Search results for: "Conviction"

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  2. Taking the Long View
     … When the Buddha talks about the treasures that we can develop in the mind— things like conviction, virtue, shame, compunction, learning, generosity, and discernment—we can also develop their opposites. So the question is, which side do you want to take with you—the skillful side or the unskillful side? Because these are the things that you can take with you. The things of … 
  3. Looking for Happiness Inside
     … Sariputta, “Do you believe that by developing the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment that they lead to the Deathless?” And Sariputta says, “No, I don’t believe that. I know.” Try to get to the point where you can say that, too.
  4. Undividing the Mind
     … It means you have to use all of the strengths you have—the strength of conviction, the strength of persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment—to figure out: What is the appropriate right effort right now? How much effort? What kind of effort? That way you won’t feel the regret later on that maybe if you’d developed those strengths a little bit more, they … 
  5. Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
     … If you decide to take the Buddha’s path, you start out with conviction in the four noble truths, and you try to apply that. That turns everything into the path. When the path really comes together, it leads to something that is beyond. You have your first taste that it really is true what the Buddha said: There is this dimension outside of … 
  6. Potentials
     … It’s in this sense that conviction in the Buddha’s awakening is helpful. He shows the potential of what a human being can do. Of course, he was a very special human being, but the qualities he had developed to make himself special are qualities we all have in potential form. Resolution, ardency, heedfulness: These are things that we already have to some … 
  7. Good Eating
     … It gives you the conviction that you can do this, that you are a worthy person. Virtue is also a good form of food for the mind. When you make up your mind that you’re not going to harm yourself, you’re not going to harm other people, and you stick to that promise that you make to yourself, you can look at … 
  8. The Wall of Discernment
     … compunction as a moat and a road around the fortress. You need mindfulness as the gatekeeper, and right effort as the soldiers, knowledge of the Dhamma as their weapons, concentration as their food. Conviction is the foundation post. All of these things working together enable discernment to do its work to make sure that your fortress, and the protection it provides, can be complete.
  9. Make a Difference
    When we first hear the four noble truths and we have a sense of conviction that they’re true, the proper response is to see them as an opportunity to make a difference. You realize you’ve been acting in ways that lead to suffering, but you don’t have to continue in those ways. This means that the Buddha doesn’t simply teach … 
  10. Allies
     … Start out with a sense of conviction in what you’re doing. The skill we’re working on here has been something that has been handed down for the past 2,600 years because it works. The people who found that it works are people of integrity, people we can trust. What we’re doing is learning how to use this skill to become … 
  11. Abandoning Effluents (1)
     … Where is the suffering? What is the suffering? What’s the best way to relate to that? What’s causing the suffering? What’s the best way to relate to that? What actions can lead to the end of suffering? What’s the best way to relate to those? That line of thinking, even though it’s not knowledge yet, at least is conviction … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. The Intelligent Heart
     … Develop a sense of conviction and a sense of clarity.” There’s an adjective in Pali, pasanna: It means clarity, it means confidence. Lift your heart as you lift your mind to the meditation topic. Remember, it’s a lifting that we’re doing here, raising our level. And even though the daily routine says that we do this, try to think of it … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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.
  18. 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 … 
  19. Dispassion Isn’t Oatmeal
     … It requires a lot of conviction. Still, the Buddha also gives us rewards along the way, one of them being the pleasure that comes from concentration. This, too, requires some ginger and garlic. In other words, you have to appreciate it. But you begin to realize that being able to tap into a reliable well-being inside like this is much better than just … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. Death & Goodwill
     … you can do for your long-term welfare and happiness in spite of death, you can focus on developing inner treasures that you can take with you. You know the list: conviction, virtue, a healthy sense of shame, compunction, learning, generosity, discernment. These are all things you can work on for your long-term welfare and happiness. You should work on them now, while … 
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