Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. Mind Your Own Business
     … realizing that you have so much to look after in your own mind that you don’t have time for idle chatter or even chatter about the Dhamma. Ajaan Fuang and Ajaan Lee both made the point that if your discussion of Dhamma is not in line with the right time and the right place, then it counts as idle chatter. So be very … 
  14. Mindfulness of Death
     … This, of course, refers to the Dhamma you’ve learned, and most particularly, I think, the Dhamma you’ve memorized. This is why it’s good to memorize passages in Pali, passages in Pali and English, so that you have some skillful thoughts sloshing around in the mind. After all, as death comes, the mind can latch on to all kinds of things, and … 
  15. The Wheel of Dhamma
    The discourse that we chanted just now, Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion, was the Buddha’s first sermon. The wheel of Dhamma in the title refers to the passage that goes through each of the four noble truths and the three levels of knowledge for each of the truths. The first of the noble truths is dukkha, which means pain, suffering, and … 
  16. Overcoming Fear
     … The Buddha didn’t teach the Dhamma only for people who are in comfortable circumstances. This is why the precepts are so short. They’re easy to remember. They’re very clear-cut: No matter how difficult it gets outside, you’re not going to kill, you’re not going to steal, and on down the line. Period. You want those precepts to be … 
  17. Life in the Buddha’s Hospital
    Life in the Buddha’s Hospital March, 2002 The Dhamma is like medicine. You can see this from the way the Buddha teaches. He starts off with the four noble truths, which are very much like an analysis of how to care for a disease. In his case, he’s offering a cure for the basic disease of the mind: the suffering that comes … 
  18. Therapy for the Mind
    Therapy for the Mind September 13, 2020 The practice of the Dhamma is therapy for the mind, one that treats some diseases that are not mentioned in the psychologists’ handbooks. Greed, aversion, delusion: As far as psychologists are concerned, these things are normal. But the Buddha recognized that they’re diseases, illnesses of the mind. And he prescribed a course of treatment. Now, this … 
  19. In Heedfulness We Trust
     … the practice of the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. Realize that the people who have gone before us have found this is how you find true safety; you don’t redesign the Dhamma just to make it popular. These are the Buddha’s instructions. He identified the dangers and told how to avoid the dangers. So you listen to him and give his … 
  20. Attahi Attano Natho
     … But we’re not going to change the Dhamma to attract people, to ‘get’ other people, because if you do that, you lose yourself.” The practice keeps pointing back in here, inside. Try to practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. So when you’re practicing mindfulness, where do you do that? “Keeping track of the body in and of itself, ardent, alert … 
  21. Maybe the Buddha Knew Something
     … This fits in with the theme that Ajaan Suwat said Ajaan Mun would like to teach a lot, which is practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma—not in line with your preferences, but in line with what the Dhamma says is for the purpose of dispassion. Dispassion basically means you’re going to let go of your old likes—the things you … 
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