Search results for: "Discernment"
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- Acceptance… This is why concentration requires some discernment. As the Buddha once said, “There’s no jhana without discernment.” To get the mind to settle down, you have to reason with the obstreperous parts that want to go off someplace else, to think about other things, plan other things. You have to reason with that particular set of selves to show them that their notions …
- The Self-correcting Mind… As the Buddha said, there’s the discernment that comes from listening and there’s the discernment that comes from thinking things through. But the discernment that really works in making a difference for the mind, allowing it to gain release from its suffering, is the discernment that comes from developing qualities in the mind. This means that the understanding you’re going to …
- Admirable Friendship… The Buddha said there are two factors that help most in the arising of discernment, that help you most along the path. The foremost internal factor is appropriate attention. The foremost external factor is admirable friendship. And it’s important that you reflect on what admirable friendship means, because even though you’re supposed to be looking at your own thoughts, words, and deeds …
- Undividing the Mind… So you have to use all your intelligence all around to figure out how much and what and how is the right effort right now—the effort that makes use of your discernment and, as you develop the effort, develops your discernment. This is a very important skill. And always keep that in mind: It is a skill. This is why we have the …
- Adolescent Practice… And what is discernment but heightened sensitivity? We often think of discernment as trying to clone our minds into seeing things the way the Buddha tells us to see them. But that ends up just adding one more layer of conjecture to our ignorance. When he tells us to look for the inconstancy and the stress in things, he’s not telling us to …
- Finding Your Own Balance… It’s in finding balance that your discernment develops. Without that sense of balance, without that sense of time and place, there’s no real discernment. There’s just a rote idea of what must be right, and you follow it blindly without looking around you. That doesn’t gain you any genuine discernment at all. There’s no way you’re going to …
- Respect for Suffering… Qualities like mindfulness, alertness, concentration, and discernment, though, are the things that will help you comprehend suffering. So try to strengthen those as much as you can. Once they’re strong, then we can really look into the issue of why the mind is creating unnecessary suffering for itself. So our first issue is to develop mindfulness and concentration. Mindfulness is the ability to …
- Insight Is a Judgment Call… Or, if we think of the payback down the line, we say, “I’ll deal with that later, but I want something that I like right now.” The ability to say No to things like that is a measure of your wisdom, a measure of your discernment, and it comes down to seeing what’s worth doing, what’s not. Like the fact that …
- Warrior Knowledge… That’s why the Buddha said that there’s no jhana without discernment; no discernment without jhana; no solid concentration without understanding; no understanding without solid concentration. The two have to go together. In other words you’ve got to have at least some understanding of the workings of the mind before you can really settle down. Otherwise you’ll fall for all the …
- Three Levels of Refuge… discernment, purity, and compassion, and he gives instructions on how you can develop your own discernment, purity, and compassion. Discernment starts with that question: “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” You don’t just ask the question in a floating way. You look for good people to put the question to, and they’ll teach you …
- Being Responsible… his wisdom, or discernment, his compassion, and his purity. And as the Buddha taught, wisdom comes from finding answers to the question, “What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” In other words, wisdom begins with the realization that your happiness and suffering depend on your actions, long-term happiness is possible, and it’s better than short …
- Gradually Sudden… What’s gradual about the practice is the gradual development of your discernment. The things we’re going to need to know are all right here, but because our discernment is weak, we don’t see them. We don’t see the connections. We don’t see the steps. A lot of things come up in the mind and they seem to be unarticulated …
- Concentration & Insight… The same with your discernment: You start out with the blatant stuff, deal with that, and then start working into the subtler issues as your discernment gets more precise and clear. Now, as you’re working on these questions about where’s the stress here, or what else is going on in the mind that’s creating stress, sometimes you find that as you …
- Mindful to Be Skillful… He wants you to practice the precepts, work on concentration, work on discernment specifically for the sake of discernment, the kind of discernment that can be used to put an end to suffering. That comes from learning to be observant, to experiment, with the idea in the back of your mind that you always want to try to do the skillful thing. This can …
- In Tune… ferreting out our defilements, developing discernment. Think of the questions that lie at the basis of discernment: “What, when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” The discernment lies in several things. One is realizing that long-term happiness is possible. It’s not the case—as you sometimes hear—that pleasures and pains just come and go like …
- A Wilderness Mind at Home… You’re developing discernment as well, because you find yourself in situations where it seems tempting to lie, or it might even seem to be the compassionate thing to lie to somebody to prevent them from hearing harsh truths. But once you’ve made the promise to yourself not to lie, you have to find a discerning way not to lie, and yet not …
- Measuring Progress… It was because she wasn’t developing any discernment, and she wasn’t using the discernment she did have, consciously applying it for the rest of the day. Part of the problem was that when she was in concentration it was very intense, and she couldn’t even think. She didn’t have the ability that Ajaan Fuang was trying to teach her, which …
- You Are Not a Textbook… the discernment factor, the wisdom factor. The translator was saying in the footnote, “This is the wisdom factor, and yet it’s defined as to be sensitive to what is skillful and what is unskillful in the mind.” I was puzzled by the “and yet.” Apparently the translator was thinking that insight or discernment means seeing things in terms of the three characteristics. But …
- A Flammable Mind… Sometimes people can develop strong powers of concentration, but if there’s no real discernment to go along with it, then even that cool fire can go out. The mind is then back to what it was, the same old flammable state. This is why concentration has to be coupled with discernment—the discernment that sees how the mind creates these issues, how it …
- One Point, Two Points, Many Points… After all, the purpose of concentration is to be aware all around as a basis for discernment. Discernment can arise only when you’re aware all around. If your concentration is the sort that blocks things out, it’s not going to be a good basis for discernment. You won’t see unexpected connections. You’ll have huge blind spots in your range of …
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