Search results for: "Suffering"

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  2. The Lightened Mind
     … So if our attitude is that we’re suffering because of things outside, we’ve got to drop that attitude, not because we’re trying to absolve other people of any wrong-doing, but because we have the choice. The things they may say may be really unpleasant sounds. The things they do may be unpleasant actions. But we have the freedom not to … 
  3. The Best Place to Practice
     … can go to a monastery, or when you can get out of the monastery, you’re avoiding the real issue, which is, “What’s the mind doing right now to create suffering? What can you do to stop it?” Because that tendency to look someplace else, saying, “Well, I can’t really practice right here because of this or that,” or because the people … 
  4. Stretch Your Mind
     … And who knows, maybe like Angulimala you could train your mind so that it wouldn’t have to suffer from those bad things. So, seeing the power of the mind, seeing the power of the present moment, he then focused on his mind in the present moment in the third watch of the night. You see what he’s doing: He’s stretching his … 
  5. The Equanimity that Doesn’t Give Up
     … In other words, you realize, “There’s work to be done or else I’ll keep creating more suffering, and I can’t sit around not doing the work, because I don’t know how much time I’ve got left.” The anxiety part is in the thought: “I don’t know how much time I’ve got left.” But you do know you … 
  6. Fear of Missing Out
     … Where is the suffering right now? Can you detect the clinging? What are you clinging to? Why are you clinging? What’s the craving? Is it a sensual craving? Is it a craving for becoming, a craving for non-becoming? Are you developing the path to know these things better so that you can abandon the craving and comprehend the clinging? Which parts of … 
  7. A Handful of Leaves
     … The problem is that you’re sitting here thinking and using your mind in ways that are causing lots of unnecessary stress and suffering. So you want to look right here so that you can solve the problem right here. It’s simply a matter of trying to find the right balance of stillness and confidence on the one hand, and the need to … 
  8. A Concentration Checklist
     … All the processes by which the mind is creating suffering for itself are happening right here. And if you can’t find something interesting in that, ask yourself what’s wrong. What part of the mind doesn’t want to look? So basically, the way to overcome boredom is to ask questions based on what you know of the Dhamma: what you’ve learned … 
  9. Appreciating Goodness
     … This training starts with being meritorious, but it goes on beyond that, it goes deeper into the meditation, as you learn to see ways in which the mind is causing itself unnecessary suffering, and you can root out those causes. The mind becomes a lighter mind, more spacious mind, a mind you can trust a lot more. The scariest thing in life—even scarier … 
  10. Serial Clinging Is Still Clinging
     … This is what the Buddha calls the kamma that leads to the end of kamma, and it’s going to require firmly held right views, and devotion to skillful precepts and skillful practices, and a consistent view of yourself as being responsible, of wanting to put an end to suffering, and believing in yourself that you can do this—at the same time, realizing … 
  11. Strength from the Basics
     … And notice that, after Ajaan Suwat had his accident, he suffered some brain damage and didn’t have much energy to give Dhamma talks, but when he did give a Dhamma talk, it would always be on the topic of the Triple Refuge: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. This is the basic teaching. Thinking about the Buddha reminds us of what can … 
  12. The Train Trestle
     … So even though there may be some situations where there’s going to be a lot of pain or a lot of confusion, you don’t have to suffer from the pain or be confused about what you’re doing. That puts you in a better position to help yourself—and other people, too. Because if everything in your life is going up in … 
  13. In a World of Crooked Wheels
     … He’s trying to save you from suffering. The preparation for those three kinds of loss lies in holding on to those two other things: virtue and right view. You don’t have to lose those. You lose them only if you throw them away. You throw them away because of people’s example. You see that the rest of the world has no … 
  14. Strong Against Anger & Fear
     … You realize that what the Buddha said is true, in terms of the truth of karma, the truth of rebirth, the truth of how to put an end to suffering. The emphasis in each case is on what you’re developing from within. The media telling us that the important things are being done right now by somebody else, someplace else. But the Buddha … 
  15. For a Routine That Isn’t Routine
     … And it goes into detecting, “What are you doing that’s causing suffering? When does that action start? When does it stop?” You’re discerning these differences. When you discern differences, you can begin to discern connections. It’s simply a question of seeing activities you didn’t realize were activities; detecting the fact that they *are *activities, and that they’re part of … 
  16. Right Action & Right Livelihood
     … And there’s no real meat there, because often, when you’re thinking about their bad points, you can think about, “Well, they deserve to be punished,” or deserve to suffer in this way or that way. That turns into ill will, which is one of the major hindrances. Then of course, the precept against illicit sex: Any sensual thoughts that come up in … 
  17. Meditate to Win
     … If you want to put an end to suffering, this is what you’ve got to do, based on the way causality actually works. And these duties, these shoulds, are all formulated for your true happiness. You always have to keep that in mind. We’re aiming at a happiness that’s totally enveloping, totally all-around. That fact should give you a sense … 
  18. A Valuable Gift
     … It’s found by straightening out your own mind, because the source of suffering is inside, in our own lack of skill. You can’t make other people skillful, but you can train yourself to be more skillful. And in doing so, you set a good example and you have a more solid base to offer advice to others. The extent to which you … 
  19. Believing & Knowing
     … the hypothesis that our actions actually do matter, and that the training of the mind is the most direct way of living skillfully in this world—and also of finding release from suffering. As Ajahn Maha Boowa once said, if you could take a nibbana and all the noble attainments so that people could actually see them, nobody in the world would want anything … 
  20. Whole-body Consciousness
     … There is a deathless, and it’s totally free from suffering. And you obtained it through your discernment. Your discernment didn’t cause it, because it’s totally uncaused. But your discernment took you there, and the discernment was based on virtue and on concentration. The virtue makes you honest, makes you sensitive to what you’re doing and the power of your actions … 
  21. A Good Path to Be On
     … When there’s pain, physical pain, is there some way you can be with the pain and not suffer from it? When there’s the pleasure of the concentration, how can you learn to be with it and not get overwhelmed by it? In other words, you don’t just wallow in it. You try to be alert and mindful so that you can … 
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