Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. What We Have in Common
     … But as I got to know the people, I began to realize that, when we weren’t working on Dhamma projects or talking about the Dhamma, when they started talking about their backgrounds, they were all coming from places and attitudes very foreign to me, not only in terms of their culture, but also in terms of their social and economic status. They were … 
  3. Truthfulness
     … You can be certain about yourself only when you can be certain about the Dhamma. And you can be certain about the Dhamma only when you are certain about yourself. You test the Dharma and yourself in the same way. And you reach the conclusions at the same time. This is why the Dhamma is special: Only people who are really true can know … 
  4. Calm & at Ease
     … Or you can think about the Dhamma. Here again, the Dhamma teaches us that what’s really important in life is the state of the mind. And the state of the mind is something you can train. If you’ve been heedless in the past, well, that doesn’t mean you’re going to have to be heedless in the future. There’s that … 
  5. Close to the Heart
     … When you’re given the tools of not only the breath but also other perspectives of the Dhamma — and this is why talking about the Dhamma can be helpful at times, to gain a clear and precise sense of your tools — then you’re ready to handle them. When I was staying with Ajaan Fuang, the lessons didn’t just come from the meditation … 
  6. The World Is Swept Away
     … We’re trying to take that craving and turn it into something wise, use it wisely — this desire that the Buddha said lies at the root of all things, the root of all dhammas. “Dhammas” here means any phenomena of any kind, but it can also mean what we think of Dhamma with a capital “D” — the Dhamma that leads us out, the Dhamma … 
  7. Undividing the Mind
     … This is why we have the apprenticeship where it’s not just a matter of reading books and deciding on your own what the Dhamma means. A lot of the Dhamma I learned in Thailand had nothing to do with what I was reading; it was all just being around Ajaan Fuang. It wasn’t his Dhamma talks or even his Dhamma conversations. Sometimes … 
  8. The Power of the Will
     … This is why we have the Dhamma. There are good examples of people who found the Dhamma, carried it on, passed it on, put it into practice, and made it something real. Those are the people we focus on so that we can become one of them. We remember how they went about it. You read the stories of the ajaans. If they hadn … 
  9. Lift Your Mind
     … A lot of people come to the Dhamma thinking that it’s something else they consume. Their attitude toward consumption is that “If it appeals to me, I’ll buy it. If it doesn’t appeal to me, I won’t bother.” But the Dhamma is not for sale; it’s not a commodity. You have to make yourself worthy of the Dhamma, and … 
  10. Three Levels of Refuge
     … But it does mean giving the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha the benefit of the doubt, trying things on for a while, and really sincerely testing what the Buddha has to say. In taking these things as a refuge, there are actually three levels. On the external level, you take the Buddha and the Sangha as external examples. We’ve got the Dhamma … 
  11. A Refuge from the Winds of the World
     … You’ve heard a lot of the Dhamma. In other words, you try to study the Dhamma so that when things come up in life, the answer to the issues, the answer to the questions will be there in your mind because you’ve furnished your mind well. You haven’t filled it just with commercial jingles or pop songs. You’ve furnished it … 
  12. Gifts of Noble Wealth
     … So it’s good to read the Dhamma, to listen to the Dhamma, to memorize the Dhamma. Have that as your wealth, something to remind you as you go through life and you get tempted to do something you shouldn’t do, or you don’t feel strong enough to do something you should. Those words are words of encouragement, words that help you … 
  13. Radical Questioning
     … But the Dhamma is meant to take you beyond that, which is why a lot of the Dhamma is not so much radically accepting things, but radically questioning them. The attitudes you have, the thoughts that burn in your mind, burn in your body: What are they based on? Why do they burn? Is there some way that you can learn not to be … 
  14. A Sense of Adventure
     … Instead of reshaping the Dhamma to fit your notions, maybe you have to reshape yourself to fit the Dhamma. There is bound to be a period of discomfort, bound to be a sense of frustration when things are not quite working out the way you wanted them to. But you need the maturity to learn how to deal with that. This is not a … 
  15. True Values
     … But the Dhamma actually provides an alternative set of values. They require work, but they’re values that provide you with something that’s really substantial, something that does provide genuine nourishment for the heart and mind. They can lead ultimately to a place where you’re not let down, because the Dhamma has its own versions of wealth, status, praise, and pleasure, too … 
  16. What’s Important
    In the transcript of one of Ajaan MahaBoowa’s Dhamma talks, he gives a little preface saying that it was given in response to a question posed by one of the more important monks of our day and age. When I first read that, I thought he was talking about one of the senior monks in Bangkok. Later, though, I found out from one … 
  17. Honoring the Noble Ones
     … As they like to say in the forest tradition, “When you’re practicing the Dhamma, you’re also looking after yourself.” In the Thai language it’s a pun: The word for practice and the word for looking after are the same word. When the Buddha taught the Dhamma, it wasn’t because it was his Dhamma, it was because it was the Dhamma … 
  18. Right but Wrong
     … It’s a time to be thinking about, “How can I be more industrious, how can I be more diligent both inside and out?” The other way of being wrong at the same time that you’re right is when you use the Dhamma for arguments or for one-upmanship. It’s very easy to get into Dhamma discussions where the point of the … 
  19. Discernment
     … So, listen to the Dhamma, think about the Dhamma, but, if you really want to know the Dhamma, you’ve got to commit yourself to doing it. Reflect on what you’re doing so that you can do it better and better. That’s what it means to be wise.
  20. Seven Facets of Discernment
     … And they’re not just a matter of memorizing the Dhamma or being able to explain it. There’s a lot more to being a discerning person, although the first quality the Buddha does mention is that you have a sense of the Dhamma. In other words, you know what the Buddha taught. That gives you a good fund of ideas to draw from … 
  21. The Real World
     … You can do good with things like it, but again that becomes part of the world of the Dhamma. In the world outside, people gain status and they can do anything they want with it. If they dedicate it to the Dhamma, that’s something else. So this is the real world: right here where you’re meditating right now. And the goodness you … 
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