Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Self-Reliance
     … In some contexts, the external factor is simply said to be “the voice of another person.” In other words, there are times when you listen to a Dhamma talk and it wakes you up. There are cases in the Canon where the Buddha gives Dhamma talks and people immediately awaken, sometimes all the way to arahantship. But even if you don’t get that … 
  3. Bodies & Minds Outside
     … To listen to the Dhamma, you need the ears. So you realize that the best use for this body is to practice the Dhamma. If you ever aspire to another lifetime, you want a body that’s able to practice the Dhamma. But to keep these priorities clear, you have to strip away any idea that the body’s worth lies in looking good … 
  4. Being a Buddhist
     … You heard a talk on the Dhamma, you were inspired, and you would say to the Buddha or to the person giving the talk that you were taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha of monks. At some point the process became a little bit more formal. In the Khuddakapāṭha which is a later text in the suttas, the very first … 
  5. A Sense of Yourself
     … One is your learning in terms of the Dhamma. This is an aspect that’s sometimes downplayed in the forest tradition. You have to understand that the Dhamma textbooks that were available in those days were pretty bad. Which is why Ajaan Mun would say, especially to the people who’ve been studying Pali and reading the commentaries, “Put your knowledge away in a … 
  6. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … As you stay longer as a monk and you start teaching, you find that people have a lot of opinions about what they want to hear, what kind of Dhamma they approve of and what kind of Dhamma they don’t. If you’re afraid that they’re not going to give you nice food, nice clothing, and nice shelter, you give in. And … 
  7. The Value of Refuge
    When newcomers would come to practice meditation with Ajaan Fuang, he’d give them Ajaan Lee’s seven steps in “Method 2,” have them read it, and then he’d have them pay homage to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and sit in meditation. The question is, why would he have them pay homage? The answer is that the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha represent … 
  8. Mindfulness: Get with the Program
     … That way, you’re close to the lessons you’ve learned, not only from what you’ve done in your own meditation, but also from what you’ve heard in Dhamma talks, what you’ve read. This is one of the reasons why, in the old days, they would have you memorize passages of Dhamma. There were monks who memorized the entire Canon or … 
  9. Good Fences All Around You
     … There’s Dhamma and non-Dhamma. You’ve got both inside you and it’s important that you learn how to recognize which is which. The fence is there to help you. If you run up against the fence, you realize, okay, something inside is trying to get out, to break a hole and wreak havoc in the neighborhood. But once you break open … 
  10. Training in Right Resolve
     … This is called practicing the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma. You take your ideas of right and wrong, and you check them against what the Buddha said is going to be conducive to true well-being. Whenever there’s a conflict between your ideas and his advice, you’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. This is what’s meant … 
  11. Inner Strength, Inner Wealth
     … And it’s especially important in the midst of our responsibilities to continue to practice the Dhamma. There’s a widespread misunderstanding that practicing the Dhamma means just meditation, but actually there’s more to it. There’s the practice of generosity, the practice of virtue, all the qualities that create strength in the mind and provide the mind with its wealth. There are … 
  12. Investment Strategies
    The Dhamma is something special—so special that only honest people can practice it. As the Buddha once said, “Bring me an observant person, one who’s honest and no deceiver, and I’ll teach that person the Dhamma.” In other words, truthfulness is the essential prerequisite for the practice. And there’s something deep down inside of us that responds to that, because … 
  13. Delight in Concentration
     … Take delight in the fact that you’ve got this Dhamma available and you can practice it. On the days when you don’t want to follow the path, you can ask yourself, “Do you really want to live in a world where there is no path, where there is no Dhamma?” Because that’s what you’re doing as you wander away from … 
  14. Thinking Your Way to Stillness
     … That’s the sort of person who found the Dhamma we’re practicing. You could think of similar ways about the Dhamma and the Sangha to get yourself inspired about what you’re doing here. As for yourself, sometimes you’ve got to get yourself inspired about yourself as well. That’s what the reflections on virtue, generosity, and the devas are all about … 
  15. How to Look, How to Listen
    We chant every day that the Dhamma is opanayiko. It’s translated as “pertinent.” But pertinent to what? Pertinent to the problems in your own mind. Another way of translating it is, “something to be brought inward.” You take the Dhamma inward and use it as a measuring stick for your own mind, to see where you’re still lacking, to see where you … 
  16. Nurturing Patient Endurance
     … And these were people for the most part who had heard one Dhamma talk from the Buddha and gained awakening. But now they were going to go out to teach, so the Buddha gave them a long Dhamma talk that afternoon that filled in the details, starting with some of the more basic principles, so they could teach the Dhamma to a wide range … 
  17. The Joy of Heedfulness
     … Given that the human birth is so hard to come by, what would you do?” And the king said, “What else would I do but right conduct, Dhamma conduct, meritorious actions, skillful actions?” So the Buddha then said, “Well, I declare to you, great king: Aging, illness, and death are rolling in, squashing all beings in their path. What are you going to do … 
  18. Three Weapons
     … Learning here of course means learning the Dhamma. It’s good to have a fund of Dhamma knowledge that you can draw on. When something comes up in meditation, you can stop and think: “What would the Buddha say about this?” The more you know what about he actually said, then the more likely you are to come up with something appropriate. As for … 
  19. Think Outside the Ruts
     … This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to see that, as we’re bringing the Dhamma to the West, we shouldn’t be in such a great hurry to make the Dhamma fit in with our Western views of reality. After all, our views of reality are making us suffer. The Dhamma’s offering us another way of looking at … 
  20. Doing Nothing
     … The Buddha sets out the basic outline in the various sets of dhammas. At different times in your meditation, you’ll find that different sets of dhammas speak precisely to what’s going on in your mind. But it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no single quality that will take you all the way. Analysis of qualities—this ability to … 
  21. The Source of Goodness
     … Several questions that were addressed in that group of people focused on the issue of the Dhamma of relationships, or relationships as a path. Although the Buddha never said that that path was equivalent to the path of meditation, you can’t just meditate and hope that it’s going to straighten out your life. You have to work on developing certain qualities in … 
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