Search results for: "Discernment"

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  2. Learning & Respect
     … I was reading something recently where someone was saying, “Why would the Buddha want you to have your mind still, when he wants you to develop discernment? You have to think in order to gain discernment.” Well, there is the discernment that comes from thinking, and it’s an important part of learning. You learn something new, and then you think about how it … 
  3. Timeless Dhamma
    When we’re practicing the Dhamma, observing the precepts, developing concentration and discernment, we’re following a path that was set out more the 2,500 years ago. The reason we’re still following it is because it addresses a problem that hasn’t changed. It’s not as if what was designed to deal with a particular problem that came up in one … 
  4. Nimble with Your Questions
     … But discernment doesn’t arise that way. Discernment comes from being a genius—from learning how to phrase new questions, questions that didn’t occur to you before. You see this in the Buddha; you see this in the teachings of all the great masters. The Buddha came to his meditation with a question that was different from other people’s questions. Other people … 
  5. The Noble Path to Happiness
     … This is the beginning both of discernment and of concentration. In the beginning your main focus is on concentration, getting the mind to settle down. But the same process applies to developing discernment. After all, what is discernment? Seeing things in terms of four noble truths. Sometimes we’re told that it’s seeing things in terms of the three characteristics, but, one, the … 
  6. A Mental Fortress
     … It’s interesting, in that the Buddha says the wall here stands for your discernment, and it’s plastered so that nobody from the outside can get a handhold to climb over the wall. In other words, you learn to look at the world around you from the point of view of what’s skillful and what’s not, so that no bad influences … 
  7. Delusion
     … This is why it’s important to learn how to develop discernment. The Buddha talks about three ways of developing discernment. The first is listening, the second is thinking, and the third is developing. Listening means finding people who are wise and listening to what they have to say, and also listening to their examples—in other words, try to notice how they do … 
  8. Don’t Worry, Be Focused
     … This is a lot of what discernment is about. Sometimes people think that discernment is simply learning how not to think at all. You just watch arising and passing away and just let it arise and pass away, and that’s it, but as long as there are any bits and pieces of misunderstanding hanging around in the mind, the mind is going to … 
  9. The Psychology of Harmlessness
     … As the Buddha says, you discern when the breath is long, you discern when it’s short. The word “discerning” here doesn’t mean you simply watch what’s already there. The analogy he gives is of a turner, someone who turns wood on a lathe. The turner discerns when he’s making a long turn and when he’s making a short turn … 
  10. Blowing Bubbles
     … This is an important lesson in discernment as well. So the ability to drop a thought very quickly is an important part of developing both concentration and discernment. A bubble gets blown and you watch it from the outside; you don’t get inside it. You see the process of bubble-blowing. You begin to understand it. You stop it more and more quickly … 
  11. The Noble Eightfold Path to the Deathless
     … The first two—right view and right resolve—come under discernment. The next three—right speech, right action, and right livelihood—come under virtue. And the last three—right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration—come under concentration. What’s distinctive about the path is that of the various sets of the wings to awakening, it’s the only one that starts with discernment … 
  12. The Rewards of Cleanliness
     … that by keeping the monastery clean, one of the rewards is wisdom and discernment. It’s interesting to think about the connection, because this relates very directly to the mind. Keep the mind clean and you’re going to gain a lot of discernment. So what’s the connection? One, when you’re sweeping up a place, you get very intimately acquainted with it … 
  13. Above & Beyond Suffering
     … After all, we’re trying to develop discernment here. And discernment doesn’t come from simply following instructions. It comes from taking instructions and applying them, seeing what the results are, making adjustments here, making adjustments there, learning how to question things. The Buddha once said that that one of the signs of a person of discernment is how that person approaches a question … 
  14. Inner Strength, Inner Wealth
     … And finally there’s wisdom, discernment. It’s both a strength and a form of wealth. The Buddha talks about discernment in pragmatic terms. For example, you know there’s something that you like to do but is going to cause suffering down the line: You have the discernment to know how to talk yourself out of doing it. Or if there’s something … 
  15. Take Good Aim
    Take Good Aim January 9, 2016 The Buddha compares the discernment that comes from meditation to the skills of being a good archer. You’re able to shoot long distances, fire accurate shots in rapid succession, and pierce great masses. In other words, you see the long-term results of what you’re doing, or of different possible courses of action, so that you … 
  16. A Poker Mind
     … Part of your mind may say, “No, it’s not equal at all,” but for the time being you can borrow some of the Buddha’s discernment. This is what the strength or the treasure of learning is. We’re borrowing the Buddha’s discernment to help us when we can’t create discernment of our own. Part of this lies in learning how … 
  17. Protection Through the Practice
     … Then you carry out their instructions and you become more discerning yourself about what those dangers are. When you meditate, you don’t simply follow instructions. Meditation is designed to make you sensitive to cause and effect as they’re happening in the mind, and that requires that you experiment and observe the results of your action. Meditation is also designed to give you … 
  18. A Path Under the Trees
     … When you think in these ways, you bring some discernment to your concentration. It’s not the case that you have to wait until your concentration is perfected and then you develop discernment. You develop discernment in the process of getting the mind to settle down, because you come to see the mind a lot more clearly and understand what it’s doing. This … 
  19. Switzerland Inside
     … The first one is that whatever going to happen in the world, you have no idea what will happen, but you do know that whatever comes up, you’re going to need a lot of inner wealth—like the mindfulness you’re developing right now, the alertness, the concentration, the discernment. These things will stand you in good stead no matter what. So, put … 
  20. Nurturing Patient Endurance
     … The remaining two qualities the Buddha said you have to work on are discernment and ingenuity. Discernment means basically seeing what you’re doing and the results of what you’re doing. And then ingenuity, quick-wittedness: Patibhana is the Pali term. It’s a term that doesn’t appear in many lists, but it is important. You don’t go just by what … 
  21. Bases of Power
     … It’s in learning how to read your own mind that the concentration develops your discernment, and develops your sensitivity as to what works and what doesn’t work. That’s where the real discernment lies. So we use these lists that the Buddha provided as ways of reading ourselves, and it’s in reading ourselves that we learn the discernment that’s not … 
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