Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Comfortable With the Truth
     … Otherwise, if you keep looking outside, as Ajaan Lee says, “You never see the Dhamma, all you see is the world.” Seeing the Dhamma comes from looking inside. It all depends on the directions in which your mental eyes are focused. So this is why we meditate: to get more and more sensitive to our intentions and their results. Very simple. Focus on the … 
  3. Fear & Uncertainty
     … confidence in the Buddha, in the Dhamma, and in the Sangha. Remember Ajaan Suwat: After his automobile accident, his ability to teach was compromised by his brain injury. So his teachings always boiled down to the basics: the qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha as refuge. This is what you can depend on. He taught that to everyone who came to … 
  4. The Brightness of Life
     … It gets buried by what the Buddha called “improved Dhamma.” And we see this all around us. People saying, “Well, why don’t we change the Vinaya here, why don’t we change the Dhamma there, make it nicer?” That’s what’s going to kill the Dhamma. So while the true Dhamma is still alive, take advantage of it. It’s still available … 
  5. For When the World Can’t Help You
     … Then you try to internalize that refuge by developing the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha in yourself. In terms of the Buddha, he’s said to have had three qualities—wisdom, compassion, purity—and you try to develop those within you. In terms of the Dhamma, the Buddha has said when you take the Dhamma as your refuge, you’re taking yourself … 
  6. The Purpose of Empathetic Joy
     … So when you see other people putting stones and other obstacles on the path, you want to clear them away, because you’ve seen that the attha of the Dhamma—when the Dhamma is practiced in accord with the Dhamma—is so excellent. And you want to do what you can to keep that opening, that possibility, alive for whoever wants it.
  7. The Right Touch
     … That’s how you learn the Dhamma. You don’t learn it by reading books or going online and reading all the suttas. Remember that one of the meanings of the word “Dhamma” is “action.” So, you’re going to be learning the Dhamma in action by developing the right touch. When you’re gentle but firm in your concentration, things will open up … 
  8. Stubborn Clinging
     … The Buddha recognized that this is an important part of teaching the Dhamma—i.e., of one person teaching another person the Dhamma and also of you teaching yourself the Dhamma. There has to be an element of respect along with the realization that no matter how right you may be, if there’s suffering involved in that rightness, something’s wrong. You also … 
  9. Ingenuity
     … learning, learning the Dhamma. He says that when you’ve got these five qualities, these are the qualities that will make you a deva. They lift the level of your mind. It’s interesting that learning the Dhamma would be the one that would lift it. It’s good to keep that in mind, to stock your mind with Dhamma. Because things are going … 
  10. More Wisdom for Dummies
     … He made a public declaration that he was going to come and have a Dhamma discussion with Ajaan Lee. Yet when they met, Ajaan Lee talked about all kinds of things aside from the Dhamma. When the monk left, someone asked Ajaan Lee, “Why didn’t you talk about the Dhamma?” He replied, “When a person thinks he’s already good, what more can … 
  11. Strength from the Basics
     … And notice that, after Ajaan Suwat had his accident, he suffered some brain damage and didn’t have much energy to give Dhamma talks, but when he did give a Dhamma talk, it would always be on the topic of the Triple Refuge: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. This is the basic teaching. Thinking about the Buddha reminds us of what can … 
  12. Conviction & Confidence
     … You cultivate your conviction in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Those passages we chant every evening—the recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha—are actually descriptions of what verified conviction is like. Some of the words may seem strange, but it’s useful to reflect on the ones that resonate, the ones that seem relevant to your practice. To begin … 
  13. In Memory of King Rama IX
     … Once you find someone who passes the test, then you lend ear, listen carefully, try to remember the Dhamma, weigh your own actions against the Dhamma, and give rise to a desire to practice until you finally reach the goal of that Dhamma. That’s when you’re really true. That’s the highest level of truth. But even in day-to-day life … 
  14. Making Yourself Worthy of Trust
    When we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, there’s both the external refuge and the internal refuge. The internal refuge, of course, is the more important. The external refuge in the case of the Buddha would be the Prince Siddhartha, who gained awakening 2,600 years ago. The Dhamma would be the Dhamma in the books and Dhamma talks … 
  15. To Sustain Your Practice
     … The first three of those Dhamma summaries relate to the teachings on inconstancy, stress, and not-self, or aging, illness, and death. You see this clearly in the examples the young monk gives to explain the Dhamma summaries to the king. First, in terms of inconstancy or aging: He asks the king, “When you were young, were you strong?” The king says, “Yes, I … 
  16. Look Around as You Follow the Trail
     … practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. Even though the breath may seem very far away from what we’d like to attain in the meditation, it’s actually the way to get there. When the goal is realized, it’s going to be realized right here, or right next to right here. So you don’t have to go thinking far away … 
  17. Questioning Your Way to Certainty
     … We know this from reading it in the texts, from hearing it in Dhamma talks, and also from our own experience. You find yourself wondering, is this really the right meditation for me? Is the Dhamma really right? Did the Buddha know what he was talking about? Those thoughts can really get in the way of the mind settling down. But it’s interesting … 
  18. Willing to Learn
     … When you listen to Dhamma talks while you meditate, there are a lot of things in a particular Dhamma talk that won’t be relevant to your meditation right now, but it’s good to have them someplace in the back of your mind, in case they’ll be relevant later on. So when something seems important, memorize it. That’s how you listen … 
  19. First Principles
     … But the whole point of the Dhamma and the books is what the Buddha calls attha, which is the benefit that you get from that Dhamma. Think of that time when the Buddha was in a simsapa forest. He picked up a handful of simsapa leaves and asked the monks, “Which is greater, the number of leaves in the forest, or the leaves in … 
  20. Timeless
     … What are you going to do?” And the king had to say, “What else should I do but practice the Dhamma?” This is a good conversation to reflect on. It points to the fact that the Dhamma is timeless. We live in a time of turmoil, a time of disease, yet the Dhamma stays the same. It’s not that we have one Dhamma … 
  21. A Refuge from Aging, Illness, & Death
     … Ratthapala answers that he was inspired by four Dhamma summaries: The world is swept away; it does not endure. That’s the teaching on inconstancy, and he illustrates it with aging. He asks the king, “When you were young, were you strong?” The king said, “Yes, I thought I had the strength of two people.” “How about now?” “Oh, no, now I’m 80 … 
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