Search results for: "Conviction"
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- True Values… It starts with conviction that the quality of the mind state with which you act is really important. If you act with skillful intentions, the results are going to be good. You’re convinced of that. If you act with unskillful intentions, the results are going to be bad. This is very different from what the world tells us. Success in their eyes can …
- What’s Important… This is why the teaching does require conviction. When we read that its aim is the end of passion and desire, that may seem discouraging. But, actually, there’s a lot of encouragement buried in that statement. It’s basically saying that the important issue in the world is not what people are doing outside, it’s what you’re doing in your own …
- Rightly Directed… the strength of your own conviction, your persistence, your mindfulness, your concentration, your discernment. These will be the only strengths you’ll have at that time, and they’re not the kind of strengths you can suddenly develop at the last moment. They have to be part of a lifelong process, a lifelong exercise program. As we sit here and meditate, that’s a …
- Easy to Instruct… s buried deep in mud.” But he also knew that if he said there was no way to do that, Ajaan Lee would have said, “If you don’t have the conviction I’ll find someone else who does.” So the next morning, Ajaan Fuang got all the able-bodied monks and novices in the monastery down in the crawl space under the ordination …
- Awaken to Your Potentials… That’s how your conviction is verified and becomes unshakable. Not even an earthquake can shake it. The realization is that overwhelming.
- For the Sake of the Deathless… Still, have the conviction in the back of your mind that, yes, there is something deathless. The Buddha said there is. All the noble disciples have said he’s right. But now we have to focus on the path to go there. It’s like preparing for a trip. If you simply think about all the nice things you’re going to do and …
- Your Actions Are Yours… Which one of those are you still lacking? Are you lacking in conviction, lacking in a sense of shame or compunction, lacking in virtue, lacking in learning about the Dhamma, lacking in generosity and the goodwill that goes with generosity, or lacking in discernment? If you see that something is missing, work on that. Think of this as a set of skills you’re …
- Skillful Thinking… Those topics help foster conviction in the path and in your own ability to practice the path. After all, the members of the noble Sangha are human beings just like you. They started out with all the strengths and weakness you have and somehow they were able to use those strengths to overcome those weaknesses in the face of all kinds of odds. If …
- Balancing Effort & Patience… Right view starts out with conviction in the principle of karma: that the pleasure and the pain, the happiness and the sorrow you experience, depend on your actions. They come from your actions. Your actions are real. You’re the one responsible for doing them, and they give results in line with the intention. That’s how much you’re asked to believe. Now …
- Circumspection… You try to associate with people who have conviction, people who are generous, people who are virtuous, people who are wise and discerning. Those are the people you want to hang out with. Those are the people you want to open up to, to talk about what’s in your heart. But as for people who don’t meet those standards, you’ve got …
- Magha Puja: Showing Respect with the Practice… And at this point, you develop a more certain refuge, a more solid refuge inside, when that refuge gets really solidified to the point where you have no more doubts about it because your faith and conviction in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha have been confirmed, that these teachings, these practices really do lead to a deathless freedom from suffering. Then you …
- 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… Now, what’s interesting is the Buddha applies this 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 …
- 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 …
- Glad to Be Here… Ajaan Suwat would talk about this very often. “Come with a sense,” he would say, “of conviction that this is a good thing to be doing, and confidence that if you master this skill, it’ll take you far. And that you do have the ability to master it.” This is why it’s important to have a cheerful attitude as you do this …
- 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 …
- Meaning & Happiness… It requires determination; it requires conviction; it requires circumspection. Be very careful about how you choose your models. Don’t listen to just anybody. Once you’ve chosen a good model, see what’s getting in the way of following that model. Be willing to give up the things that get in the way. Hold onto the things that are maybe difficult to do …
- Dharma Warriors… Develop a sense of conviction, develop a sense of feeling inspired by the meditation as you sit down to do it. So if you find yourself sitting here wondering why you’re doing this, looking at your breath for another whole hour after you’ve been looking at the breath for the whole day, remind yourself that this is something you really want to …
- Building Character… 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 the list of the noble treasures: conviction, a sense of shame, a sense of compunction, virtue, learning, generosity, and discernment. These are treasures that, as you build them into your mind, are there for a good long time. No …
- Fire… But even on the way there, the treasures that we build into the mind – our conviction, our virtue, our sense of shame and compunction, our learning, our generosity, our discernment – are treasures that no outside fire can burn. Just make sure your inner fires don’t burn them up, and you’ll be safe.
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