Search results for: "Discernment"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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.
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. Factors for Awakening
     … If you discern that something is unskillful, you try to make it go away faster. If something skillful is not there, you try to give rise to it, and then you prevent it from going away. Now, as you do this properly with the breath as you’re settling down, a sense of rapture or refreshment will arise. That’s the next of the … 
  13. Mental Movements
     … It wasn’t until toward the end that Ajaan Mun sort of gave him a kick and said, “Okay, now it’s time to work on developing discernment.” Now, you do develop discernment to some extent as you’re practicing concentration. You can’t develop concentration without it. There’s a certain level of discernment that’s needed to get the mind to settle … 
  14. Clinging to Karmic Diarrhea
     … You have to learn how to use your powers of evaluation to get to know your own mind, and this is a necessary part of developing discernment. We’re here to comprehend suffering. That’s one of the duties we have with regard to the four noble truths—and, as the Buddha said, to comprehend means to develop a sense of dispassion. You might … 
  15. Skillful Fears
     … You’re not using your discernment. In other words, you’re trying to fight off things, but if you learn how to side-step them, you don’t have to fight them off.” When you lay claim to things in the body or to things in the mind, and then they get painful, you’ve set yourself up for a problem. But if you … 
  16. Life’s First Question
     … How do you talk yourself out of doing it? There’s a strategic element to his teachings on wisdom and discernment. Again, very direct, very simple. It all comes down to this principle of action and result. This is why discernment is based on virtue, by way of concentration: in other words, learning how to look at your actions and being able to admit … 
  17. Skills to Make You Free
     … The next two skills are that you train yourself in virtue and train yourself in discernment: your ability to see what’s going on in the mind, what choices you’re making, which ones are skillful, which ones are not. The final two skills are the ability not to let the mind be overcome by pain and not to let the mind be overcome … 
  18. Inner Refuge
     … We have a certain amount of virtue, a certain amount of concentration and discernment. Our refuge lies in developing these things to the point where we really can depend on them, when they’re all-around. As Ajaan Mun once said, you have to make your practice in the shape of a circle. Keep going around and around and around in a circle and … 
  19. One Thing Only
     … But you’re not going to gain discernment that way. You gain discernment from making choices and then learning how to read them. It’s not the case that you’ll go immediately to total understanding of what’s the past karma you’re experiencing right now and what’s the present karma. You learn bit by bit. Start by trying to get the … 
  20. Always Observe Your Mind
     … The Buddha talks about four qualities conducive to a good rebirth—conviction, virtue, generosity, and discernment—and there’s a lot of overlap between that list and the list of factors in the path to the end of suffering, especially in the virtue and the discernment. More basically, there’s overlap in the sense that, as you’re following those four practices that lead … 
  21. Born for the Perfections
     … generosity or giving, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. The list doesn’t have a progressive nature, which is why I like to discuss it under the headings of determination. There are four qualities that go into determination, and the different *paramis *can fit neatly under the four qualities. The first determination is discernment. That includes the perfection of discernment … 
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