Search results for: "Persistence"
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- Commit & Reflect… That leads to the next faculty, which is persistence or effort. You actively do try to give rise to skillful qualities and abandon unskillful ones. Now, with some of those unskillful qualities, all you have to do is watch them and they go away. It’s as if they’re embarrassed. They thrive in a mind where you’re not paying much attention. When …
- Nourishment from the Breath… As the Buddha says about the bases for power, you always have to have the desire and persistence and intent for there to be concentration to begin with. You have to want to get the mind to settle down, you have to stick with it, and you have to pay full attention. The fourth basis for success is what turns the concentration into a …
- Staying True… This is the element of viriya, or persistence in the practice. It also depends on truthfulness, or sacca. You make up your mind you’re going to stay here, and you’re not going to listen to any voices that tell you to go someplace else or that there are other more important things to do. Only if you stay here can things can …
- Focus on the Precepts… As for larger principles, the Buddha uses them for issues like contentment, non-entanglement, persistence, conviction, but he doesn’t translate the precepts into larger principles, because you can get into trouble that way. For example, some people say the first precept teaches the sanctity of life. Well, if life is sacred, then you can use that principle to justify lying to protect some …
- Look in the Mirror… analysis not only to unskillful mental states, but, ultimately, also to the path—as when he has you analyze the five faculties: Conviction has its allure, but it has its drawbacks. Persistence has its allure, but it has its drawbacks. The same with mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. Even these are things you have to gain escape from. And how do you do that? Through …
- Merit: Goodness of the Heart… Who would he teach first? He first thought of teaching his old teachers, the ones who had taught him about conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment as they understood it. He wanted to share what he’d found with them. But it was too late. They had been reborn in states of the cosmos where they were out of touch with everybody. Then he thought …
- Skillful Desire… You’ll be persistent as you keep coming back, coming back, coming back to the friend. You’ll give your full attention to the friend, figuring out what needs to be done to make things better. Those are all the bases of success right there. They all come from desire. The desire is the part that you have to provide and that you have …
- Being Reliable… You get it by being generous, by being virtuous, by developing thoughts of goodwill, by developing your powers of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. These are all things that benefit you and other people. With things like generosity and virtue, the help really obvious. With goodwill it’s obvious. When you’re mindful to be looking for happiness inside, you’re not taking …
- The Brightness of Life… conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. He says you don’t really know these five faculties until you’ve seen their origination, their passing away, their allure, their drawbacks, and the escape from them. So even the path is something we’re ultimately going to be putting aside. That’s the brightness of life: the point where you can put aside the path, where …
- Finding Balance… If your mind needs more energy, focus on the energizing ones, which are analysis of the dhammas or qualities of the mind, persistence or energy, and then rapture or refreshment. The analogy here is of a fire that’s burning low, so you put more fuel in the fire. Analysis of qualities comes down to something very specific. It’s not an extended abstract …
- There’s Work to Be Done… Among Ajaan Fuang’s students who continued meditating after he passed away, the ones who really were most devoted were the ones who seemed to have a persistent illness of one kind or another. They realized that the only way to keep it under control was to work with the breath. So they had very good motivation to stick with it. But whatever way …
- Stupid about Pleasure… Until discernment is strong, everything else — your conviction, your persistence, your mindfulness, your concentration — can sway back and forth. You may like your concentration, but you can also like whatever else life has to offer. You treat your life like a big flower garden or a vast buffet where you can choose all the things you want. That’s your preferred attitude. You come …
- Pay Attention to Some Things… How do you judge things inside? If you act on something, what kind of qualities does it develop? Does it make you more persistent? Does it make you more content with things outside, so that you can focus more attention on what’s going on inside? Does it tend to get you entangled with other people? Or is it the kind of thing where …
- The Truth of Desires… And as with any crafty politician, it is possible to find them out, but it takes a lot of patience, a lot of persistence, and a willingness on your part to not identify with everything that comes up in the mind. In other words, just because the desire is there doesn’t mean it’s one you want to really pursue—if you really …
- Determination… This brings in another one of the perfections, which is the perfection of persistence, the perfection of effort itself. As for generosity, it includes giving and renunciation. Being willing to give to others is often a good way of succeeding in your determination. You realize that many of the things that you want in life do require the cooperation of other people, so if …
- The Missing Truth… mindfulness, your analysis of what’s going on in the present moment, your persistence, a sense of rapture, calm, concentration, equanimity. Those are things you try to give rise to when they’re not there. When they are there, you try to maintain them. This is how all four of the establishings of mindfulness work together. As you develop them, then this really becomes …
- Building Character… There’s the list of the perfections—generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance—all those good Capricorn virtues; truth, determination, goodwill, equanimity. As Ajaan Fuang liked to say, when the Buddha was born in all his many lifetimes up until he became a Buddha, he was born for the sake of mastering these perfections. The list of good spiritual materialism in the suttas is …
- Firm in Your Intent… The same with persistence: You have to stick with the program, which is that if any unskillful qualities could arise in your mind, you do your best to prevent them. If they have arisen, you do your best to get rid of them. As for skillful qualities that are not there yet, you work to give rise to them. And when they’re there …
- At Home in Jhana… In the meantime, the happiness of jhana depends on being mindful, being alert, being persistent in your efforts to be as skillful as possible in maintaining the state. Ultimately, as you get really good at maintaining this state, you get to the point where you understand it thoroughly, so thoroughly that you can go beyond it. That’s the true peace, the true happiness …
- Happy to Be Here… desire, persistence, intent — in other words, looking intently at what you’re doing — and then using your powers of analysis to try something new. As Ajaan Fuang, my teacher, would often say, “Be observant and use your ingenuity.” If something doesn’t work, if the mind isn’t settling down, what would it like to do that would get it to settle down? If …
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