Search results for: "Suffering"
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- Conceit… The example he gives is that when you hear of someone who has put an end to suffering, has made it all the way to the goal, you can reflect, “That person is a human being; I’m a human being. That person can do it; so can I.” To that extent, you need conceit in the practice. If you believe that you can …
- A Culture of Restraint… The noble ones look at material things and say, “Remember all the suffering that goes into just providing food, clothing and shelter, so don’t get all wrapped up in having lots of food, lots of clothing, a big house. Remember that those things have their drawbacks.” The world out there is saying, “Buy, buy, buy,” but the noble ones are saying, “No.” Listening …
- Goodwill… You can create a good environment for other people, but whether they’re going to suffer in that environment or not is really up to them. But you do what you can, realizing that there are limitations. My teacher had a student who had visions of the spirits of dead people. She didn’t like it because it freaked her out, running into spirits …
- Beginning the Rains… We want to show that it is possible to live in line with the Buddha’s principles and to live well, i.e., to live in a way that’s conducive to our own practice for the end of suffering. So as we approach this determination to stay for the rains, it’s good to keep these things in mind. In this way, this …
- In Memory of King Rama IX… In other words, you make up your mind that you’re going to practice in a way that’s going to put an end to suffering. You do your best to find a good teacher. You test your teacher against the Buddha’s standards: Does this person have the kind of greed, aversion, and delusion that would make him or her claim knowledge of …
- Nimble with Your Questions… He asked a different question: “Where is the suffering? What’s causing it? And what can I do to put an end to it?” This is why he was so particular about the questions he would advise you to ask. You start with his questions, but gradually you find that you have to figure out your own questions that branch out from the original …
- Farming Your Body & Mind… It’s the force that goes with you as you go through illness, as you go through aging, even as you go through death—and it makes the difference between whether you’re going to suffer from those things or not. So, if it’s out of control, you’re in a bad position. You want to learn how to bring it into some …
- Ideals… The more you want things to be a different way, the more you’re going to suffer, so give up your ideals. That’s what they say. But that’s not the picture of the practice that the Buddha gives. He presents it as a path of making sacrifices for the sake of something of great value—as in that very basic principle in …
- Scramble the Image… Once you can see that there’s really nothing there in terms of the root cause—in other words, nothing you’d really want to follow when you come right down to it—that’s when you can begin to free yourself from the stress and suffering that can come from your fascination with these things.
- An End to the Stories… put an end to suffering. It means putting an end to a lot of stories we keep dragging out. After all, those stories are what keep us going, especially if they involve some wrong that we want to right. That would mean we’d have to come back. And, of course, what usually happens when a wrong gets righted is that some more wrong …
- Sensitive in Seven Ways… He says, “If you want to put an end to suffering, this is what you have to do.” He doesn’t force these things on us, but if you decide, “Okay, I’m suffering enough,” then listen to his Dhamma and try to figure out what it’s getting at. That’s what the word attha means: what it’s getting at, both in …
- Skillful in Everything… The practice is all about mastering skills that can lead to an end of suffering. So it’s good to reflect on what this means, how this applies in our lives. Because the skills here are not just the skills in meditation. They’re a matter of how you approach everything. As I said this afternoon, how you do anything is how you do …
- Meditation as Play… The Buddha talks about how we go from suffering to getting a sense of conviction in the teachings. The very next step after that is joy. So remember, you’re here to enjoy the meditation. There are so many techniques where they tell you, “Simply follow the instructions. Do what you’re told. Don’t do any thinking.” That gets very grim very fast …
- Organizing Your Inner Committee… Learn how to use this committee for your purposes instead of being annoyed by it or overwhelmed by it—the “you” here being, as Ajaan Mun once said, the determination not to come back and suffer. Try to equip that determination with its weapons of discernment and mindfulness, so that you can develop all the other qualities of the path you need to make …
- Nurturing Your Inner Adult… That way, with a healthier inner committee like this, you find you can function a lot more effectively and cause a lot less suffering for yourself and the people around you.
- Responsible Conviction… That shuts off all kinds of bad possibilities and greatly reduces the amount of suffering you’re going to experience in wandering on. The Buddha says that the power of the mind is so great that even when the body dies, the mind doesn’t stop. It keeps on looking for new places to go, new places to take on new identities. You want …
- Potentials for Rapture… The fact that the mind is active is part of the problem, because it’s our unskillful actions in shaping the present moment that give rise to suffering, but we can also make that proactive side part of the solution. We can change those unskillful actions into more skillful ones. Without that opportunity, meditation would be totally meaningless. So as you’re sitting here …
- Fence Me In… It’s that kind of intelligence that will take you beyond suffering, that will bring release. So by allowing yourself to be fenced in this way, you suddenly reach a point where there’s no fences, no limitations on the mind at all. It all opens wide.
- Samvegic Ironies… If you don’t afflict other people, you won’t have to suffer affliction yourself. Whether you believe these principles or not, that’s how things happen. So there is an objective basis. The irony is that this vision of the world—which gives morality an objective basis—also shows why people tend to be unreliable in how they follow through with their good …
- The Evening News… So, as the Buddha says, you have to make the resolve to preserve truth, and not let it get covered up by the subterfuges of unconscious or subconscious fabrications, so that when you see that something is stressful, something is causing suffering, then you can will to relinquish it. That’s the third determination: to develop relinquishment. This means wherever you see that there …
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