Search results for: "Suffering"
- Page 123
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- Recollecting the Devas… That way you can focus on the causes of suffering so you can put an end to the suffering. But again you have to look in your own mind to learn these things. You can’t depend on the devas to teach you. The Canon contains some interesting stories about interactions between monks and devas. One is about a female deva who sees a …
- Noble Treasures… When you read the instructions he gives of how to work with the breath energies, you notice that it’s very clearly based on what a person who is suffering heart problems will need. You start with the breath coming in through the back of the neck, going down through the spine, because the back of the neck is where there’s a lot …
- Sensitivity Through Generosity… If you miss one of the dimensions, the others are going to suffer. We see other people who are just generous and don’t meditate, and we see what’s lacking there. Well, the same problem is there with people who just meditate and don’t really understand generosity. For the practice to be successful, it has to be complete. It’s an all …
- Fear of Death… The way you label the pain is what creates a bridge into the mind, over which suffering comes. You can learn how to cut the bridge, so that even though the pain may still be there in the body, it’s not affecting the mind. As you learn how to use this approach with minor pains, you can start dealing with larger pains as …
- Introduction: Meditation as a Skill… And it’s no wonder that we suffer. We don’t give any attention to the artistry or the skills we need to bring to the way we react to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas. Some of our experience comes from outside, from the past, but a lot of it depends on how we shape it. That’s what really determines …
- Lessons in Fabrication… As he said, whatever craving leads to becoming is going to lead to suffering. You can trace it back all the way to a process that the Buddha calls fabrication. Saṅkhāra is the Pali term. These are the things we do to put together our experience of the present moment. We have raw material coming in from the past—the things we did, said …
- Timeless… how we can experience aging, illness, and death, and not suffer from it—and not do anything unskillful around it. That’s the kind of knowledge that will keep us safe.
- Wilderness Lessons… The mountain suffered a fire recently, so look at the ravages of the fire as you go there. You’ll notice that some plants are already beginning to sprout. Parts of the mountain are beginning to look green again. But other parts—huge parts—of the mountain are still black. There’s a lesson in kamma right there. Some of your actions are things …
- Delight in the Breath… Why is there pain? Why is there suffering? And is there a way to put an end to it? The Buddha explains why there’s pain, and he also explains that, Yes, it is possible to put an end it. Human beings can do this. That’s why we’re here. A major part of the path is right concentration. It’s ironic: In …
- Taking the Long View… But from the long view, those are the ones who are going to suffer the most. So use the power you have right now to make wise choices—because it is within your power to really make a difference, a difference that will last for the long term.
- Sensitive to the Breath… Another time he talked about how when he was young, he tended to suffer pretty heavily from headaches. He found that if he could emphasize the breath going down the spine and think of it going from the base of the spine out into the ground, that helped to relieve the pressure in the head. He had lots of little tricks like this. But …
- Load next page...
