Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Fear of Death
     … Then training in virtue, training in concentration, and training in discernment are required to deal with that last fear, the fear that comes from not having seen the true Dhamma. If you went up to somebody in the street and ask “Are you afraid of death because you haven’t seen the true Dhamma?” they wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. But … 
  3. Dhamma Survivalism
     … You might say that as a Dhamma practitioner, you’re a Dhamma survivalist, stocking up on goodness inside, because that’s something that can’t be taken away. Regular survivalists have stocks of food, weapons, whatnot, not realizing that by having lots of food stocked away, if they’re not generous with it when bad times come, then it’s going to be something … 
  4. Appropriate Attention Plus Admirable Friendship
     … The Buddha said that one of the advantages of living with a person like that is that you get a good example and, two, you get to hear the Dhamma. But sometimes the examples shout louder than the Dhamma you hear. You see the person in action, and the longer you stay with that person, the more you pick up of that person’s … 
  5. In Times of Danger and Fear
     … Or we might say we have to behave well, practice the Dhamma* because *of the dangers. If we don’t practice the Dhamma, we’re going to suffer. If we do practice, we won’t suffer—no matter how bad the situation is outside or how bad the situation is inside our bodies—because we’ve made the situation in our minds skillful. This … 
  6. The Fool & the Wise Person
     … We’ve got to practice the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma. This is a theme that Ajaan Suwat hammered at over and over again. And as he said, this was one of Ajaan Mun’s favorite themes. You can’t practice the Dhamma in line with your own likes, or pick and choose that you’d prefer this over that. Because what happens … 
  7. Working at Home
    Working at Home August 13, 2008 A traditional Pali term for concentration is vihara-dhamma, a home for the mind. It’s a place where the mind can stay. But it’s also more than that. As with any home, there’s more to the home than just the bedroom. And there’s more to the home than just living in it. First you … 
  8. What You Sense Directly
     … As you’re here, then you look back on the concepts that you’ve picked up from reading, studying, listening to the Dhamma, and you see them from a new angle. And you’re going to be much closer to seeing them in a way that’s really useful. So this is your touchstone that helps you sort through whatever Dhamma knowledge you have … 
  9. Respect for the Precepts
     … In other words, you adjust yourself, your attitudes, and your actions to fit in with the Dhamma, not the other way around. All too many of us say, “Well, let’s change the Dhamma here, change the Dhamma there; after all, we’re Westerners, we need a Western Dhamma”—that kind of attitude. How about putting that attitude aside, to say, “What would it … 
  10. Heedfulness for the Holidays
     … whatever Dhamma you’ve learned. It’s good to have a good fund of Dhamma that you’ve read and absorbed. And it’s good also to memorize some good principles of Dhamma so that when issues come up and you’re tempted to fall back into your old ways, you have a teacher inside. It’s like having the Buddha inside: What would … 
  11. The Dhamma Mirror
     … Well, the Dhamma is like that. It helps you see things right close to you that you otherwise wouldn’t see. Learn to use your actions as your mirror. That’s the Dhamma mirror. That’s when you see what you really need to see. When you see it, then you can do something about it.
  12. Freedom through Restraint
     … As the Buddha said, all dhammas come from desire. In this case, “dhammas” mean all phenomena, except for nibbana. Nibbana is beyond dhammas. So what is desire doing in your mind right now? Where’s it heading? Where’s it going? You want to see this clearly. This is why we focus our desires on getting the mind to settle down. That’s a … 
  13. Reinvest Your Noble Treasures
     … Before he left, he gave a Dhamma talk. Part of the Dhamma talk was that the things of the world come in pairs, but the Dhamma is one thing clear through. He didn’t say what that one thing was, but I think he was referring to the fact that every stage of the practice is giving—you give up things, you give up … 
  14. Immersed in the Body
     … And one of the lessons of concentration is that you can’t believe everything you think, even the lessons of Dhamma that tell you you’ve got to move on. You’ve got to bring in other lessons of Dhamma that say, “No, we’ve got to respect the concentration. Give it some space; give it some time. And question those other voices.” As … 
  15. Truth Is Where You’re True
     … This is one of the really fine things about the Dhamma: People who aren’t true to themselves will never know the Dhamma, what the Dhamma truly is. It requires that you be a very truthful person in order to understand it, in order to experience it. And when you stop to think about it, would you want to believe in any kind of … 
  16. Physical Pains & Painful Words
     … Ajaan Maha Boowa talks about listening to Ajaan Mun give a Dhamma talk. Ajaan Mun would give long Dhamma talks—sometimes they would go on for four hours—but, he said, Ajaan Mun would be giving you just the trunk of a tree, and you had to work out the branches. Not everything was explained. So, take some of these ideas about the perceptions … 
  17. Passion for Dispassion
     … Or to say, “Well, the Dhamma was just one person’s opinion. There are many versions of the Dhamma out there and none of them are totally true.” That’s delighting in the wrong thing. That’s delighting in non-Dhamma. Delighting in the Dhamma means having a sense you have a reliable guide that’s been tested for 2,600 years now. Then … 
  18. Metacognition
     … Well, do you no longer love yourself? Do you no longer want to develop good things? Then there’s the Dhamma as a governing principle: realizing that this is a very valuable Dhamma we’ve encountered—that there have been awakened beings in the world, and they’ve shown the way. And they did it out of pure compassion. It’s an excellent Dhamma … 
  19. Unhindered at Death
     … You want to make sure you’re making those decisions from a mind state that’s mindful, focused, and alert, motivated by goodwill and coming from a clear sense of what the true Dhamma has to teach, what the true Dhamma is. That’s how you can learn to rely on yourself and be your own refuge. This is another way in which that … 
  20. Visakha Puja
     … The night of his passing away, the Buddha said that the true way of showing respect to him was to practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. What does that mean? You practice for the sake of disenchantment. Anything that causes the slightest bit of stress, you try to learn to go beyond it. In other words, you grow up, like a child … 
  21. The Wisdom of Ardency
     … I remember one Dhamma teacher saying that someone came to him with a question about how he was getting a headache when he was focusing on his breath, and the teacher was commenting, “I don’t want to deal with questions like that. I want to deal with Dhamma questions.” But if you don’t deal with headache questions, what are you dealing with … 
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