Search results for: "Conviction"

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  2. Intelligent about Change
     … At the very least, you’ve got conviction that the Buddha was right: that human beings can do this, can put an end to suffering, and that it’s a really worthwhile project. Even if the project goes more slowly than you would hope, you can’t say, “Well, I'll just give up on this for the time being and pursue something else … 
  3. The Choice Not to Suffer
     … This is why conviction is such an important part of the path—conviction that the Buddha really did know what he was talking about, that you’ll be better off if you don’t give in to these unskillful thoughts. So it’s useful to reflect on the analysis that the Buddha said got him started on the path: recognizing that he could see … 
  4. The Path to the Top
     … Up to that point, you have to go on a sense of conviction, which is not totally secure. It’s not totally guaranteed. The Buddha gives an example of the role of conviction, saying that it’s like the rafters of a house. The rafters are going to be secure only when the ridge pole is in place. You have to put up the … 
  5. Looking at Your Life
     … One is conviction, generosity, virtue, and discernment. Another list is what he calls the seven noble treasures. It starts again with conviction, which means conviction in the fact that what you do is important, not necessarily important in the eyes of the world, but important in shaping your life, shaping your mind. So you want to be as skillful as possible in your intentions … 
  6. Realizing Cessation
     … That conviction is what leads to the good path. Think about the Buddha’s analysis of what’s called transcendent dependent co-arising, where he goes through all the factors of dependent co-arising and gets to suffering, but this time he doesn’t stop with suffering. The next factor is conviction. In other words, you finally decide, “Okay, there must be a way … 
  7. The Brightness of Life
     … to get the mind in shape so that it can master those solutions in the full conviction that, as Ajaan Fuang says, we can find the brightness of life. That was his comment about what he owed to Ajaan Lee. He said it was because of Ajaan Lee that he found the brightness of life. It’s good to keep this in mind. The … 
  8. To Gladden the Mind
     … In other words, you come to confirm your conviction not by stifling your doubts, but by directing them in the right way. You look into the mind to see what’s dark and what’s bright there, what’s skillful and what’s unskillful. In other words, any mental states that, when you act on them, lead to long-term happiness—those are the … 
  9. The Fortress
     … What holds the fortress up is the main post, which is conviction: conviction in the Buddha’s awakening, that through his efforts and through his developing qualities in his mind, he was able to find true happiness. And the reason this holds everything up is because the message of his awakening is that if he can do it, you can do it, too. The … 
  10. Food for Endurance
     … When we talk about having conviction in the Buddha’s awakening, that’s what we have conviction in: the fact that our happiness and pain in life come from our actions. Some of the things come from our past actions, but the important things come from our actions in the present moment. So, even though your surroundings may not be as ideal as you … 
  11. Open Are the Doors to the Deathless
     … Let those with ears show their faith.” In other words, it was going to require faith and conviction on their part to listen to him and to try out the teachings that he was going to present as a path of practice, because he couldn’t take nibbana out to show it to anybody. The release he’d gained was something they would have … 
  12. Don’t Get Discouraged
     … So we have to have a way of reinforcing our conviction until we begin to see the results. Then the results themselves begin to become fuel for our further practice. But you look at the Buddha’s teachings, and you can see that they’re reasonable all the way along. He’s not asking you to believe impossible things. He’s just asking you … 
  13. Near to the Buddha
     … They talk about conviction, conviction in the principle of karma. They talk about being generous, they talk about being virtuous. They talk about wisdom, which is basically looking for long-term happiness, not running for short-term. As you listen to them talk, you start talking to yourself in those ways as well. You remind yourself: There are things you’ve got to give … 
  14. Truths of the Will
     … In this area, faith, confidence, conviction make all the difference in the world. If you refuse to get into a relationship until you have all the evidence you need to prove that it’s going to work, that relationship will never happen. If you refuse to work at a skill until you get the evidence that it’s a worthwhile skill and you have … 
  15. Light Your Way
     … You have to have conviction in the Buddha’s awakening. You have to be virtuous, generous, develop your discernment, so that you can understand how the mind is creating suffering for itself. And then when you get there, you have to be extra specially careful, not to get complacent. If you have this right attitude, it’s like driving in a car. You’re … 
  16. In Training
     … How is your conviction? Do you really believe the Buddha was awakened? Or is it just some story from a distant past in a different country? If you do have conviction of the Buddha’s awakening, what does that mean to you? What possibilities does it open? What demands does it make on you? After all, we live in a world where there has … 
  17. Teaching Old Dogs New Selves
     … I want the old ways of doing things right now.” This is where your conviction in the path will come in handy: conviction in the fact that the Buddha was awakened, that he found a way to awakening by abandoning his old selves. Now, there will come a point, of course, when you don’t need any sense of self. That’s when you … 
  18. Defilements Are Real
     … Conviction in the Buddha’s awakening, conviction in the power of action; persistence in trying to give rise to skillful qualities and abandon unskillful ones; mindfulness to keep all this in mind, so that the mind can get into concentration and have a sense of its home where it can stay apart from the greed, aversion, and delusion; and then the discernment to take … 
  19. Limitless is the Buddha
     … So try to develop a sense of conviction and confidence in what you’re doing here, that this really is good work, both in the sense that the work itself is pleasant—you’re not asked to do anything demeaning, you’re not asked to harm anybody else—and in the sense that where it leads is also a very good goal. Start out … 
  20. The Reality of Emotions
     … There’s a passage in the sutta on transcendent dependent co-arising that traces all the factors leading up to suffering, but then states that from suffering you can develop conviction, and through conviction you develop the path. From developing the path, you develop joy. This is the Buddha’s analysis of how you go from householder grief—the fact you’re not getting … 
  21. To Go Where You’ve Never Gone Before
     … When you see the deathless, that’s when, as the Buddha says, your conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha is verified. You’re beginning to see what you hadn’t seen before. There’s still more work to do, but at least you have a toehold. In the image in the Canon, you’ve crossed the river to the point where you’re … 
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