Search results for: "Greed"

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  2. Joyous Endurance
     … Put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s the basic formula. That’s how you get into concentration, where the mind can settle in but still maintain its right direction. You do that by learning not to pay attention to anything that would disturb you right now: the background sound of the plane there, the sound of the crickets, any … 
  3. Mindfulness Like a Dam
     … Your ability to see them is the first step toward washing them away—trying to understand when and why you have greed for something, or lust for something, or anger for something. There are many layers going on—again, like many layers of currents in the river. First, there’s what you see as immediately appealing about the object. And, even with anger, there … 
  4. The Sport of Wise People
     … We excuse it by saying, “Well, the mind needs a little time off, needs some rest, needs some entertainment.” But the fantasies usually involve passion, lust, greed, anger, aversion, ill will, or just plain delusion. You have to ask yourself “Haven’t you had enough of that? Isn’t there better entertainment?” How about the entertainment of learning how to breathe in different ways … 
  5. Insight from Developing Concentration
     … On the other hand, you’re also putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world—in other words, when there’s any other thought having to do with any thought world, aside from the world of concentration, you’ve got to say No. It’s in saying No to those thought worlds that you strengthen your concentration at the same time that … 
  6. A Sense of Yourself
     … But there’s also the harm that comes by inciting greed, aversion, and delusion in yourself by the way you look at things or listen to things. How careful are you as you go through the day? What kind of fantasies do you indulge in? Are they actually helping you on the path or are they not? That’s an aspect of virtue, too … 
  7. No One in Charge
     … If you act on motivations based on greed, aversion, or delusion, there’s going to be suffering. If you act on motivations based on renunciation, non-ill will, or harmlessness, it pulls you out of suffering. So it’s not the case that, because there’s no purpose to things, there’s no pattern at all. You’re not totally free to shape things … 
  8. Consciousness, Name, & Form
    When you’re establishing mindfulness on the body, the Buddha says to do two things: (1) Focus on the body in and of itself and (2) put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. The body in and of itself means not the body in the world; just the body as you have it right here. The body in the world would … 
  9. Protection in all Directions
     … The first one is no undue greed. In other words, you see something you’d like and you realize that there are fair ways and unfair ways of gaining that or something like it. There are right and wrong ways, and you never go for the wrong ways. You always go for the right ways. You also look at the things around you: Exactly … 
  10. Loving Yourself
     … You’ve got greed, you’ve got anger and delusion. Don’t let that depress you. Just realize, okay, there’s work to be done, and you’ve got the tools to do it. At the same time, you’ve got these different aspects of the practice—the precepts, goodwill, the meditation—as walls to run up against when you find yourself entertaining an … 
  11. Solid Inside
     … In other words, when you don’t give expression to greed, anger, and delusion, you yourself benefit, the people around you benefit. It all begins with how you relate to yourself inside. Start with something simple like the breath here. It’s where the mind and the body relate. If you learn to develop a sense of mindfulness and alertness here, a sense of … 
  12. The Gatekeeper Doesn’t Just Note
     … You’re ardent, alert, and mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s what we’re doing as we’re concentrating: staying focused on one thing in and of itself. Put aside all other topics that you might be thinking about. You do both these activities with mindfulness, you do them with alertness, and you’re ardent. When you … 
  13. Riding an Elephant to Catch Grasshoppers
     … just a lot of greed, aversion, and delusion, nothing very impressive. But when you clean those things out, you find that the mind is capable of a lot, and you don’t want to waste it on little day-to-day concerns. So remember, the state of your mind is the most important thing in your life. You want to protect it as best … 
  14. Right Here, Right Now
     … are many passages where the Buddha says that if someone actually puts the teaching into practice, develops the right level of alertness, the right level of mindfulness, and can clear away greed, anger, and delusion, there’s no way that that person could not come to the Dhamma. This is why, when he was teaching the basic principles of the Dhamma in the Wings … 
  15. Assumptions
     … What are the assumptions that cause us to go along with the greed, go along with the anger, the lust, the envy, the pride, whatever the problem is? You have to look at those assumptions and realize that they’re wrong view. They’re creating a lot of unnecessary stress and suffering. This is what the Buddha focused on again and again: the unnecessary … 
  16. Steps in Concentration
     … You’re focused on the body—for example, the breath—in and of itself—ardent, alert, and mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. So where’s your breath right now? Anything that’s not related to this breath at the moment: Include that in “the world.” You’re going to give total importance to the breath in and of … 
  17. Rottweilers in the House
     … There are things outside that will aggravate greed, anger, and delusion in the mind when you bring them in. When these people come knocking on your door, you have to say, No, because you know that if you let them into the house, they’d stir up a lot of trouble. So you have to be very careful about, for instance, what conversations you … 
  18. Circumspection
     … We’re told to be truthful, but how truthful is truthful? As the Buddha said, there are times when you know that if you say the truth about a certain matters, it’s going to give rise to greed or aversion or delusion, in which case you don’t talk about it. This doesn’t mean that you lie about it. You find ways … 
  19. Virtues & Values
     … The less greed, aversion, anger, and delusion you have in your mind, the less these things will come out in your actions, and the less other people will be affected. If they’re interested in the practice, they’ll find it easier to stick with the practice, too. The Buddha gives the example of two acrobats. One acrobat is standing on the end of … 
  20. Feeding on the Breath
     … It doesn’t give rise to a lot of greed, aversion, or delusion. In fact, as you’re feeding here in the present moment, you’ve got a good reliable source of food here. The mind’s in a good position where it can start observing things about itself, all the processes that are going on in this process of feeding. When you understand … 
  21. How to Leave Concentration
     … Why are you listening? Who’s doing the looking? Who’s doing the listening? Is greed doing the looking? Lust? Anger? Ill-will? If so, these things are going to get strengthened in the mind. Then you have to clean them out again. But if you have a sense of well-being in the body: That’s the post, when breath energies in the … 
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