Search results for: "Greed"
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- A Refuge in Quiescence… Our greed, aversion, and delusion present a lot of dangers. Our wrong views, wrong resolves, wrong actions: It’s because of these things that we need refuge. Traditionally, we talk about taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. In the Buddha’s time, it seems to have been a common pattern: People who knew nothing about the Buddha’s teachings would …
- To Excel… But the defilements will pull you away, and you go with them because you think they’re you—your greed, your anger, your whatever. But you don’t seem to be too picky about what they are. As long as it’s “you,” you go with them. That’s where we all fall down. So it’s wise to look at defilements not as …
- Seclusion… Once you get the frame of reference, then as the texts say, you put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. In other words, your frame of reference is just the body sitting right here, right now, breathing in, breathing out. As for who you are and what your name is, you can put issues like that aside. Those are issues of …
- The Forerunner of All Things… You don’t simply fall head over heels into whatever state of becoming is being pushed on you by your greed, aversion, or delusion. In this way, staying with the breath makes you sensitive, and it also gives you some resistance. The benefits of having the mind in charge come from directing it in a skillful way. Think of that question the Buddha has …
- Staying Grounded… At the very least, you’re not going to cause yourself a lot of delusion, greed, or aversion. And you’re less likely to get involved in any struggles and conflicts that go around these things. Conflict, the Buddha said, comes from the thought process he calls papañca. It’s a hard term to translate. Some people like proliferation, but the issue not so …
- The Pleasure of the Middle Way… Any sensual pleasure that requires that you break the precepts or aggravates greed, aversion, or delusion in the mind is a pleasure you’ve got to avoid. Then there’s a gray range in between. With certain pleasures, if some people enjoy them they don’t have any bad effect on their minds, but if other people indulge them, they do develop bad effects …
- Desert Island Meditation… keeping track of the body in and of itself—ardent, alert and mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. Or feelings in and of themselves, the mind in an of itself, mental qualities in and of themselves: That’s our island. And what are you going to take on that island? Hopefully, things that don’t clutter it up, things …
- Rapture… Why go out looking for trouble? Greed, aversion, and delusion are all looking for trouble. They’re like strong attacks of hunger and they’re never really satisfied. When you act on these things, they may provide a little bit of fullness and a little bit of energy, but then it goes. It’s like food that’s bad for your health. But here …
- A Pure Happiness… If you start thinking about it in big terms—like a huge mass of greed, huge mass of desire, huge mass of anger or whatever it is—it’ll knock you over. But if you realize you can break it down into little bits and pieces—just this particular thought right here, right now—you realize that that particular thought is not so difficult …
- What to Keep in Mind… What are the different frames of reference that you can use as you’re practicing right mindfulness? It never asks any questions about what it means to be ardent as you’re doing this, or what it means to put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. Those parts of the mindfulness formula just don’t get touched on. For that, you …
- Hypocrisy… Or you begin to discover that there are really some strong areas of greed or aversion that you haven’t been honest with yourself about, that tend to show up around issues of food, clothing, shelter. So look for them. Delight in abandoning the unskillful qualities and in developing the skillful ones, wherever you may find them functioning, so that this becomes a habit …
- A Healthy Body Image… walk. Mindfully. With concentration. When they talk about being wakeful: You spend the time—when you’re not lying down to sleep—walking and sitting, cleansing the mind of unskillful qualities: greed, aversion, delusion, lust, fear, jealousy, all the unskillful things that can come up. When you’ve got the strength, that’s the best use of your strength. So the body is good …
- Where You Set Your Heart… Then two, you put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. **In other words, any thoughts that come up with regard to the world, about what you want about the world, about how you’re upset about what’s going on in the world—you have to put those aside. ** **You’re very definitely making a choice of where you’re going …
- Samvega vs. Dispassion… It’s trapped by its own greed. That’s samvega. You look around and there’s nowhere in the world that you can see any way out. Everybody’s fighting over what little bit of food there is, emotional or physical. The Buddha’s image was of fish fighting over that last gulp of water in a dwindling puddle before they’re all going …
- Take Care… If you focus on the wrong kinds of things, they can give rise to anger, greed, delusion; and then the ripple effect goes rippling out. So, we’re learning a very important skill here as we’re meditating: being very careful to stay with the breath, not letting the slightest thing pull us off, not letting the slightest thing interfere. This is precision work …
- Pleasing to the Noble Ones… You focus on an aspect of the body in and of itself, and you put aside greed and distress with a reference to the world. That’s what the formula says. You’re doing two things. One is trying to keep focused on the sensation of an aspect of the body, like the breath. The other is that if anything else comes up to …
- The Path Is in the Details… Is there any greed, anger, or delusion in there? If so, watch out. You have to be willing to the test your intentions and to learn from your mistakes. All this is the nuts and bolts of the meditation, which may sound dull and uninteresting, but if you keep your awareness on this level, you find you have less and less chance of being …
- Taking an Active Role… full-body awareness, it’s like throwing a rock into a ball of clay. The rock penetrates into the clay very easily. This can be an image for your own thoughts: Greed, anger, and delusion can take root pretty easily if you’re not filling your awareness with mindfulness, mindfulness of the whole body. Other people’s energies can enter into your space as …
- A Positive-Sum Game… But if you learn to gain some control over your mind so that it doesn’t go into areas that cause suffering, it doesn’t go into areas that cause stress, doesn’t go into areas that give rise to greed, anger, and delusion, impatience, fear, whateve: When you’ve gained the concentration, the mindfulness, and the discernment to see through these things, those …
- A Slave to the Dhamma… After all, what do the defilements ask us to do? Anything for the sake of greed, anything for the sake of anger, anything for the sake of delusion. You look at the ways of the world, the way people cheat, lie, mistreat each other, mistreat themselves: That’s what the slavery to defilements is like. You do horrible things, things you’re ashamed to …
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