Search results for: "Skillfulness"

  1. Page 135
  2. The Blood You’ve Shed
     … Actions based on skillful intentions, under the influence of right views, showing respect for the noble ones, lead to happiness. That’s the basic principle. That’s what we want to focus on right here, right now. And that’s exactly what the Buddha did. From his second knowledge, he focused in on the present moment, looking to see what his mind was doing … 
  3. Finding Extra Energy
     … He asked him, “When you were a lay person, did you play the lute?” The monk said yes, he was skilled at playing the lute. “What happened when the strings were too tight? Did it sound good?” No. “How about when the strings were too loose? Did that sound good?” No. And the Buddha said, “In the same way, you tune your effort to … 
  4. Nibbana Is Better than You Think
     … That’s why the Buddha said all goodness, all skillfulness, comes from being heedful. It’s not that we’re naturally good. We’re good for a while, and then when circumstances get bad, that goodness can easily change into something else. You have to see that where you are is very unstable, very precarious, whereas there’s the possibility of absolute stability and … 
  5. Control
     … what kind of control is skillful, what kind of intentions help. Sometimes what you need is an intention just to watch. Other times, you need an intention to adjust things a little bit here, a little bit there. But you test the issue by seeing what creates stress and what doesn’t. In this way, you learn. Your control comes from knowledge and not … 
  6. Generating Good Energy
     … You’ve got to have compassion for them, to do what you can to alleviate their current suffering, and if you can find some skillful way to get them to stop doing unskillful things, you try it. Mudita, empathetic joy, is the brahmavihara that tends to get the least attention. We tend to feel that if people are happy already, they don’t need … 
  7. Established in Full
     … You can go in or not, but right now, no matter how interesting or important those thoughts may seem, you want to develop another skill, which is the ability to be fully present right here, because this large awareness of the body is really healing for the body and healing for the mind. When we go into thought worlds, we tend to tense up … 
  8. Take the Buddha Seriously
     … As you’ve learned how to say No to certain impulses inside, to train your mind, to focus on your intentions to stick with the precepts, then you’re coming to the meditation with the right frame of mind, and with some very important skills. The concentration allows you to go deeper. After all, as you’re meditating here, you’ve got the breath … 
  9. Not the Predictable Thing
     … You act on skillful intentions and you get good results, good rebirths. You act on unskillful intentions, you get bad results, bad rebirths. But even though the principle is simple, its working-out is not. It’s not automatic that what you do in one lifetime will determine what’s going to happen in the next lifetime, because you have other kammic influences coming … 
  10. Defilements at the Door
     … If they’re skillful, you can use your understanding of cause and effect to make sure that they stay, grow, and develop. So basically the third frame of reference deals with your mind when things have invaded and are remaining—especially the qualities that have to do with unskillful states of mind. But in the fourth, it’s as if they’re at the … 
  11. One Thing at a Time
     … What is your mind doing right now? Is it skillful? Is it leading to suffering? Or is it leading to the end of suffering? If it’s leading to suffering, what can you change? If you listen for answers to those questions, you’re going to hear them, because—as all the ajaans say—everything is teaching us. The question simply is: Are we … 
  12. Good for What Purpose?
     … But we also have to recognize that we have some good selves in here as well—selves that are more skillful. They’re all based on the desire for happiness—in the sense of what actually works to bring happiness about. As we take on the path, the Buddha wants to give us a higher standard of what it means to* work*. This is … 
  13. Grounded in the Breath
     … You’re hoping that they learn how to behave in a skillful way, that they see the harm that they’re doing and voluntarily want to stop. If there’s anything you can do to help them in that direction, you’re happy to help. As for people who you feel should be punished a little bit before they find some happiness, ask yourself … 
  14. Guardian Meditations
    One of the important skills in meditating is learning how to read your mind to see what it needs, to see where it’s going off balance, and how you can bring it back into balance. That takes time and it takes experience so that you can sense whether there’s too much energy or too little energy. Then the question is what to … 
  15. Beyond Imagination
     … The Buddha says if you reflect on that, make sure to be skillful in your kamma: what you do, say, think. But then he has you go on: Think about all the beings in the world. No matter where you could be reborn, even if you went to the highest level up there with the Brahmas, you’d still be subject to aging, illness … 
  16. Patience & Sensitivity
     … There are unskillful mental actions that lead to suffering, skillful actions that lead to the end of suffering. The awakening is to see that that’s actually true—and you see it’s true not by generalizing, but by actually following the path and putting an end to suffering. Some people describe awakening as giving assent to the three characteristics, saying, “Oh yeah, that … 
  17. Detail Work
     … Take an interest in the skills that are needed. Concentration is not a dulling of the mind. If it’s done right, it sharpens things. Because it’s quiet, it allows subtle things to appear. But you have to combine the quiet with an interest, a curiosity, an inquisitive attitude. So use these contemplations to develop that attitude. It’ll help make your training … 
  18. Why We Bow Down
     … You have to know what’s skillful, what’s unskillful. You have to be convinced that there is such a thing as long-term happiness and that it can be obtained through actions. And you really are motivated to work for the long-term. There’s discernment there—but also conviction. Remember, it’s right view that we’re going by—it’s not … 
  19. Nobody’s Servant
     … And what you’re doing right now as you meditate is one of the skills you need to develop those potentials. Just to stay with the breath, you have to keep reminding yourself to stay here. Otherwise the mind is going to go wander around and sniff at the flowers and look at the mountains outside. You’ve got to keep reminding yourself to … 
  20. The Message of Mindfulness
     … This is how the concentration develops as a skill as you move from the step of getting the mind to be with the breath or establishing it on the breath, to maintaining it. Setting it up is one thing. Keeping it set is something more refined.
  21. Momentum Through Restraint
     … You’re trying to get some intelligent control over your mind, so that it doesn’t wander off into thoughts and emotions that are harmful to you or to other people; you want to encourage the emotions and thoughts that are actually helpful, skillful. When you’re off the cushion and off the walking meditation path, that comes down to a practice called restraint … 
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