Search results for: "Wisdom"
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- Gratitude & Trust… in the principle of action, you try to develop that sense of faith and conviction in them; and if they’re not wise, you try to teach them the ways of wisdom. Of course, it’s difficult to teach your parents. They don’t like being taught by their children, but you can teach by example. That’s one way of repaying the debt …
- Sober Up… We tend to think of Buddhist wisdom as dealing with very abstruse abstractions, but it really starts with this insight into “What are you doing?” “What are the results?” All the teachings on emptiness, not-self, universal compassion: They all come down to this question: What kind of action is this? Is it a good action? If not, what can you do to replace …
- Analysis of Dhammas… All those are the basic assumptions that lead to wisdom and discernment. In the factors for awakening, the discernment faculty, called analysis of dhammas—which can mean either analysis of qualities or analysis of actions—is fostered by paying careful attention to what’s skillful and what’s not skillful. Which thoughts side with the dark side of the mind? Which ones side with …
- Thinking Your Way to Stillness… Virtue, generosity, conviction, wisdom: These are all qualities that lead people to become devas, and you’ve got them, to at least some extent. The Buddha says that if you reflect on that, your views get straightened out, both about the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, and about yourself. Remind yourself that this is a good path to be on, and you’re …
- Feeding Instructions… And this is why we develop the path, starting with the thought constructs of right view and right resolve, so that we can feed off of wisdom, feed off of thoughts that help us explain to ourselves why we can’t feed where we used to feed, or why, even though we can feed in areas of the world, it may not be a …
- Genuine Happiness… It’s one thing to read about concentration and about wisdom and discernment, to decide that they’re nice things. But to actually know them in the mind: That requires that you train the mind, in the same way that you train an animal so that it can live in your house. Sometimes you have to be gentle with it, sometimes you have to …
- Make the Most of This Breath… I was reading someone from another branch of Buddhism saying that wisdom or discernment with regard to the precepts means knowing when to follow the precepts and when not to. That’s lazy discernment. It’s kind of a cleverness maybe, but it’s hard to call it discernment at all. Real discernment knows how to maintain your precepts and, at the same time …
- The Need for a Purpose… So, wisdom lies in giving yourself a good goal, a good “for the sake of” that you’re going to be fabricating things for. It also gives you guidance on how to go in the right direction. This is what right view is all about: identifying which actions are skillful and then raising your sights from just skillful thoughts, words, and deeds, to actions …
- Attention with an Agenda… That’s the wisdom element in those three qualities. So as you focus on the breath, you’re alert to what the breath is doing. You’re alert to how the mind is relating to it. You remember what you’ve done in the past that’s helped you settle down. And you really try to do this well. When you do, you get …
- Many I’s, Many Eyes… This in turn develops into a quality of wisdom called analysis of qualities, seeing what you’re doing, seeing the results of what you’re doing, and getting clearer and clearer on what’s skillful and what’s not. So it’s important to remember these qualities. You’ve got to keep watch on what you’re doing and have as many eyes in …
- A Snare of Death Laid Out… But at the same time, in addition to the concentration, you need to have the wisdom that looks for the long term, looks for the whole picture. Instead of looking just at a particular pleasure—a pleasant sight, sound, smell, taste, or tactile sensation that can be very alluring—look for the world around it. What’s tied up with that pleasure? Look for …
- Smart About Lust… They may be wise in the sense of the wisdom of books that have little wise phrases, one on each page, but they don’t have any street smarts. They don’t know how to get what they really want. The basic picture is of people who are dried-up, world-weary, who simply can’t get it on with other people. I must …
- A Basis in Well-being… You look at the teaching on the four noble truths—which we take as the Buddha’s most basic teaching, most comprehensive teaching—and what is it but the application of wisdom and discernment to the question of how to be happy? In the time of the Buddha, lots of people were practicing meditation, and in many cases it was for the sake of …
- Safety in an Uncertain World… Remember the questions that lie at the beginning of wisdom and discernment, "What when I do it will lead to my long term harm and suffering? What when I do it will lead to my long term health and happiness?” When the Buddha says long-term, he means really long. Many, many lifetimes. Our unskillful actions can have an impact not only in this …
- Determined on Goodwill… The first one is wisdom or discernment, paññā. As he said, don’t neglect discernment. How do you neglect discernment? By neglecting the long term. Discernment begins by thinking in the long term: What are the long-term consequences of your actions going to be? Then you stick with the things that will lead to good long-term results. So think of what you …
- The Kamma of Self & Not-Self… So what are some skillful uses of self? A while back there was a book, called The Wisdom of the Ego, in which a psychologist talked about healthy ego functions—the ego being the part of your self-committee in the mind that negotiates among your desires, and between your sense of what you should do and what you want to do. And although …
- Attachment to Views… A lot of the wisdom you would develop that way can very easily go off in directions that are not really helpful. The test always is appropriate attention to the four noble truths: To what extent does this insight give you insight into how to comprehend suffering or stress, how to abandon its cause, or how to develop the path, so that you can …
- Five Steps to Insight… There’s that voice in the mind that says, “Your feelings are your real… the real expressions of how you think about things.” Sometimes people even say that your body has its wisdom. But actually, the body doesn’t know much of anything at all. What you’re dealing with is different levels of the mind. If they’re in ignorance, you can’t …
- Good Fundamentals… So an important part of wisdom is developing compassion, taking other people’s happiness into consideration. But how far can you do that? I was reading recently someone saying that Buddhism is going to have to change, that nibbana is no longer good enough for us, it no longer meets our needs. We need a more compassionate teaching that straightens out the world first …
- Treating the Diseases of the Mind… Which means that the discernment and wisdom that you bring to the process will have to develop over time. There will be mistakes. There will be setbacks. But basically you’re training yourself to be a doctor, too, starting with your own diseases. You don’t want to get involved with other people’s diseases until you’ve cured your own. You may look …
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