last long enough. Here it … 
  13. Discipline
    The Buddha’s name for his teachings wasn’t “Buddhism.” Sometimes he called it the Buddha’s message, buddha-sāsana, but more often he called it Dhamma-Vinaya. Dhamma, of course, means the truth. Vinaya means discipline. As you’re training in the teaching, it’s not simply a matter of agreeing with the truth of what Buddha had to say. You’re going … 
  14. Being Your Own Teacher
     … Again, we have to take responsibility for the Dhamma we hear, the Dhamma we understand, and the Dhamma we apply. That all has to be put to the test. If you try somebody’s instruction and it doesn’t work, you have to ask yourself, “Did I really hear the instruction rightly?” If the person isn’t around to check, you say, “Well, whether … 
  15. Mindfulness Island
     … You have to rely on yourself to train yourself, to hold the values of the Dhamma in mind, because the world is not going to hold them for you. You can use the internet to listen to Dhamma talks and to chanting, but as you go through the day, you have to carry these values around with you: the importance of your virtue, the … 
  16. Oneness is a Water Snake
     … We don’t usually think of the Dhamma as something coiling around us with the potential of harming us, but it’s there. There’re lots of mistakes we can make in interpreting the Dhamma on our own. This is why the Buddha didn’t just teach the Dhamma and just leave the world scattered with Dhamma books . He created a community where people … 
  17. Multi-Dimensional Dhamma
    Multi-Dimensional Dhamma January 25, 2011 We live in a culture that likes to reduce things to soundbites, catchwords, buzzwords, quick and easy ways of boiling things down. As a result, when we come to the Dhamma, there’s soundbite Dhamma, catchword and buzzword Dhamma. We’re told that Buddhism boils down to one particular practice, like noting, mindfulness, or spreading thoughts of loving … 
  18. Right but Wrong
     … It’s so easy as we practice, when we get something right, to forget that a lot of our rightness comes from other people, the people who’ve carried the Dhamma along—transmitted the Dhamma all these many, many centuries. And it’s good to be willing to listen to them, because they have a lot to teach. One of the most unfortunate aspects … 
  19. Give of Yourself
    Ajaan Maha Bua says that when he was staying with Ajaan Mun, Ajaan Mun would give long, long Dhamma talks every now and then. But according to Ajaan Maha Bua, what Ajaan Mun was giving was just the trunk of a tree. You had to work out the branches for yourself. There are times in the talks when he would reach a topic, skirt … 
  20. Determined to Practice
     … This is why we have Dhamma books and recorded Dhamma talks, to keep you in touch with their values. Because otherwise, the values of the world pull you in all sorts of other directions. So if you’re thinking about practicing at home and setting up the conditions, this is the first thing. Make sure you read plenty of Dhamma, listen to the Dhamma … 
  21. If These Walls Could Talk
     … The themes that he stressed over and over again were ones that he said that Ajaan Mun tended to stress in his Dhamma talks. One was practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma, and the other was the customs of the noble ones. We tend to think of the Forest Tradition as being quintessentially Thai, but Ajaan Mun was accused of not behaving … 
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