Search results for: "Discernment"

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  2. Circumspection
     … As the Buddha identifies it, this factor of circumspection is another way of saying “discernment.” It’s good to remember that discernment has this quality. It’s not simply a matter of agreeing with the Buddha that things are inconstant or stressful or not-self. It’s an all-aroundness that looks for cause and effect, looks for situations, looks for conditions, that may … 
  3. Right View from Right Effort
     … In other words, you’ve got to keep your ingenuity alive, keep your discernment alive, so that you can deal with problems as they come up. Otherwise, laziness sets in. This is another way in which effort gives rise to discernment—the effort to be skillful. So learn to be up for the challenge. Your mind is very complex, and you’ve got to … 
  4. Meditate to Win
     … The discernment is in the stepping back. It’s one of the reasons why, in that image of the dead cow, discernment is represented as a knife. Suppose there’s a dead cow, and a butcher takes a knife, cuts all the different tendons that connect the skin to the cow, and then puts the skin back on. Is the skin attached to the … 
  5. Initiative
     … And once I’ve mastered it, I will protect it with discernment. Whatever rudiments of the holy life I have yet to master, I will master them. And when I’ve mastered them, I will protect them with discernment. Whatever things I haven’t yet scrutinized with discernment, I will scrutinize them, and then I will protect my understanding. Whatever release I’ve found … 
  6. Look Around
    In the bases of success, the fourth one, the one related to discernment, vimamsa, is a hard one to translate into English. Ajaan Lee’s favorite translation in Thai, khwaam rawb ihawb, means circumspection: looking around, looking at things from all sides. That’s one of the features of discernment, he said. It does look at things from all sides. Ajaan Maha Boowa talks … 
  7. Willing to Learn
     … What does it mean to be willing to learn? The Buddha lists three types of discernment that you’re going to need: the discernment that comes from listening, the discernment that comes from thinking, and the discernment that comes from developing. They’re usually ranked with the discernment coming from developing as the really important one, but all three of them help one another … 
  8. Five Strengths
     … The strength of your mind lies its conviction in the importance of its own actions, its ability to stick with what it knows is skillful; its qualities of mindfulness, concentration and discernment. These are the qualities of mind that determine how you’re going to deal with issues in life as they come up. The more mindful you are, the stronger your concentration, the … 
  9. Potentials for Awakening
     … This, out of the seven, is the wisdom or discernment factor. And it’s interesting here that the Buddha says the potential that you develop to foster discernment has to do with seeing skillful and unskillful qualities in your own mind. This is why I said actions are important, because the question of which actions are worth doing lies at the basis of discernment … 
  10. Heedfulness & Confidence
     … In the same way, your discernment gets dull because you’re not sharpening it in concentration, you’re not giving it the time to be confident that, yes, letting the mind rest like this will not only give you a bit of peace right now but will also be good for your discernment down the line. So have some respect for the training, have … 
  11. Pain
     … When you settle in, one of the beginning exercises of discernment will be to cut off every inclination to want to go to the pain. Sometimes you have to question it, like the feeling that the pain is saying, “Look at me, look at me.” What would make the mind want to think that? It’s anthropomorphizing the pain, creating stories around it that … 
  12. Equanimity
     … When it came Ajaan Chah’s turn he said, “Well, yes, you need to develop equanimity, but you have to develop it together with discernment.” The discernment here is a matter of knowing what to accept and what not to accept, or what not to be equanimous about. This connects with two principles. One is that there are some areas where you can make … 
  13. Determination
     … truthfulness comes under virtue, relinquishment, renunciation, and calm come under concentration, and discernment comes under discernment. So on this first day of the new year, it’s a good time to stop and think, “Where are you going?” You don’t want to simply go with the flow. You want to be the kind of person who determines the flow, so where do you … 
  14. Three Weapons
     … The weapons the Buddha lists are learning, seclusion, and discernment. Learning here of course means learning the Dhamma. It’s good to have a fund of Dhamma knowledge that you can draw on. When something comes up in meditation, you can stop and think: “What would the Buddha say about this?” The more you know what about he actually said, then the more likely … 
  15. A Happiness Based Inside
     … This requires discernment: comparing things, seeing connections, and seeing that if you want certain pleasures, certain problems come in their wake. And you have to be able to gauge: Are they worth the effort? The effort spent in centering the mind is always well-spent. But it has to be augmented by this ability to discern, to see that you can’t have your … 
  16. How to Be an Admirable Friend
     … So the mind needs a measure of control, and this is where you exercise that control by developing mindfulness and discernment around the breathing. So you come back to the breath. Try to make the breath as interesting as possible. In other words, notice how the breath energy has an impact on how you experience your body right now. Think of the energy flowing … 
  17. Breath Energies
     … If you don’t learn that, where are you going to get any discernment? Discernment requires a willingness to take chances and then see what results. Sometimes you make a mistake, but you can learn from the mistake. As Ajaan Fuang once said, there’s no mistake in meditation that can’t be undone. So you focus on the breath as you experience it … 
  18. All-around Eye
     … It requires the most discernment. If this were simply a practice of running off to one extreme, everybody would just run off to the extreme, and that would be it: no problems, nothing to figure out, no real need for discernment. But the discernment lies in figuring out what is just right, right now, and also looking at things from all sides. Whatever you … 
  19. Independent of the World
     … the desire for discernment, the desire for truth, the desire for relinquishment—in other words, letting go of whatever is holding us back—and the desire for calm. Nibbana is supposed to embody those four qualities. The discernment that frees you from your defilements is the highest noble discernment. Nibbana itself, which is totally undeceptive, is the highest noble truth. The discernment that allows … 
  20. Let Go Like a Millionaire
     … It’s part of the middle way, a pleasure that’s actually conducive to developing clarity and discernment in the mind. So work on your concentration to make sure that it’s something you can rely on. Work on your virtue, work on your discernment so that you can hold on to them with confidence. When the Buddha says that the self is its … 
  21. The Path to Stream Entry
     … As the Buddha once said of his teachings, “There’s nothing lacking, and there’s nothing in excess.” So try to be virtuous and discerning in your concentration. Try to be discerning and concentrated as you practice virtue. And then as they all come together like this, that’s when they take you to something really special. You gain a glimpse of what the … 
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