Search results for: "Conviction"
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- Faith in the Buddha’s Awakening… This is why it requires a sense of conviction. Some of the results we can see along the way, but the ultimate result comes only after we’ve learned how to apply this principle of right effort. So take the Buddha’s awakening as your working hypothesis. And as you show respect for the Buddha, remember you’re also showing respect for your desire …
- Basic Wisdom… Underlying that is the conviction, and heedfulness, based the motivation by which you tell yourself you really would rather not suffer. You really would like to see the end of suffering. This is how our practice of generosity, virtue, and meditation leads to wisdom and discernment. And it’s how the wisdom and discernment lead to the end of suffering. They’re embodied in …
- In Your Right Mind at Death… So have strong conviction that your actions—your good actions—really do have power, and that you can depend on the memory of those actions. Finally, knowing the true Dhamma: That requires that you’ve had at least a glimpse of the deathless, so that you know there is something in the mind that’s outside of space and time. Death goes only as …
- The Graduated Discourse… That really requires, one, the conviction that this is something that’s really worthwhile to do; and two, the strength of mind to be with pain, to be with suffering, long enough so that you can comprehend it. To do that, you need to develop the path, both the right view that points out why this is important, and the practice of right effort …
- Making a Refuge… With the relationships, you look for admirable friends, people who are a good example in terms of their conviction, their generosity, their virtue, and their discernment. These are people you want to associate with because if they’re generous, they’ll be happy to share their knowledge with you. You can see the Dhamma not only in their words, but also in their actions …
- Working Hypotheses… Which is why stream-entry—the arising of the Dhamma eye—is the point where your conviction in these working hypotheses is confirmed. The Buddha doesn’t ask us to believe in a lot. As he said, the things that he taught were like the handful of leaves as compared to the leaves in the forest. The leaves in the forest were all the …
- Many I’s, Many Eyes… So even though having a committee may be difficult in the beginning because they’re all pulling in different directions, if you learn how to gather them around the breath, and the breath feels really good, really attractive, so that you can immediately see the results, so that you’re not just going on the strength of conviction or the strength of desire, but …
- Choices Now & at Death… Up to that point, it’s a matter of faith—or if you don’t like the word faith, use the word conviction. It’s a working hypothesis. Act on it and, the Buddha says, you’ll benefit. Everybody who’s reached awakening also says you’ll benefit. They’re the kind of people you want to believe.
- Directing Yourself Rightly… Try to gather up the strengths you can from within—the strengths of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment—and keep them directed in line with your determination that you’re *not *going to be a victim of circumstances. Your sense of direction will allow you to overcome circumstances so that regardless of where you are, your practice still takes top priority and doesn …
- An Issue of Control… It’s our conviction in the Buddha’s awakening that convinces us that this is a worthwhile path to explore. So focus on what you can do right now to create a sense of ease, pleasure, well-being, refreshment in the present moment. Breathe in a way that feels especially refreshing to the heart and any other parts of your breath-energy body that …
- Different Paths Go Different Places… all the treasures of conviction, virtue, a sense of shame and compunction, your knowledge of the Dhamma, generosity, discernment, and the food of good concentration. Nobody else can take these things away from you. These are treasures that are safe. The treasures out there in the world, as the Ajaan Lee likes to say, are like the gold chains that people wear around their …
- Truths of the Will… Building on that, hold to the conviction that if you want your life to have a point, you have to give it a point, and you can do that. No matter how discouraging the facts you can observe in your life, don’t believe that the observable facts are telling the total story or that your future is already cast in concrete. You constantly …
- Good Fundamentals… The more experienced the people are in terms of generosity, virtue, conviction, and discernment—particularly discernment into how to put an end to suffering—the more you benefit. What it comes down to is the Buddha’s realization that the Big Problem in life is the suffering we cause, and yet we don’t have to. Why do we cause that suffering? It’s …
- Appropriate Attention Plus Admirable Friendship… is having admirable friends, in other words, people you can trust. He said there are four qualities you want to look for in the people you’re going to stay with. Conviction in the principle of action, in other words, belief that what you do really does matter, really will make a difference, generosity, virtue, and discernment. The Buddha said that one of the …
- All About Change… strengths like conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment. They may be weak now, but as you exercise them, they do get stronger. We were talking the other day about comparing exercising the mind to exercising a muscle. There are some parallels. For one, there’s a lot of repetition. But if it’s nothing but repetition, the muscle gets worn out, and the same with …
- Appropriate Attention… If you have that conviction, the normal reaction will be then to look inside and see how the Dhamma talk applies to what you’re doing right now. That’s where the appropriate attention comes in. You listen to a Dhamma talk and ask yourself: How is it related to the suffering you’re creating right now? How is it related to the cause …
- Cook Your Mind… It takes time to find joy in it, so learn how to cultivate your conviction. There have been many, many, many, many, many generations of people who’ve benefited from it. And it hasn’t depended on their nationality. It hasn’t depended on their gender. All it depended on was their willingness to be true in following the path, developing the path. And …
- Simplify… But by taking refuge in the Dhamma we’re taking refuge in the conviction that developing the mind will cover all contingencies. And because the practice of virtue, concentration, and discernment — all the seeds for happiness — lie right here, that simplifies matters. It also allows us to give our full energy to the things that matter most. So even if from the outside it …
- How to Listen to the Dhamma… the conviction that you’re here to train the mind because the mind can be trained and it will make a difference in your actions, and your actions will make a difference in your life. The Dhamma that’s being taught can be applicable to what’s going on in your mind right now, what you’re doing in the mind right now, and …
- The Noble Truth of Suffering… So getting started on the path is all based on faith, based on conviction. A lot of people don’t like the word faith. They take the attitude, “Didn’t the Buddha say not to believe anything that you can’t see for yourself?” That’s a very superficial reading of the Kālāma Sutta. He actually said that when you put something into practice …
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