Search results for: "Becoming"

  1. Page 16
  2. Universal Truths
     … The more we define ourselves, the more limited we become. Even if we think of having a cosmic identity, we get limited to that. We get limited to that view and that view becomes a source of controversy. You’re going to have to argue it with other people. Or even if you don’t argue with other people, you’ve still got the … 
  3. Exercising the Mind
     … We create states of mind that are called becoming. It’s like a little world in your mind. As you go into that world, that suddenly becomes your surroundings, that becomes your environment. Then you lose interest in it, or something else comes along, and you create another one. These are all based on desires. Each desire has a little world, and there’s … 
  4. Start the Year Right Here
     … When you see that, the mind really does have the chance to become more skillful. It becomes a mind that does create happiness for itself, a mind that creates a happy new year, a happy life, a happy new century, a happy new millennium. That’s the kind of mind you want, and it can be done. You look at the texts. Little kids … 
  5. Skilled in Aims
     … So practice your goodwill so that it’s quick with regard to anybody—that it becomes the default mode—and this way you become skilled in aims, skilled in the goal. This is what should be done by someone who wants to be skilled in the goal. Years back, I was sitting in on a class where this sutta was being explained. The teacher … 
  6. Of Essential Worth
     … And if you become a member of the noble Sangha, you become a refuge for others. When we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, it’s because they’ve set an example of what a really honorable human life is like. They suggest the possibilities of what human beings can do. And it’s an inspiring set of possibilities. So … 
  7. Admirable Intentions
     … You become more and more sensitive to your intentions, and you learn how to articulate them to yourself. All too many people go through life not really knowing why they’re doing things. It’s all too common when you ask someone, “Why did you do that?” and they have to stop and think for a bit. But in the practice of generosity and … 
  8. Cutting New Paths in the Mind
     … What often happens is that when those thoughts become very painful, you try to deny them, to bury them away. The more painful they are, the more they get buried—and of course, the more they get buried, the harder they are to deal with. They don’t really help you. You want your memory of your mistakes to be near at hand but … 
  9. Succeeding at Happiness
     … In other words, it becomes a genuine source of happiness. The same with the precepts: Don’t regard them as a chore, or as onerous rules that are forced on you. Here’s your opportunity to live in the world in a harmless way and you’re trying to be meticulous in it. Cultivate the desire to be harmless. For example, with the precept … 
  10. Animals in the Mind
     … It becomes your place. When you fully inhabit your body, nobody else can invade your space. And you have a good leash for the mind. There’s an image in the texts of six different animals, all leashed together. There’s a crocodile that wants to go down in the water. There’s a monkey that wants to climb up into a tree. There … 
  11. The Dhamma Eye
     … We’re trying to create a state of mind here, which is called “becoming,” *bhava, *because we want to understand what it means to create a state of becoming. As the Buddha said, the cravings that lead to becoming are the source of suffering. So we have to know: What is this process that the Buddha’s talking about? Basically, you have a desire … 
  12. A Seeker’s Habits
     … And as with any tool, the more you work with them, the more skillful you become. The more skillful you become, the more you see. So even though this does require work—and often it requires really heavy, heavy effort—still it’s all worthwhile. And it’s all a way of showing true goodwill for yourself, true compassion for yourself. Always keep that … 
  13. Doubting the Buddha
     … Suddenly the issues in the thought become very real, very important. So it takes a real reorientation to get out of those thought worlds, simply to see them as processes: the mind’s habit of fabrication, its way of putting things together. You put feelings and perceptions together, you add a little salt, a little pepper, and you want to eat them. When they … 
  14. The Freedom to Give
     … And after a good long joyride through samsara, when you’ve decided you’ve had enough, okay, then you’re ready to become an arahant. And if you want to become a special arahant, well, it’s going to cost you a little extra but it can be arranged.” The going price to be an arahant with special distinctions was seven days worth of … 
  15. You Can’t Eat the Buddha
     … That way you become a refuge, both for yourself and for others. You join the noble Sangha and become a refuge to other people in the sense that you become an example to them as well, so they can learn how to feed and strengthen themselves. This is how the Dhamma is passed on. So even though our pursuit may be for something very … 
  16. Truths of the Will
     … So learn to be clear about your intentions, recognizing which ones you should cultivate, which ones you should drop, so that the truth of the path, that fourth truth, becomes a reality in the mind—and the third noble truth, the end of suffering, will become a reality in the mind as well. That way, nibbāna, unbinding, total freedom from suffering, which actually goes … 
  17. Light Your Way
     … He ended up becoming an ajaan that we all bow down to, because of his goodness. That’s a case of coming in dark and going in light. In the same way, when people come in light, it doesn’t mean that all their past karma is good. They may have some past bad karma, but it’s just not showing yet. The problem … 
  18. Friends with The Breath
     … Learn the extent to which you can make changes right here, right now, in the way you relate to this breath that you’re trying to become friends with. The breath does its thing. The problems in the friendship are all on our side. But as we become more sensitive to what we’re bringing to the friendship, we can actually make it a … 
  19. Oneness
     … This is how the breath, the object of your conversation, becomes one: It fills the range of your awareness. Think of the whole body breathing in, breathing out, and let the whole-body breath flow as comfortably as you can. Then, after a while, when you’ve been evaluating the breath, and it really feels good as you’re breathing in, breathing out, there … 
  20. Actualizing Your Potentials
     … craving for sensuality, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. It’s not that all desires are bad. In fact, the desire to get rid of unskillful qualities and the desire to encourage skillful qualities are part of the path, under right effort. We’re not here just watching things coming and going, arising and passing away, in a passive way. We want to … 
  21. Layers of Selves
     … One of the reasons why the Buddha has you focus on pain as a large issue is because your sense of self, or whatever identification you may have, is going to become very clear around the pain. All your clingings are going to become very clear. The problem in dealing with pain is that, in the very beginning, it’s hard to take. In … 
  22. Load next page...