Search results for: "Conviction"

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  2. Preparing to Meditate
     … This is why the Buddha’s very basic level of right view is conviction in the principle of karma, because what we’re doing as we meditate is a very active application of that principle. In other words, your experience depends on your past actions and your present actions together. If you meditate hoping that enlightenment is just going to land on top of … 
  3. Admit Your Stupidity
     … The qualities are conviction, virtue, generosity, and discernment. Of course, the discernment there becomes the internal quality, what the Buddha calls appropriate attention. It’s a matter of asking the right questions, questions that help you understand where you’re creating unnecessary suffering and how you can put an end to that. That, for the Buddha, was the big issue in life, the big … 
  4. To Discern Suffering
     … That’s the point where they say that your conviction is verified. And it’s at this point that you really begin to understand suffering, you really begin to discern suffering: exactly what the mind put into it to create it, to keep it going, how the mind was burdening itself all the time. In other words, you see it thoroughly to the point … 
  5. Can All Beings Be Happy?
     … As you gain more conviction in the Buddha’s awakening and see in particular the results of holding to the principle of action, the principle of karma, you do what you can to encourage others to do that, too. Now, you don’t become an unpleasant proselytizer. You’re not an evangelist here. But in cases where you see that people are open and … 
  6. Mindfulness of Death
     … But in the meantime, you can develop strong conviction in the Buddha’s awakening. Think about what he learned about rebirth, because what he learned about rebirth in his course of awakening is an important lesson in how to prepare for death. After all, knowing that you’re going to die and thinking about the fact it could come at any time, if you … 
  7. Things Aren’t as They Should Be
     … Let those with ears show forth their conviction.” When he went to teach the five brethren, even before he said anything about the middle way or the four noble truths, he said, “The deathless has been attained, and if you follow what I teach you, you can attain it, too.” When Sariputta heard a very short synopsis of the Buddha’s teachings and gained … 
  8. The Buddha’s Shoulds
     … Right view starts with conviction in the principle of kamma, that there are good and bad actions that give good and bad results — not only in this lifetime but also in future lifetimes — and that there are people who really know these things from direct experience. It’s not just a theory. What’s interesting here is that when the Buddha presents this introduction … 
  9. On Deserving to Be Happy
     … So have some conviction that this is a path, it’s a good path, and it’s going to take you where you want to go. You don’t know when you’re going to get there, but you know that you have to follow this path very carefully, because it is a middle way. If it were a path of extremes, it would … 
  10. A Soiled, Oily Rag
     … Where else are you going to look? This is where the role of conviction in the practice comes: that if we learn how to let go of these things, there will be a true happiness. In other words, you’re sticking with that original question: What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness? We’re not giving up … 
  11. Refuge in an Admirable Friend
     … The Buddha goes on to talk about other qualities that you want to emulate in an admirable friend, such as conviction, virtue, generosity, and discernment. There’s even a passage where he adds the quality of learning. It’s good to read about the Buddha on a regular basis, to remind yourself that we live in a world where there has been a Buddha … 
  12. The Path to Stream Entry
     … That’s what guarantees your conviction in the Buddha. Think of the sutta of the elephant’s footprint: The image is of the elephant hunter who sees big footprints in the forest. Does he really know that they’re the footprints of a big bull elephant? Well, not really, because there are dwarf females with big feet. But, the footprints look promising. So he … 
  13. The Buddha’s Last Word
     … So a large part of the practice is learning how to figure things out for yourself, with the conviction there is a reason. It’s not just cultural. One of the things I appreciated most about the Thai forest tradition when I went over there, was that it stood a little bit on the outside of Thai society. Of course, all the people there … 
  14. Respect for the Path
     … But when you have the conviction that true happiness is possible and it can be found through human effort, then you’re going to have more respect for yourself. And, having more respect for yourself, you have more respect for your thoughts, your words, your deeds—all the elements that go into the path: virtue, concentration, discernment, based on generosity. So you show your … 
  15. Self View & Conceit
     … We practice virtue, concentration, and discernment, and they, in turn, are dependent on developing certain factors like heedfulness, conviction, and desire. After all, the path itself needs to be put together. It’s a fabricated thing. And there has to be a desire to do it. If we don’t have any desire, we don’t fabricate things. It’s one of those truths … 
  16. Treasure Island
     … The first is conviction. You realize that you have verbal actions, mental actions, and bodily actions. You’re convinced, in line with what the Buddha taught, that you actually choose your actions, that freedom of choice is not an illusion, and that your actions do have consequences based on the goodness or lack of goodness of your heart. That’s an empowering thought right … 
  17. Overwhelmed by Freedom
     … This is why conviction is such an important part of self-discipline. Even though you may not see it, you know some good is being done each time you bring the mind back to the breath. Each time you try to focus as precisely as possible, you’re creating new habits. That’s a long-term process, a long-term project. So you have … 
  18. Fabricating with Awareness
     … As for your conviction that you had to give in to the desire or the anger, there’s no “had to” there at all. There’s just one part of the mind bullying another part of the mind. So you reframe the issue, think in different terms, and at the very least you can withstand the power of that thought. You begin to see … 
  19. Pissing on Palaces
     … What we’re living for as meditators is to develop the qualities—in some cases they’re called the noble treasures—of conviction, virtue, a sense of shame and compunction over the idea of doing something harmful, the willingness to learn, generosity, and wisdom. These are qualities of mind you can take with you, and you don’t want to scrounge around for them … 
  20. Taking the Long View
     … The qualities you want to look for are conviction in the principle of karma, virtue, generosity, and discernment. Find people who embody these qualities, associate with them, try to pick up their good traits. If there’s something you don’t understand about how to be more virtuous, how to be more generous, you ask. Now, these four qualities are alsothe qualities that the … 
  21. Don’t Stop with Acceptance
     … How are you in terms of conviction? How are you in terms of virtue, relinquishment, learning, discernment, ingenuity? The need for ingenuity is one of the reasons why it’s good to read a lot of the Forest ajaans, because they’re very ingenious in how they approach things. Ajaan Maha Boowa makes the point that there are a lot of times when you … 
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