Search results for: "Skillfulness"

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  2. Goodwill for Snakes
     … Remember, heedfulness is the beginning of all skillful qualities. It’s where goodwill comes from. At the same time, we have to keep reminding ourselves that there are difficult people in the world, and we can’t let our goodwill be affected by them. The passage in the Canon that goes most into detail about developing a goodwill so that it’s large like … 
  3. Always Observe Your Mind
     … More basically, there’s overlap in the sense that, as you’re following those four practices that lead to a good rebirth, you’re learning a skill you’ll need on the path: the ability to look at your mind. After all, conviction: What’s the message of conviction? Think about the Buddha’s three knowledges on the night of his awakening. The first … 
  4. Resilience Plus
     … What’s the most skillful thing to say or do at this time? Here, your discernment is aided by two other qualities that the Buddha recommends, or that he mentions as strengths. One is your learning of the Dhamma. What have you learned from what the Buddha taught, from what the ajaans have taught, that would give you some good advice on what to … 
  5. More Wisdom for Dummies
     … What duties does the Buddha talk about? First is the duty to abandon unskillful qualities and to develop skillful ones. That comes right out of the principle that you do have choices, some choices are better than others, and again, you have the desire, based on goodwill, to not do harm. Then a more refined version of that duty comes in relation to the … 
  6. Right but Wrong
     … There was an element of skillful determination there, but also an element of pride. Ajaan Mun saw that. So once or twice during the rains retreat, he would slip a little something into Ajaan Maha Boowa’s bowl. And Ajaan Maha Boowa realized that there’s more to the practice than just being right, or sticking to your vows. Sometimes it would be food … 
  7. Only One Person
     … As King Pasenadi said, the people who are skillful in their thoughts, words, and deeds are the ones who have themselves protected. In other words, you don’t harm anybody, and that’s your protection. You’re generous with others, and that’s your wealth. So you’re looking after yourself in the proper way. And particularly when you meditate, because you realize the … 
  8. Responsibilities
     … You have to decide which kinds of responsibilities require your full attention and demand your full level of skills, and which ones you can allow just to get by. You have to make sure that what’s needed gets done. It may not be with as much finesse as you’d like, but then think of that finesse as taking something away from something … 
  9. The Dhamma Without Price
     … The practice of merit is the first answer to the Buddha’s question that lies at the beginning of discernment: “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness? What is skillful? What is blameless?” Looking for happiness in generosity, looking for happiness in virtue and universal goodwill: These are blameless ways of looking for happiness. And the Sangha … 
  10. Metta Meditation
     … As with any skill, the people who can laugh at their mistakes and then come back and try to fix them: Those are the ones who will do well. That’s the right attitude to have. If you get frustrated and start beating yourself up, that’s the face that’s going to fall back into the hall of mirrors, either the beater or … 
  11. Right Speech, Inside & Out
     … It’s skillful speech.
  12. Truth with Boundaries
     … One was the principle that you should develop skillful qualities of the mind and abandon unskillful ones. The other was the four noble truths. That’s it. Those are the only teachings that he said are categorically true and beneficial. There were lots of other things he taught. Either they fit into the two principles and so are part of the categorical teachings, like … 
  13. Equanimity
     … Equanimity in and of itself is never recommended as skillful. It has to be combined with other qualities. In the brahmaviharas, it acts as a reality check. We have goodwill for all beings: May they be happy. May they understand the causes for true happiness and be willing and able to act on them. May they look after themselves with ease. Compassion: May all … 
  14. The World of the Body
     … What does it mean to get use out of the body? You develop the perfections, skillful qualities of mind. These are things that actually make life worth living. They give meaning to life. We’re born into this world with the desire to be born but without any clear notion about the motivation for our desire: why we wanted to be born or what … 
  15. Scramble the Image
     … You find that as your ability to stay focused with a sense of relaxation gets more skillful, and that you’re more used to it, then you can stay there as the breath gets more and more subtle, more and more subtle, until it seems like it’s not coming in or going out at all. That’s perfectly fine. You’re not going … 
  16. Right Livelihood
     … So if you can work on the mind to get its intentions right and skillful, as much as possible, then you find that you have a better world to live in, a better space to meditate in. So remember this: You’re not a passive victim of outside circumstances. You’re part of the shaper of those outside circumstances. When you realize your responsibility … 
  17. Reflect
     … A lot of the skill in meditation is learning how to get the mind to be still in all situations. So you learn to read your mind, learn how to reflect. It’s this element of reflection that lifts you up beyond plain concentration practice, beyond plain stillness, and beyond ordinary analysis of things. When you’re doing, say, contemplation of the thirty-two … 
  18. A Good Narrative
     … You do something and it has an effect, and actions can be skillful or unskillful in their effects. As the Buddha said, this is the beginning of right view: When you’re generous, it really does accomplish something. When you train the mind, it really does accomplish something. But often we find it hard to keep up the effort. This is why pasada needs … 
  19. Undefeated Goodwill
     … Again, it’s not innately skillful. There are a lot of voices in the mind that want to get a quick and easy happiness, with no concern for the consequences. There was a book of positive psychology I read a while back when I was asked to review it for a Buddhist magazine. They asked me to provide a Buddhist take on positive psychology … 
  20. Doing, Maintaining, Using
     … The Buddha talks about three important skills in learning how to keep the mind centered. One is gladdening the mind, another is steadying the mind, and the third is liberating the mind. Whenever you find that a particular feeling has taken over, you learn how to pry the mind loose from that, from its grip, so that the mind is free even in the … 
  21. A Post-goodness World?
     … What is skillful, what is unskillful? What is blameworthy, what is blameless? What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness? What when I do it will lead to my long-term harm and suffering? And first-level answer to those questions is the three types of meritorious action: generosity, virtue, and the development of goodwill. As the Buddha … 
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