Search results for: "Generosity"

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  2. In the Mood to Meditate
     … As the Buddha said, you can reflect on your virtue, you can reflect on your generosity. You may say, “My virtue isn’t all that great.” Well, think about the times when you did do something virtuous when you didn’t have to, or the times you were generous and you didn’t have to be. Those thoughts can gladden the mind. Of course … 
  3. Four Mountains Moving In
     … But it so happens that the path leading to this state of unconnectedness requires generosity, requires virtue. We leave good things for other people as we go, but always keeping in mind that the only true safety there is, is when we go. In the meantime, there are going to be dangers all around. And some of the worst dangers are the ones we … 
  4. You Can Do It
     … They include conviction, a sense of shame, a sense of compunction, learning, generosity. These are all things that human beings can work on, human beings can master. Some of those knowledges might be beyond us, but the ability to see a defilement and put an end to it is not, the ability to get your mind to settle down is not. These things are … 
  5. Teaching Old Selves New Tricks
     … Then as you learn how to look for happiness through virtue, through generosity, through development of goodwill, you find that you develop new skills. You look at your actions and you can be proud of them. Your sense of self will change. So remember it’s important that you don’t think that you have a certain kind of self that always has to … 
  6. The Real World Isn’t for Real
     … We develop virtue, we develop generosity, good habits inside, good habits in our relationships with people around us, so that we have a sense of self-esteem, that we do have some self-worth. That way, when things come up in the mind that challenge our self-image, we’re not devastated. We have the confidence that we have enough goodness to deal with … 
  7. Songkran Blessing
     … You can turn it into the perfection of generosity. You can turn it into perfection of determination, in which you want to use your wealth for a really good purpose. That way, these things do become blessings because you have the wisdom to use them properly. At the same time, you can think about long life, beauty, happiness, strength, in terms of inner qualities … 
  8. Go Out of Your Way
     … The Buddha would start his teachings with generosity. Of course, that doesn’t mean just being generous with things. It also includes being generous with your time, your energy, your knowledge, your forgiveness. Having that attitude of “What can I give?” or “What can I give up?” will give you the energy to go far.
  9. Goodwill & Gratitude
     … After all, generosity, virtue, meditation: These things are all beneficial for others in addition to being primarily beneficial for ourselves. So we’re looking for a happiness that doesn’t create boundaries. This is why the Buddha said we should develop goodwill in all directions: goodwill without limit, compassion without limit, empathetic joy without limit—along with equanimity without limit to balance out our … 
  10. The Perception of Space
     … With generosity, when you give something, you let go. This was one of Ajaan Fuang’s major pet peeves, when people would come and give things to him and then insist that he had to do this or do that with what they had given. As he said, if they didn’t really give it, if they gave it with strings attached, then it … 
  11. Noble Wealth
     … the treasures of conviction, a healthy sense of shame, compunction, virtue, knowledge of the Dhamma, generosity, and discernment. He talked about them as a wise investment. This is very much unlike what we’ve heard in modern days about how bad it is to have an attitude of spiritual materialism, the idea that you’re going to get something out of the practice or … 
  12. Self Determination
     … You practice generosity, you practice virtue, and especially you practice meditation, developing qualities of the mind where you take charge of your own mind for the sake of your long-term welfare and happiness. It’s one of those rare cases where you really do get to practice self-determination. Or in the Buddha’s terms, you direct yourself rightly. You choose your direction … 
  13. Planting a Tree
     … Practice generosity. Practice virtue. Practice meditation. Squeeze as much goodness as you can out of it before you have to discard the rind. And that connects with the last of the guardian meditations, which is recollection of death. The purpose of death recollection, of course, is heedfulness. We don’t know how much time we have, but we do have right now. When the … 
  14. Goodwill
     … It’s dependent on the generosity, the goodwill of other people. You look around the monastery here, everything here is a gift, or the result of a gift. So as we practice here, we’re doing it not just for ourselves, we’re also doing it for everyone who has provided the place where we live, the food that we eat, everything that makes … 
  15. Restlessness & Anxiety
     … Have some confidence in the Buddha, when he said that you protect yourself through your virtue, you protect yourself through your generosity and meditation. The more you can do these things now, the more protected you’ll be. In other words, make sure you’re living in a world where a Buddha is still remembered, the Dhamma is taught and practiced, and the Sangha … 
  16. Metta Meditation
     … There is a happiness that comes from training the mind—a happiness that comes from doing good things, developing qualities of mind like integrity, generosity, virtue, concentration, discernment. These are all good things to work on. The causes are good; the results are good. If you look at the human enterprise from this perspective, it takes on a whole new cast. And particularly if … 
  17. To Sustain Your Practice
     … The third quality is generosity. This means being generous with material things, but also being generous with the Dhamma, being generous with your time, being generous with your knowledge, being generous with your energy, being generous with your forgiveness. The fourth thing to look for is for someone who’s wise and discerning, and particularly who really discerns why we suffer and how we … 
  18. An Admirable Friend — In Memory of Luang Loong
     … You see the wisdom of generosity. As Ajaan Lee used to say, it’s like getting a coconut. You squeeze the milk out of the coconut flesh and you throw the dregs away. You take the milk. In the same way, when you give something away, you’ve basically squeezed all the good out of that thing. The object itself is like the dregs … 
  19. How the Tree Leans
     … Whereas if you develop the treasures of the mind—virtue, conviction, a healthy sense of shame, a healthy sense of compunction, learning, generosity, discernment: These things lean the mind in the right direction. Even more so, there’s the noble eightfold path. Why do you want the mind to lean? Well, think of a tree. There are trees that are leaning over all the … 
  20. Undefeated Goodwill
     … the causes and be willing and able to act on them.” When you think about it, the ways of looking for happiness that would be safe and effective come down to generosity, virtue, and meditation. This is where we look for happiness—if we have goodwill for ourselves, goodwill for others. The second quality that goes into determination is truth. Once we have thoughts … 
  21. A Post-goodness World?
     … welfare and happiness? What when I do it will lead to my long-term harm and suffering? And first-level answer to those questions is the three types of meritorious action: generosity, virtue, and the development of goodwill. As the Buddha said, the term “act of merit” is another word for happiness. It’s a type of happiness that’s blameless. It doesn’t … 
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