Search results for: "Discernment"

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  2. Rooted in Heedful Desire
     … So heedfulness is based on informed desire, a desire informed by discernment. The discernment gets sharper the more you learn to use it in practice, as you catch little things you didn’t see before and you learn how to deal with them more and more effectively. So keep that image of the soldier in mind. It’s probably why Ajaan Mun used it … 
  3. A Handful of Leaves
     … And that’s to give strength to your discernment, to see exactly what you’re doing that’s causing the suffering and what you can do to stop. That chant we had just now—“those who don’t discern suffering”—may sound strange: Doesn’t everyone discern their suffering? But the Buddha said our main duty with regard to suffering and stress is to … 
  4. Not Getting What You Want
     … The joy becomes the basis for concentration, then discernment, then release. So that version of dependent co-arising ends positively, with suffering leading you ultimately to follow the path that gets you to something that’s not dependent, something independent—which is total release. It’s interesting to think about how that connection between suffering and conviction comes about. Remember, in suffering there’s … 
  5. A Valuable Gift
     … So you want to be able to develop discernment as well. That requires that the mind settle in and be very still. Otherwise, your discernment is going to be just what you’ve read in books. It becomes a glaze covering up the opportunity to gain your own genuine discernment, which comes from developing your own powers of observation, getting the mind still and … 
  6. Standing Outside Your Thoughts
     … The other four methods involve a certain amount of discernment: the discernment of the craftsperson, the discernment of someone who’s fastidious, the discernment of someone who says, “Okay I can’t control this situation, but I certainly don’t have to get involved,” or the discernment of the person who realizes that the distractive thinking is not something that’s coming in from … 
  7. Determination
     … The qualities are discernment, truth, relinquishment, and calm. You start out with discernment, trying to figure out what would be a worthwhile goal, one that, when you had attained it, would be something you could really hold on to, something of genuine essence. Then use your discernment to figure out how to get there. In terms of the perfections, this involves the perfection of … 
  8. Sowing Good Seeds
     … And it’s not a matter of sitting here and waiting for discernment to drop on you out of the sky. The act of trying to be sensitive to the present moment is what develops your powers of discernment. As your powers of discernment get sharper, you start seeing what’s actually going on. There are directions to recommend that you look at a … 
  9. Therapy for the Mind
     … In the path of discernment, built on all the factors of the noble path, the discernment is what does the actual therapy. That originates in the mind, too. It needs to be nurtured, needs to be protected. You have to learn how to side with it more and more, with what the Buddha calls one of the customs of the noble ones, which is … 
  10. Believing & Knowing
     … Discernment is the ridgepole—the discernment that leads to the right ending of stress. As the others are going up, they’re going to be a little wobbly. They’re not one hundred percent sure. It’s only when we start having direct insight that discernment really starts yielding results. That’s when everything is solid and in place. The Buddha has us be … 
  11. A Self Rightly Directed
     … Of all the strengths we have to develop, the highest one is discernment. And discernment has to do with understanding—or as the Buddha says, having penetrative knowledge of—arising and passing away. That’s not just seeing things coming and going; for the knowledge to be penetrative, you have to see where things come from and what they lead to. You begin to … 
  12. To Be Trustworthy
     … And as we cultivate it, we gain in discernment. The discernment itself is not the goal. It’s not that we’re here to arrive at insights. We try to get insights and then use the insights in order to free the mind. So as you let go, even of the concentration, you bring the mind to a point where you can even let … 
  13. A Refuge from the Winds of the World
     … persistence, contentment, mindfulness—the ability to keep things in mind—and then discernment: the discernment that penetrates into what is skillful and what is not skillful in all the things around you, what’s worth following, what’s not worth following. It also covers knowing how to talk yourself into following the things that should be followed, and to let go of the things … 
  14. A Heart Wider than the World
     … You start out with discernment, the discernment that sees that it is possible, if you’re going to solve the problem of suffering, to solve it from within. That’s work that you can do in any circumstances. After all, it is your craving, and your clinging. The clinging is the suffering; the craving is the cause of suffering. You can’t pin the … 
  15. Bases for Success
     … Sometimes we think that the whole purpose of the path is to arrive at some kind of discernment, but the discernment isn’t where you arrive. Discernment is part of where you’re walking along. The release is where we’re trying to go. And because discernment is part of the path, it’s something you do, and ultimately it’s something you let … 
  16. Guardian Meditations
     … And in doing so, your discernment becomes *your *discernment. It’s not borrowed goods any more. It’s something you’ve learned how to produce yourself. And when that discernment becomes yours in that way, that’s when it’s really effective.
  17. Conviction in Charge
     … Conviction is also the beginning of discernment. The Buddha said that discernment begins with asking a question of people who seem to be happy, “What when I do it will lead to my long term happiness, and what when I do it will lead to my long term harm and suffering?” This means, one, choosing the right people to ask this question of. You … 
  18. Strengthening Concentration
     … Without the strength of the concentration, your discernment won’t be strong enough to deal with the defilements. The two of them have to work together: Your discernment strengthens your concentration; your concentration strengthens your discernment. Upasika Kee’s image is of washing your hands. Your left hand has to wash your right, and your right hand washes your left. That’s how they … 
  19. Path & Goal
     … And it’s in the refinement that your discernment gets developed. You think of the path: The image the Buddha gives is of the continental shelf off of India. There’s a gradual slope as you go out and then a sudden drop. The gradual slope is the gradual development of your discernment as you get more and more discerning as to what’s … 
  20. Refuge & Strength
     … That relates to another strength, which is the strength of discernment. The Buddha puts that strength at the very end of the list of strengths, but they all work together. As you discern what your actions really accomplish, you begin to notice which ones are skillful in which situations, and which ones are not. That becomes your own knowledge, your own strength. So take … 
  21. The Lotus in the Mud
     … But by going through that mud and analyzing these things and understanding them is what gives rise to the discernment that can cleanse the mind. As the Buddha said, the mind is cleansed through discernment. It’s not cleansed through concentration. Concentration allows the discernment to do its work, gives it a place to stand, but the discernment is what makes all the difference … 
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