Search results for: "Discernment"
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- A Trustworthy Mind… Then there’s discernment, which, in the sutta where the Buddha talks about these qualities, is described as discernment into arising and passing away, seeing how things arise in the mind, seeing how they pass away, understanding how and why they arise, coupled with a sense of when something arising is skillful or not. The things that are skillful, you want to encourage; things …
- Beginning the Rains… The first is discernment. You determine on something good to do, based on what you know will be beneficial, will be possible, but at the same time will stretch you. You’re going to be discerning in your goal and discerning in how you go about it. That requires three other qualities: The first is truthfulness—how you stick to something. You’ve made …
- Heedfulness for the Holidays… And finally, there’s discernment, which is the wall around the fortress. One of the features of the wall is that it’s well-plastered. In other words, it doesn’t give any footholds. If it were just made out of wood, it would be very easy to get a foothold in this or that little irregularity in the wood. But if it’s …
- Past Intentions, Present Intentions… It’s in the finding out that you develop your own discernment. Again, if you have everything handed to you on a platter, what kind of discernment are you going to develop? It’s like kids born into a rich family. They very rarely have any skills because they’re not required to. I learned recently of a couple where the woman was raised …
- Responsibilities… This really does require discernment. Some of us are like magnets that attract responsibilities. We have to learn how to say No sometimes. Otherwise, we take on too many and then none of them get done well. That’s something we have to keep in mind. A good rule of thumb is: “If you don’t do it, it won’t get done. Then …
- A Legacy of Strengths… That’s one of the ways in which concentration gives rise to the fifth strength, which is discernment. You have a very clear idea of how you create suffering for yourself and how it’s unnecessary. All too often, we don’t even see that suffering, all we’re concerned about is the suffering caused by situations around us. But it was the Buddha …
- Undefeated Goodwill… What is a good determination? What are the component factors? The first factor is discernment. You don’t “neglect discernment,” as the Buddha said. You think about what goodwill means, what true happiness means—how it’s going to come about. It’s not going to happen simply from the wish. As the Buddha said, if we could get things like happiness, long life …
- Think… If you develop this all-around set of skills, then your thinking really does lead to discernment, and the discernment does lead to release. When we look at the Canon—all those suttas, all that analysis—we realize: This is not the fruit of a mind that didn’t think. The Buddha thought very carefully, thought very skillfully, thought with a lot of circumspection …
- The Same for Everyone… virtue, concentration, and discernment, sorted out in different ways. When you look at the different lists in the Wings to Awakening, you see that the factors are sometimes listed in different orders. For instance, in the noble eightfold path, discernment comes first, and mindfulness and concentration come at the end. In the factors for awakening, mindfulness comes first, then discernment, and then concentration comes …
- A Safe Place… Perhaps he saw that Ajaan Maha Boowa was going to have to do some radical work with his discernment, and that kind of radical work requires really strong concentration—partly because you need a lot of stillness to see subtle things in the mind, and partly that you need a safe space: a place where you feel at home, at ease. You feel confident …
- A Safe Harbor… Sometimes alertness is translated as clear comprehension, and the commentaries slough it over into discernment—understanding the not-self nature of things—and it becomes quite intricate. But in the Canon, it means something pretty simple: just being alert to what you’re doing. This is something we tend to miss. We pay too much attention to other things. But if you want to …
- Ups & Downs… That’s where you really learn how to measure your discernment by how skillful you are in getting yourself to want to do the right thing. So discernment is a matter not just of knowing the words, but also of knowing strategies: how to talk your mind into doing things that you know are skillful, but it doesn’t really feel like doing them …
- Caught in a Thorn Bush… We are, after all, on a middle way here, and that requires a lot of discernment. If we were on a path that involved a lot of extremes—say, just do without anything, any pleasure at all—there are people who could probably do that. It wouldn’t take much thought or discernment, they would just ram through the practice. But here we have …
- In Accordance with the Dhamma… the discernment he had developed not just through reading, not just through thinking things through, but actually putting the Dhamma into practice and seeing the results. Having that kind of discernment, he was in a good position to teach others. He changed his thoughts, his words, and his deeds to fit in line with the Dhamma and gave them an example. We should allow …
- The Buddha’s Encouragement… This is true all the way from the practice of virtue through concentration and discernment. Sometimes in the practice of virtue it’s a matter of brute determination: that you’re just going to see it through, not let yourself get discouraged. One of the images is of a soldier who hears that there’s an army coming; sees the cloud of dust; actually …
- Mindfulness Aims at Concentration… In the noble eightfold path, discernment comes before effort, mindfulness, and concentration, while effort comes before mindfulness. In the seven factors for awakening, mindfulness comes before effort, and discernment comes after mindfulness. But there’s one pattern that’s consistent in all the sets: Mindfulness always comes before concentration. When you look at the description for mindfulness, it’s easy to see why. It …
- Friends with Pain… That chant we had just now, “Those who don’t discern suffering”: You think, “Who in the world doesn’t discern suffering?” We know it, we experience it, but we don’t discern it. That’s the problem. We don’t really look into it. The first thing that happens when pain comes is that we think, “How do you get rid of it …
- What’s Not on the Map… This is part of discernment. It starts with learning from what you’ve heard and then thinking it through. Real insight, though, comes from developing these qualities in the mind. It’s like going out in the wilderness. You read the maps, you make your plans, but when you get out in the forest you realize that the forest doesn’t look like the …
- Recollecting the Devas… This leads to the fifth quality that makes you a deva, which is discernment. Now, even though not all devas are reliable guides all the way along the path, they still have at least some discernment, at least some insight into what’s skillful and what’s not. That’s how they got where they are. The central point in this discernment is seeing …
- Evaluation… Evaluation is on the discernment side. This falls in line with what the Buddha said about how you nourish the Dhamma by committing yourself to it and then reflecting on what you’ve done. The commitment there is in directed thought and singleness of preoccupation: focusing your mind solely on the breath and trying to keep it there, not letting anything else come in …
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