Search results for: "Suffering"

  1. Page 139
  2. Guardian Meditations, Right & Wrong
     … We remind ourselves that it is possible, with the Buddha’s example, to find an awakening that takes us beyond suffering. So what are we doing, mucking around and not following the path? We practice thoughts of goodwill to remind ourselves that we’ve got to keep our motivation in line with that path if we really care about our happiness. We practice contemplation … 
  3. The Mind Comes First
     … You want to be very clear about that, because it’ll make the difference between suffering from the experience or not. Experience is also composed of things coming in from your past actions, and you don’t have much control over which past actions are going to ripen at any one time. The image is of seeds in a field. Every time you have … 
  4. Flexibility
     … I realized that as long as I was stuck on the idea that I really wanted to get that translation project done, I was going to suffer. But if you say, “Okay, now is not the time to work on that,” put it aside, and do what needs to be done right now, whether it’s a job you feel confident doing or one … 
  5. How to Save the World
     … They all lead to suffering. To watch out for these things, we really have to train the mind. Action here is not just a matter of what you do and what you say. It also covers what you think. Of course, what you think is going to determine what you do and what you say. The intentions that shape your life come out of … 
  6. Choiceful Awareness
     … the skills that are needed for that insight really to have an impact on the mind, to have the really desired effect—which is to train the mind not to create suffering for itself. So remember that what we’re developing here is a skill, and the skill has to go through very basic steps. Don’t think that you’re too advanced for … 
  7. Terror & Revulsion
     … This sharpens your focus, gives you more energy to practice, to try to understand how it is that the mind can spend so much time working, working, working for happiness and yet acting in ways that actually cause suffering or leave you unprotected when aging, illness, and death come. So it’s good to reflect on these things, to remind yourself why you’re … 
  8. The Joy of Curiosity
     … We think something will give good results and it doesn’t, or you thought that certain results were okay, acceptable, but you realize that if you keep putting up with that level of what’s acceptable, you’re going to keep on suffering. So, you have to raise the standards for all three functions—the commentator, the consumer, the producer—by watching them in … 
  9. Xtreme Drama
     … It didn’t have the drama, didn’t have the excitement or grandeur of someone who gets excited enough to go out and kill somebody and then has to suffer the consequences. Again, that’s the kind of mindset that deals in extremes. Would you like to be somebody who is constantly going through one extreme or the other? Part of the mind enjoys … 
  10. Getting Untangled from Thorns
     … This is where the discernment becomes your own because, after all, it is your stress, it is your suffering that you’re dealing with, along with the fact that you’re causing it and that these are things you experience from within. You can read about these things and have all kinds of theories and have everything all correct so that you can explain … 
  11. Luminous
     … It’s because you have these potentials inside that you have the opportunity to put an end to suffering, that you can find a happiness that has no drawbacks whatsoever. There’s a responsibility that comes with freedom. But there’s also the possibility of being totally unlimited. So try to explore that possibility as much as you can.
  12. The Truth of Perceptions
     … In this case, as a hindrance, the desire falls under the cause of suffering, so you’ve got abandon it. So when the Buddha says that perceptions are mirages, he’s not saying that they’re totally without relationship to reality. The question simply is, for what purpose are you using your perceptions? When a perception is useful for one particular instance or one … 
  13. The Skill of Patience
     … Now, part of your mind may say, “Well, I’d like to see them suffer a little bit first, so that they could have a taste of what they’ve done to others.” But then you can ask yourself, “Is that a part of the mind that you really want to encourage?” Then you start thinking: “If they’re going to be happy through … 
  14. Listening to the Body
     … After all, the knowledge that leads to the end of suffering doesn’t lie somewhere else. It lies in developing an attitude that’s willing to look at the little things, to see what they hold inside.
  15. Why It’s Good to Know Why
     … But for that to become genuine knowledge, we have to follow the directions ourselves, commit ourselves to what he’s taught us, reflect on what we’re doing, so that the path becomes our path—because we’ve done our best to take his explanation of why and use it to our advantage—coming to understand why there’s suffering, and how we can … 
  16. How to Listen
     … When thoughts branch out, where are they taking you? Well, back to your old ways, to more suffering. So you learn how to let them go. You realize that you’re now in a position where you can let them go. If we were totally passive and simply had to put up with whatever comes, then it would be okay to say, “Well, just … 
  17. Appreciating Dispassion
     … It puts an end to the round of coming back again and again—suffering the same aging, illness, death, and separation over and over again. It uproots any sense of attachment or nostalgia for the things we’ve loved in the past. Then there’s dispassion, followed by cessation. That sounds kind of scary, but you realize that everything that you’ve created through … 
  18. Loving Yourself Wisely
     … So when you find people who are suffering from self-hatred, it’s not so much that they don’t really love themselves. They love themselves, but there’s a conflict. They’re disappointed in themselves. And the Buddha’s right: If you just go looking for your immediate pleasures without any concern about the consequences, there’s very little to respect. And it … 
  19. Modest, Unentangled, Unburdensome
     … They don’t need to know what you’re doing, because, after all, the big problem is your problem—the way you’re causing suffering for yourself. If you’re able to make progress in that area, fine. If you have something to share with others, you share it in a way where you’re not bragging. You try to stay modest. But as … 
  20. Honesty & Integrity
     … all the unnecessary stories, all the unnecessary perceptions that create the suffering. Why get involved with them? Distraction offers other good lessons: How is it that the mind moves from one object to another? What’s the process? Often you catch yourself in the act of thinking about something else, so you pull yourself back and swear, “I’m never going to move off … 
  21. A Genius about Your own Mind
     … Is there any potential in there for stress and suffering? They say that the difference between a genius and someone who’s simply intelligent is that an intelligent person can solve a problem that people have seen for a long time. But a genius is someone who sees and solves a problem that nobody else saw before. That’s the kind of person the … 
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