Search results for: "Conviction"

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  2. To Discern Suffering
     … The first is conviction: The conviction that if we’re going to get past this suffering, we have to understand it, i.e., it’s our own duty, it’s something we have to do on our own. Now, we can get help from other people who explain things to us. In fact, without that help, we’d be totally lost. But still, we … 
  3. Beyond Likes & Dislikes
     … But for some reason we find it very hard to doubt our defilements — all these convictions and preconceived notions we’re unwilling to give up. Only when we’re willing to put them aside and open ourselves to the possibility, “Okay, maybe they’re wrong,” can we open ourselves to the Dhamma. What this comes down to is respect. The Buddha says that the … 
  4. Reflect
     … But she could not be swayed from her conviction that there was something going on, and that she’d actually seen these things. That’s a case of not being reflective at all, because what it came down to was that she wanted to get rid of the monk. So whatever comes up in the meditation, you’ve got to reflect, “What in the … 
  5. Life in the Context of the Practice
     … There’s conviction, i.e., conviction in the Buddha’s awakening, which translates into conviction in the principle of action, that your actions really do matter. Based on that there’s virtue, and then a sense of shame and a sense of compunction. Virtue is the desire not to harm. It’s making up your mind not to harm. We have to consciously take … 
  6. A Sense of Yourself
     … The first one is conviction, the extent to which you really do believe that the Buddha was awakened. That also means that you believe in the principle of kamma, that whatever progress that’s going to be made on the path is going to be made through your actions. You’ve got to be responsible, because that’s what the message of the Buddha … 
  7. Right but Wrong
     … reasoning by analogies, or reasoning by things fitting together, making sense together, or a tradition that we believe, or a teacher we believe, or a conviction. As the Buddha says, if you want to safeguard the truth, you say, “This is my conviction”—and leave it at that. Or: “This is what makes sense to me”—leave it at that. The more humility we … 
  8. How to Read Yourself
     … Maybe right now the strength of concentration is weak, but look to see what else you’ve got in terms of your conviction, your persistence, your mindfulness, your discernment. Ajaan Mun made a lot of the idea of using your discernment to develop your concentration. When Ajaan Lee wrote the book, The Craft of the Heart, which is one of the first books in … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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