Search results for: "Suffering"

  1. Page 119
  2. Concentration & Renunciation
     … After all, the Buddha used suffering as the first noble truth—as he said, if you really comprehend it, you go beyond it. So you don’t run away from it; you learn how to use it, just as you learn how to use pleasure. And it’s in learning how not to be overcome either by pleasure or pain: That’s how the … 
  3. A Full Life
     … He says you can make your purpose in life the end of suffering. The world itself, as a whole, has no purpose, which means that you’re free to choose your purpose. And you want to choose a wise one. We’ve chosen some pretty unwise ones in the past. Here’s some guidance on how to find happiness that’s totally harmless, totally … 
  4. A Positive-Sum Game
     … But if you learn to gain some control over your mind so that it doesn’t go into areas that cause suffering, it doesn’t go into areas that cause stress, doesn’t go into areas that give rise to greed, anger, and delusion, impatience, fear, whateve: When you’ve gained the concentration, the mindfulness, and the discernment to see through these things, those … 
  5. Where to Look in the Present
     … It’s right here that you can gain an understanding as to why there’s suffering, why there’s stress, and what can be done about it. So, always be very clear that when you’re in the present moment, it’s not just for the sake of nurturing an openness to whatever comes up. You need to have an underlying intention for what … 
  6. The Purity of Your Intentions
     … There may be times when, by holding the precepts, you’re going to suffer a loss of some kind, but as the Buddha said, that kind of loss is nothing compared to the loss of your virtue. So when information is hard to come by, all you have is your intentions, the purity of your intentions, to fall back on. This is why we … 
  7. No Slivers in the Heart
     … And even then, there’s still going to be suffering in the world. No matter where you go, there’s going to be aging, illness, and death. There are some heavenly realms, apparently, where there’s no aging or illness. The only pains are hunger and death. But still, there’s still going to be pain wherever you go. This reflection should give rise … 
  8. Energy & Efficiency
     … That way, you find that the issue of suffering and stress gets more manageable as well.
  9. The Search for Something of Substance
     … And the more you try to lay claim to things that are beyond your control, the more you’re going to suffer. You look at yourself; you look at your own mind. Things in society could change very drastically. Think about climate change or about the fact that all kinds of social disruptions could happen. Can you trust yourself to behave in an honorable … 
  10. Giving & Taking Time
     … But remember the things that are really causing you to suffer are the things that are coming from within. So you want to keep reflecting back on that—when you’re grumpy, when you’re tired, when you’re discouraged. Pull out of the attitude a bit and ask yourself, “Why did I let this take over?” Sometimes it may be a lack of … 
  11. The Dhamma Is in the Method
     … But sometimes you just want to get back at somebody, with the conviction that you’re right about wanting to see them suffer. But your rightness is creating a lot of trouble. There are ways of being right and yet wrong at the same time. So, you want to learn how to shed those. Then the pair of contentment and persistence: You’re content … 
  12. A Slave to the Dhamma
     … They actually make you suffer. Whereas if you’re a slave to the Dhamma, the things it asks you do are good things: to be virtuous, to be generous, to develop good qualities in the mind. “Generous” here means being generous not only with money, but also with your time, your energy. Like today’s kathina: It’s taken a lot out of everybody … 
  13. In the Mood to Meditate
     … Sometimes we think about kamma as being this horrible force that’s going to bring us suffering for some reason or another. But the Buddha never has you focus on past kamma. He has you focus more on what you’re doing right now. This is why karma is very relevant to the meditation. If your mind is in good shape, then you’re … 
  14. Integrity — In Memory of Luang Loong
     … And when that old meal assigner was suffering from his final illness, it turned out that Luang Loong was the only monk in the monastery who came to look after him. This is one of the characteristics of Luang Loong that we admire: that he was so reliable. So when you think of someone who has just passed away, it’s not simply a … 
  15. One Foot in the Present
     … Then you suffer from whatever the limitations that world might be. Your way of getting out of that location is to give yourself another location, i.e., the breath in the present moment, the sense in the body as you feel it from within. This is called, rūpa-bhava, or a sense of the form of the body. It helps pull you out of … 
  16. Developing the Heart
     … But as the Buddha said, the end of suffering is possible. It is possible to find something that doesn’t change. That’s very much worth willing. This is why, when he explained the different emotions that we’re subject to, he pointed out how we normally deal with undesirable change with sadness and sorrow—what he calls household sorrow or *household grief. *Our … 
  17. Preparing for Death
     … learning how to stop the suffering we’ve been creating for ourselves, and releasing us from this prison in time.
  18. Stop & Think
     … And you’re going to be suffering again and again. So you ask yourself: “What kind of happiness would you want that would not involve having to have a body?” There are the formless pleasures of the formless jhanas. Of course, the irony there is that to get into the formless jhanas, you first have to go through form, i.e., through the body … 
  19. Like an Athlete in Training
     … And, of course, with all this coming in and going out, you’ve got to make sure that what does come in meets with something good going out, so even if bad things come in, you don’t have to suffer. You can keep them right at the edge. Keep them right at the door. Think of the Buddha’s recommendation: If someone says … 
  20. Your Inner Coach
     … You can be aging, ill, even approaching death, but you don’t have to suffer. In other words, learn how to speak to yourself. Make sure your internal meditation coach is the kind of person that gives you hope. Of course, at the same time, you want a coach who is strict with you. After all, this is a training, and the training has … 
  21. Location, Location
     … That’s part of the description of the craving that gives rise to suffering. It has a location, a here or a there. It focuses on a spot, and in that spot it creates a little kernel of what you want. Around that kernel comes your sense of who you are who’s able to get that thing, and the world in which you … 
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