Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Potentials for Awakening
     … This, again, is one of the reasons why Ajaan Suwat was so insistent on that principle of practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma, instead of saying, “Well, then, the Dhamma has to fit into my preconceived notions and my ideas of what it should be.” That doesn’t teach you anything at all. You don’t learn anything new. You’re just … 
  3. Testing Insights
     … He came to the realization that everything already is Dhamma, already as it is, and you shouldn’t touch it, you shouldn’t change it, you shouldn’t make any adjustments at all to the way the world is. That was his great Dhammic realization. He came back to society and he was going to teach it to the world. But he ran into … 
  4. Homage Through the Practice
     … It was on the full moon of this month, right after his awakening, that the Buddha gave his first sermon, “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion.” So we’re commemorating that event tonight. It was at the end of this sermon that one of the listeners, Añña Kondañña, gained the Dhamma Eye, the first taste of awakening. So he was the first member … 
  5. A Separate Self
     … And it’s because we can have an influence on one another that we’ve been exposed to the Dhamma. We learn the Dhamma from what the Buddha taught, as all the many generations between us and the Buddha have done. But it’s up to us to take that influence and make the most of it. That’s when your sense of separate … 
  6. The Heart of the Teachings
     … We’re practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma. That means practicing for the sake of dispassion, practicing for the sake of disenchantment that leads to release. In other words, we aim high. But we have to start where we are. As part of that summary, probably the most famous lines are what are sometimes called the heart of the Buddha’s teachings … 
  7. Respect
     … respect for the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha. Why do we respect them? We see that the Buddha was a really excellent teacher. If you want to learn from him, you have to respect what he has to say. Respect his example, not just his words. His actions also spoke. Kt’s a basic principle in learning that if you want to learn from … 
  8. Questioning Everything
     … That’s the real gift of the Dhamma: not so much teaching the Dhamma but getting people to look inside themselves so that they can see that the actual Dhamma arising and passing away. And particularly seeing the connections, the Dhamma-ness of the causality that goes on in the mind. And then using that knowledge to put an end to suffering. We suffer … 
  9. Skillful Fears
     … Where are you going to find happiness if you’re dependent on those kinds of things for your happiness? All of this is incentive to find the true Dhamma inside, the Dhamma of the deathless, which is a place of no danger, a place of no fear. You use your fears about aging, illness, and death not to get morbid or hopeless, but to … 
  10. The Thoroughbred Horse
     … And even though the Buddha did talk a lot about change, he didn’t say that the Dhamma would change. The Dhamma is a principle that underlies everything else. It’s the laws about how things change. Those laws don’t change. As he said, this rightness of the Dhamma is something that’s always the same. Once you look at the Dhamma to … 
  11. Think Calmly about Death
     … You hear that, and if you haven’t really seen the true Dhamma—i.e., you haven’t gained the Dhamma-eye that comes with your first glimpse of awakening—there will always be a little bit of doubt. But then you look at the people who have gone before you on this path, the people who really have gained awakening. You see they … 
  12. Respect
     … This is why we read Dhamma books, listen to Dhamma tapes, why we have question and answers from other people who’ve practiced: so that we can benefit from their experience as well. The respect has to cover all three areas: our own abilities; respect for just the way things are—there are certain things that no matter how much you wish them, just … 
  13. Bedside Dhamma
     … The purpose of this, of course, is so that you can focus on areas where you can help, and can maintain your strength so that you have some stamina, both so you can be there for that person and so you can get some good Dhamma lessons out of this. If the person hasn’t been meditating, you’ll begin to see very clearly … 
  14. The Middle Way
     … After all, the Buddha didn’t call his teaching just Dhamma. It’s “this Dhamma and Vinaya.” The verb that goes along with Vinaya, vinati, means to subdue. You’ve got to come down hard sometimes on your complacency, on your pride, on your greed, your delusion, your anger. This is why discipline is such an important part of the path. It’s a … 
  15. Keeping Your Head
     … What are you going to do?” And the king says “What else can I do but practice the Dhamma?” And how would you practice the Dhamma in a case like that? In the case we’re in, you have to calm your mind. In other words, you need to have your priorities as to what’s important, what’s not important, and focus on … 
  16. Right Speech, Inside & Out
     … everything else that fills the mind that’s not related to what you’re doing right now, even though it’s about the Dhamma. Ajaan Lee has an interesting observation, which is that when you’re talking to people who are not ready for really high level Dhamma yet, if you talk about high level Dhamma, it’s idle chatter. It’s not really … 
  17. Protection, Inside & Out
     … He said that you make yourself your refuge by making the Dhamma your refuge, and you make the Dhamma your refuge by practicing the establishings of mindfulness, starting out, say, with the breath. You focus on the breath and you do what you can to remember to stay with the breath. Then you watch yourself: Watch the breath to see how the breath is … 
  18. One Thing Clear Through
     … Luang Puu Dune one time came to see Ajaan Suwat when he was in Thailand and gave a Dhamma talk. The main theme of the Dhamma talk was that the practice of the Dhamma is one thing clear through, from the very beginning to the very end. It starts with generosity and ends with letting go. And every step along the way there’s … 
  19. Ideals
    One of the strangest tendencies in Dhamma circles is the habit that some teachers have of saying that ideals are to be avoided across the board. It’s strange because, when you look at the life of the Buddha, he was very idealistic. He wanted the ultimate happiness. He wanted to overcome death. That’s as high as an ideal can go. And he … 
  20. Worldly Dhammas
     … These things are called worldly dhammas, and they’re the qualities that make up the world. This is how the world functions. Material gain, status, praise, pleasure: These are the things that grease human society. And when you look at them, you realize that that’s pretty much all human society has to offer. The problem is it has the opposite to offer as … 
  21. Reflect
     … Maybe there’s a specific issue coming up from the day that you’ve got to deal with first, looking at it from the point of view of the Dhamma. Then you can settle down. This is one of the reasons why we have those chants at the beginning of the meditation session: the 32 parts of the body, recollection of death, aging, illness … 
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