Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. The Not-Self Discourse
    Five days ago, we celebrated the Buddha’s first sermon—Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion—where he taught the four noble truths in the context of the noble eightfold path. He taught the duties with regard to those truths, and how completing those duties constituted his awakening. The result of that talk was that the leader of the five brethren, Kondañña—who … 
  3. How to Really Depend on Yourself
     … The fact that you’ve thought a solution up on your own doesn’t mean it’s not Dhamma. Not all Dhamma has to be in the texts. If something works, gives good results, gives rise to more insight, gives rise to an ability to let go of things that are burdening the mind, then it counts as Dhamma. Or if you’re not … 
  4. The Door of the Cage (2)
     … Now, those two reflections depend ultimately, though, on the Dhamma as a governing principle. You reflect on the fact that this is really an excellent Dhamma. It gets you to do good things: to be virtuous, to be generous, to develop powers of mindfulness, concentration, discernment—things that are good for you and for the people around you, noble qualities of mind, qualities that … 
  5. Light Your Way
     … He says, “Well, no food, but I’ll get to hear the Dhamma.” So, he sits down and listens to the Dhamma. The Buddha sees that this leper, even though he’s a leper and very, very poor, having to live on handouts, still has some potential. So he teaches the Dhamma specifically for him. The leper follows the Dhamma in his mind as … 
  6. Magha Puja
     … Their Dhamma is always the same. No matter how many Buddhas gain awakening, this is the Dhamma they all teach. Sometimes you hear the idea that the Buddha said that everything changes, therefore the Dhamma has to change, too. But he never said that. Fabricated things change. That’s true. But the way of the Dhamma never changes, which is why it’s a … 
  7. Instruct, Urge, Rouse, & Encourage Yourself
    The Buddha says that when you listen to a Dhamma talk, you shouldn’t have contempt for the speaker, you shouldn’t have contempt for the Dhamma that’s being taught. That much you might expect. After all, if you look down on the speaker, it may happen that the speaker has something good to say, at least one or two sentences out of … 
  8. Remembering Ajaan Lee
     … It was called Dhamma Caksu, the Dhamma Eye. It had articles on the Dhamma, translations from the suttas, because at that point the Pali Canon was being translated for the first time—the whole Canon—into Thai. On the day when the magazine came, that night it was what was read aloud to everybody—the whole magazine. So Ajaan Lee did study, passed the … 
  9. Dhamma in Vinaya
     … He called them Dhamma-Vinaya. The Dhamma is what he discovered in the course of finding the deathless—the truths that were conducive to finding the deathless. The Vinaya is what he formulated as rules for the monastic Sangha that he founded. The two go together because the rules are based on principles of Dhamma. Often it’s useful to look at how the … 
  10. The Real World Isn’t for Real
     … If you want something true and good, you look to the Dhamma. So it’s not a question of real world versus unreal world. It’s the world versus the Dhamma. The Dhamma is what’s genuine. When we talk about goodness, what makes life worth living? It’s in the practice of the Dhamma. If you can find a place where everything is … 
  11. Gladdening the Mind
     … But in the Buddha’s case, all he asked was that people practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. On the night of his death, when the devas were singing songs, throwing down flowers and incense in honor of him, he said, “This is not the way to pay homage to the Buddha. The way to pay homage is to practice the Dhamma … 
  12. Three More Recollections
     … Learning is learning the Dhamma, having a fund of Dhamma within you. Think of the things that go sloshing around in most people’s minds, especially now with the mass media: all kinds of stupid songs and jingles, issues that the media raises as important issues, and then disguises other, more important issues. Whereas you remember, the Dhamma keeps you focused on this question … 
  13. Appropriate Attention
     … If you have that conviction, the normal reaction will be then to look inside and see how the Dhamma talk applies to what you’re doing right now. That’s where the appropriate attention comes in. You listen to a Dhamma talk and ask yourself: How is it related to the suffering you’re creating right now? How is it related to the cause … 
  14. The Not-Self Discourse
    The Not-Self Discourse July 30, 2021 On the full moon in July, we commemorate the Buddha’s first sermon—Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion—not only because this was the Buddha’s first teaching, but also because, at the conclusion of the sermon, one of the five brethren, who were his audience, gained the Dhamma eye and became the first member … 
  15. Treasure Island
     … As your ardency keeps working, you develop dhammas as well—particularly the dhammas of the factors for awakening. So we’ve got all four frames of reference together right here. This is your island. This is what keeps you safe from the flood. Then you want to make sure that you’ve got good treasures, treasures that will stick with you all the time … 
  16. Resilience Plus
     … One is your learning of the Dhamma. What have you learned from what the Buddha taught, from what the ajaans have taught, that would give you some good advice on what to do or say or think in these situations? This is why some of our Dhamma books are full of very short things, like the Dhammapada: a collection of very short poems, very … 
  17. Thoughts About Thinking
     … The same with the teaching, sabbe dhamma anatta: “All dhammas are not-self.” Some people take that to mean, “Well, the Buddha must be saying that there is no self.” But then he says that when anybody tries to draw that implication out of his teachings, they’ve gone too far, as in the case of the monk who said, “If all the aggregates … 
  18. The Community of the Wise
     … You may hear things in Dhamma talks that sound good, but when you’re actually sitting on your own, sometimes the Dhamma talk isn’t there at all. Other values you’ve picked up from other places have a more powerful impact, largely because they’ve been hanging around in your mind so long. They’ve become part of the landscape, so much so … 
  19. Your Goodness is Your Protection
    There are several passages in the Pali Canon where King Pasenadi has been reflecting about the Dhamma and then he comes and he tells the Buddha about his amazing discoveries. They’re all pretty basic—he’s someone who never thought about the Dhamma before—and one of his discoveries one day is that people who behave unskillfully are leaving themselves unprotected. Even if … 
  20. Strategic Wisdom
     … It’s no less Dhamma because of the fact that you thought it up and discovered and used it and got results. Even if it’s not in the texts, the fact it does lead to a lasting happiness means that it’s Dhamma. When the Buddha gave a set of criteria for deciding what is Dhamma and what’s not Dhamma, he didn … 
  21. The Dhamma Wheel
    The passage we chanted just now is called “Setting the Dhamma Wheel in Motion.” It’s the Buddha’s first talk. People sometimes ask, “Where’s the wheel?” The wheel is in the part where the Buddha talks about the four noble truths, the duty appropriate to each, and then the fact that he had completed the duty. That was what constituted his awakening … 
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