Search results for: "Dhamma"

  1. Page 22
  2. The Importance of Being Truthful
    The Dhamma’s something really special in that people who are not truthful, people who are not honest, can’t practice it. You have to bring truthfulness to the act of listening to the Dhamma, to the practice of the Dhamma, if you want to gain any attainment in the Dhamma. Otherwise, things get directed off-course. So if you want to start practicing … 
  3. The Power of Human Effort
    Every evening, we have chants in honor of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, recollecting their virtues before we meditate. This is a good way of uplifting the mind—or as the texts say, gladdening the mind. These recollections put you in the right mood to meditate. You think about the kind of person the Buddha was, the person who found this path … 
  4. Refuge in an Admirable Friend
     … As the Buddha said, the Dhamma protects those who practice the Dhamma. And he exemplified the Dhamma in the way he acted and taught. There are three main qualities that are associated with the Buddha. What’s interesting about them, in the way he explains how they get started, how they get developed, is that they’re all based on trying to find happiness … 
  5. Deep Time
     … You want to ask yourself how much longer you want to be open to the possibility that there’s more bad karma, or of coming back and forgetting about the Dhamma and doing stupid things all over again. We’ve done that who knows how many times. We learn some Dhamma and then we forget. Then we learn it again, forget it again. They … 
  6. The Best of a Bad Situation
     … One of the most popular sayings there is that the Dhamma protects those who practice the Dhamma. People go to monasteries hoping for protective blessings. There’s a huge market in protective amulets. What it comes down to is that people there have a very strong sense of how unstable society is, that there are lots of dangers all around. So they look to … 
  7. The Dhamma Wheel
    The sutta we chanted just now is called “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion.” Sometimes the question comes up, “Where’s the wheel?” It’s in that section where the Buddha goes through all four noble truths, describing the duty appropriate to each and the fact that he has completed those duties. There are basically two sets of variables. On the one hand … 
  8. The Gift of Spiritual Materialism
     … Learning is your knowledge of the Dhamma. Here, too, you’re not the only one who benefits when you know the Dhamma. You can share it with others. At the very least, if you act in line with the Dhamma you’ve learned, other people will benefit. Generosity is the way in which it’s most obvious that other people benefit from your good … 
  9. Songkran Blessing
     … See how much goodness you can squeeze out of it before you have to throw it away.” The woman took heart from that and she was able to transcribe all 90 of the Dhamma talks. Now, as a result, we have two large books of very good Dhamma talks. That was somebody in her 80s. So just because you’re old doesn’t mean … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
  22. Load next page...