Search results for: "Suffering"

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  2. Delight
     … It says that our minds are capable of developing qualities within them that can lead to total freedom from suffering—something totally deathless. And the Dhamma lays out the path. If you don’t delight in this, what are you going to delight in? There are people who delight in the idea that there’s no such thing as right or wrong. They delight … 
  3. A Haven for Inner Wealth
     … It’s the realization that if something you do is unskillful, then it’s going to lead to suffering down the line for yourself or for other people. And just that sense of conscience, the fear of those consequences, holds you back. These qualities protect your good mental food. Then there’s learning, i.e., learning from the Dhamma, which gives you ideas about … 
  4. The Ten Priorities
     … We can use our discernment for all kinds of things, but it’s the wise person who realizes that discernment is best used in trying to figure out why we’re suffering and how we can give rise to true happiness, a happiness that harms no one. This is why goodwill has to be universal, limitless, because we want a happiness that’s totally … 
  5. On Not Twisting the Cow’s Horn
     … We want to put an end to it because these subtle things can grow into big things and cause a lot of suffering. Especially as your strength of mind and strength of body begin to wane, you find that these little subtle things get more and more power if you haven’t dug them out. So, dig them out while you’ve got the … 
  6. The Best of a Bad Situation
     … This is why the Buddha made dukkha —pain, suffering, stress—his first noble truth. He pointed directly to the issue that most people like to run away from. He said, “Look, you’ve got to comprehend this. Only when you comprehend pain can you put an end to it.” So he was willing to face down the pain, face down all the facts of … 
  7. The Prison Break
     … What are we doing that’s causing suffering? What are we doing that’s causing stress? Don’t worry about the levels of jhana. Don’t worry about the different insights. Just ask yourself, “Where can I detect some stress right now, some disturbance in my concentration? Can I figure out what I’m doing to cause that disturbance?” A question came up this … 
  8. The Return of Chickens from Hell
     … And as the Buddha said, if we cling to them, we’re going to suffer. Particularly if we cling to them with ignorance. If we cling to them with knowledge, there’s still going to be some stress, but we can turn them into a path. So the choice is ours. And the reason we have a choice is because, as I’ve said … 
  9. Metta Metacognition
     … As the Buddha said, this is the question that lies at the beginning of discernment or wisdom: “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term harm and suffering? What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” Thinking about the long term is what makes you wise. We hear so much about how the Buddha taught … 
  10. Effective Self-Discipline
     … It’s an effort to be skillful—to figure out what works in helping the mind to alleviate its burdens, alleviate its suffering. So right effort requires not only effort but also understanding. This is why it’s interesting to see what precedes persistence in the lists—for, after all, the lists are often meant to be sequential. You develop a certain quality first … 
  11. Taking Responsibility
     … They’re suffering really horribly, to the point of death, and they’ll just go anywhere to get away from that. Well, you know what happens when you have that attitude, “Anywhere is better than this.” You end up in some pretty bad places. There’s that story the Buddha tells about the beings in hell. There’s one hell where the walls are … 
  12. Independent Values
     … Yet those are precisely the things that cause us suffering. When you realize this, you should develop an attitude where you’re willing to let go of these things. You see through them. You see that they have some attractions, but they also have lots of drawbacks. You learn to balance the attractions against the drawbacks, and see which weighs heavier—because you have … 
  13. Body Contemplation Is Compassionate
     … It’s because of these things that we keep coming back, coming back, coming back, causing repeated suffering to ourselves and one another. Even as an act of kindness to yourself, you want to learn how to get some distance from your own body. Because if you identify very strongly with your body, then when you die, where are you going to go? I … 
  14. Friends with the Breath
     … And then develop thoughts of equanimity, realizing that ultimately each of us has his or her own kamma, his or her own actions, that we’re each responsible for our happiness and for our suffering. What this means is that you’ve got to work on your own kamma—which is what we’re doing as we’re meditating: working on skillful kamma, the … 
  15. A Good Place to Stay
     … The reason we suffer is because we fabricate our experience out of ignorance. One of the ways we do that is through the way we breathe. Some people wonder why we work with the breath. Shouldn’t we just kind of let it come in and go out on its own so you can see its true nature without any interference? But part of … 
  16. Inner Refuge Through Inner Strength
     … Then you take that insight and start applying it to other areas where you’re causing suffering. You begin to have a place where you can stand here in the concentration, so that you can step back from the other ways of your mind and observe them more objectively: “This particular habit is not useful. I’ve got to change. Other people seem to … 
  17. Take Time to Evaluate Your Life
     … The question is, what’s the best way to shape it? The Buddha’s recommendation is that you focus on the issue of stress: *dukkha, *also translated as suffering, particularly the kind you’re causing yourself. You would think that everything you do would be for the purpose of pleasure, and often it is, but all too often your actions lead to stress, lead … 
  18. Not Crushed by the World
     … But you still have the power of your mind, so that you don’t have to suffer from these things. So focus on that. Your body’s going to get crushed, but the mind doesn’t have to get crushed by aging, illness, or death. You can maintain your virtue. You can maintain that post inside: mindfulness immersed in the body. And don’t … 
  19. Friends & Enemies
     … Anything inside that would make you do, say, or think something that would cause suffering: That’s not a friend. That’s a traitor. When you realize this, then you can keep yourself on the right track. You can make up your mind as you go through the year that this is the year you’re finally going to take a stand against these … 
  20. Taking Initiative
     … And it’s not simply there if you allow it for yourself to open to the present moment, because there’s a lot of potential suffering in the present moment. The present moment is not a place to rest, it’s a place to work. You’re constantly putting it together through your intentions, taking the raw material provided by your past karma, putting … 
  21. Dealing with Confusion
     … This is part of the general pattern, and the whole purpose of the practice is to work with that general pattern, to bring it in line with the Buddha’s third insight, which is how you can put an end to suffering by developing skillful qualities. Then, as you develop mindfulness and alertness, trying to keep them as continuous as possible, you begin to … 
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