Search results for: "Wisdom"
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- Evaluation… As Ajaan Lee would say, this is the sign of a person of wisdom and discernment—someone with the ability to get good use out of anything. So even though attachment may be part of the problem, you can make it part of the solution. Ajaan Lee has that great passage where he says, “To take good things and make them good doesn’t …
- Thinking About Rebirth… He focused on developing wisdom. He said, learn how to live in the world in a wise way. Live going forward. If you’re trying to get justice done, try to do it in a way that will incline people to stop their unskillful behavior. That requires that you get them to see things in the right light and understand the principle of karma …
- Discernment… Sāriputta’s wisdom—his discernment—was so sharp that that’s immediately how he interpreted it. And he immediately looked into what was beyond, after the cessation of that cause. That’s how he saw the deathless. That’s the kind of insight—the kind of discernment—that’s noble. When you look at the four noble truths, you notice, of course, that discernment …
- How to Be an Admirable Friend… Point out to them: “I did this, and these were the consequences.” That way, you learn from other people’s wisdom. The fool is someone who thinks he can figure out everything on his own. We’ve had who knows how many generations of people practicing the Dhamma now. There are bound to be people who’ve learned how to avoid mistakes and how …
- Strategies for Generosity… virtue, forgiveness, the wisdom that sees through the defilements in the mind. In all cases, those are best served by having a good, solid practice of concentration as food for your mind—a sense of ease, well-being, and fullness that you can create inside, which also gives you the perspective that you can start seeing all the other subtler ways you place limitations …
- Meaning & Purpose… Are they really worth it? Are they for your long-term welfare and happiness, or just short-term? This is where you start applying your wisdom and discernment—for the purpose of finding a happiness that really is reliable. And you begin to appreciate more and more the path that the Buddha set out. It meets your purposes. All of us have as a …
- Impossible Things… He said they’re a measure of a person’s wisdom and discernment. He didn’t say they’re a measure of your willpower. You need to use discernment to do the things you don’t like to do but give good results and to not do the things you like to do but give bad results. The discernment lies not only in seeing …
- Perspectives & Priorities… your greed, aversion, delusion, and your irritation, or your wisdom and compassion? You want to keep in mind what the Buddha had to say about these things. That’s how you train a wise inner critic. Then you want to be alert, watching what you’re actually doing, so that you can check to make sure that it is in line with the Buddha …
- Only Your Best… things that are important, part of which is that you remember the long term. Sometimes you have to sacrifice things in the short term for the sake of the long term. Wisdom lies in having the right priorities as to what’s important. There’s that saying, “Everything worth doing is worth doing well,” which is not quite the case. With some things, it …
- Look after the Source… As the Buddha said, a sign of wisdom is realizing where your responsibilities lie and where your responsibilities don’t lie. The source, the mind’s desire for happiness, is where your true responsibilities lie. You want to make sure that that desire is aimed in the right direction, toward a happiness that’s harmless and blameless, a happiness that’s true. As long …
- Slogging Through Difficulties… This is how wisdom develops, how discernment develops. It’s not the case that the mind settles down all the time and gets into a nice, blissful state and then gains quick and easy insights. Sometimes the insights have to come through making mistakes, slogging through the difficult parts of the practice. This is where equanimity and patience come in. You may not want …
- Delusion… This is one of the themes you see again and again in the forest tradition—that it’s through right effort that our wisdom really develops. Ajahn Maha Boowa’s example is of someone who’s learned military science. You can learn all kinds of things in the classroom, you can have diagrams on the blackboard, and have read up on all the different …
- Opportunities Everywhere… Heedfulness is the motivating factor, the wisdom that sees that “I don’t have much time, I want to do what good I can.” Diligence is when you actually carry through. Of course, we all know the dangers of allowing the daily work schedule to squeeze out your meditation. But don’t let the meditation squeeze out the other good you can do as …
- Train Your Hunger (The Sea Squirt)… And that’s supposed to be wisdom. You basically take an equanimous attitude toward things as they arise and pass away, knowing that ultimately everything’s going to pass away, and that’s it. Well, to give up feeding on the world out there simply because there’s no permanent self, or because nothing out there is permanent, is like saying you’re going …
- The Rewards of Cleanliness… that by keeping the monastery clean, one of the rewards is wisdom and discernment. It’s interesting to think about the connection, because this relates very directly to the mind. Keep the mind clean and you’re going to gain a lot of discernment. So what’s the connection? One, when you’re sweeping up a place, you get very intimately acquainted with it …
- Tranquility, Insight, & Concentration… That’s the wisdom factor here. In trying to do it well, you’re trying to master this as a skill. As for any thoughts of the world outside—what the Buddha puts under the categories of greed and distress—just put those aside. Then as you stay here, the mind settles down with a sense of well-being. When the Buddha would tell …
- Firmly Intent… what the Buddha said were the questions of insight: “How am I supposed to understand this process of fabrication, putting together this state of concentration? How do I see it with wisdom?” In other words, how do I do this in a way that eliminates as much stress and strain as possible, but at the same time is really consistent? We’re not here …
- Strength from Within… Your ultimate strength, of course, is discernment and wisdom, the ability to see where you’re causing unnecessary stress and suffering, and how you can relieve it. What you’re doing: You can see yourself doing it and you can stop. That’s basically what it comes down to: You see that the problem is not with people outside, it’s with your own …
- Training Your Intentions… Show some wisdom in your practice. Show some discernment. We all have some discernment, it’s just a matter of putting it to use. As you put it to use, it begins to grow. It’s like a muscle that you haven’t used very much—it may be weak, but it’s there. If you exercise it, it gets stronger and stronger. So …
- Listening to the True Dhamma… When Ajaan Lee explains those three qualities, he says that the wisdom faculty in those three is the ardency. You realize that these teachings are not just there to look at or think about, but to put into practice. So if you’re really wise, you’ll put them into practice. This is how you test the true Dhamma. You look for what happens …
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