Search results for: "Dhamma"

  1. Page 25
  2. Mindfulness of Breathing: Four in One
     … You can read about the Dhamma, and have all kinds of ideas about the Dhamma, but if the mind hasn’t gotten into good concentration, you don’t see clearly what the Buddha’s talking about. After all, he gained awakening right here. He was focused on the breath, the mind was solidly centered, and it was from this perspective that he viewed the … 
  3. Circumspection
     … When you reflect on the Dhamma, you reflect on Sariputta in his wisdom. When you reflect on the Sangha, you reflect on Moggallana with his psychic powers and his compassion. It’s an interesting connection: psychic powers and compassion. Ajaan Lee did have a lot of psychic powers, and he devoted them to compassionate purposes. He helped people with their poverty. He helped people … 
  4. Respecting Death
     … There’s a whole set of Dhamma talks by Ajaan Mahaboowa in Thai called Tham Chut Triam Phrawm, which means basically “A Set of Dhamma Talks for Getting Ready.” Getting ready for what? Getting ready for the big danger of death, respecting the fact that there’s a lot of potential for suffering there, but also respecting the fact that you’ve got this … 
  5. Of Essential Worth
     … As the Buddha pointed out to the brahman, when one person really finds the Dhamma, that person can teach many, many others to find something that really is of value, of lasting value. After all, the essence of the Dhamma is release. Anything short of release is just twigs, bark, softwood. The real essence—the word sāra means “heartwood,” but it also means “essence … 
  6. Thinking Seriously about Happiness
     … Ratthapāla told him there were four Dhamma summaries taught by the Buddha that had inspired him to ordain. Then he went down the list we chanted just now. The first Dhamma summary was: The world is swept away; it does not endure. The king asked him, “What does that mean?” Ratthapāla asked him in return, “When you were young, were you strong?” The king … 
  7. Goodwill Permeates the Dhamma
     … So the whole teaching, the fact that we have the Dhamma, comes out of his goodwill for all beings, his compassion beings who are suffering. So our proper response is one of goodwill, desiring happiness for ourselves. But we have to do this wisely. As he says, wisdom starts with the question, “What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare … 
  8. Interested in the Breath
     … The Dhamma is not over there in the books. Those are just signs pointing to the Dhamma, and they keep telling you, “Look here, look inside.” So you’ve got the time and you’re right here. This is where the real Dhamma is. What’s Dhamma? It’s the truth about what’s going on in the mind and particularly, the truth about … 
  9. The Dhamma Eye
     … In the texts, they talk about the gaining of the Dhamma Eye. It’s always expressed in the same phrase: *Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation. *Now, this phrase occurs to you naturally only when you find something that’s not subject to origination and doesn’t cease. You look back on everything else you’ve experienced up to that … 
  10. Looking after Yourself with Ease
     … We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, but they’re primarily examples. They learned how to depend on themselves—the Buddha and the Sangha—by depending on the Dhamma. What kind of Dhamma did they depend on? Look at what resources you have inside. That’s what they depended on in themselves. In the Buddha’s analysis, we shape our … 
  11. The Wheel of Dhamma
    The Buddha started his teaching career with the four noble truths, as we chanted just now in the Discourse of Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion. These truths are not just statements about reality. They’re a guide, a guide in how to look at things. You can look at reality in all kinds of ways. You can look at your experience in … 
  12. Outside the Box
     … That’s his interpretation of the phrase, Sabbe dhamma anatta: All dhammas are not self. Even your right views you have to put aside at some point. So these are people who have thought outside the box. It’s not that we’re practicing here to attain right view, which is something that a lot of scholars will say. Right view is not the … 
  13. Eight Principles
     … When you live in this way, you’re practicing the Dhamma in line with the Dhamma, for the sake of the Dhamma. That’s when our life here together yields benefits—and how your own practice yields benefits. There’s a continuum here. It’s not just one or the other. It’s in seeing how all these things come together that you really … 
  14. Being Right
     … These last two qualities are where things get difficult, especially when you’re living out in the world where people are not practicing the Dhamma, are not interested in the Dhamma. They’ve got totally other ideas, totally different agendas. And so the issue is: How do you deal with people whose views don’t coincide with yours, and whose idea of right and … 
  15. What Are You Taking into the Future?
     … And just as we have our purpose, his Dhamma has a purpose, too: for the sake of that true happiness. There are a lot of places in the Canon where the word Dhamma is paired with attha (which is distinct from atta, which means self). “Attha” means purpose, meaning, goal. The Dhamma’s not just there to sit and be argued about. It’s … 
  16. The Reasonable Path
    The Buddha often compared himself to a doctor, and the Dhamma to medicine. It’s important to think about the implications of that analogy. Think about medical science: What kind of science is it? Some people say it’s not a science, it’s as an art. It’s not the sort of science that’s based on first principles and works deductively from … 
  17. Present-Moment Intelligence
     … If it had to be that way, there would be no purpose in practicing the Dhamma; there would have been no purpose in the Buddha’s teaching the Dhamma. But the way we put things together can make a huge difference, and we can learn new skills for how to put them together in a better wy. We can also learn new sensitivity, so … 
  18. Strong Through Mindfulness
     … You memorized passages of the Dhamma. You heard the Dhamma from the Buddha, tried to take it to heart, and then you maintained it, as they said. In other words, you kept it in mind. The Buddha’s talks were designed for that. We complain about the repetition they contain, but that’s for ease of memorization. For the people who couldn’t memorize … 
  19. Judging Your Efforts
     … Some of the best books on Dhamma are the ones that try to go back to the really basic principles of the Dhamma and look at them with fresh eyes. Ajaan Lee has a nice passage where he says that a lot of people confuse high level Dhamma with low and low level Dhamma with high. In other words, the basics are where all … 
  20. Developing Discernment
     … Another is thinking about the excellence of the Dhamma: that it’s really hard to find a teaching like this. Here’s your chance. You’ve found it, you can work with it. You have its guidance available. It may not be there all the time, so take advantage of it now. That’s called putting the Dhamma first. The third is an interesting … 
  21. Seriously Happy
     … Just make sure it’s something related to the Dhamma. When you’ve got a certain amount of satisfaction that way, then you can start stepping back and saying, “Okay, how about the long term?” This is where the wisdom comes in. The awakened people you ask will tell you to start with generosity, virtue, and meditation. In other words, look for happiness in … 
  22. Load next page...