Search results for: "Wisdom"
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- Inconstant, Stressful, Not-self… If you bring some wisdom to your search for happiness, you’ll learn how to use the perceptions of inconstancy, stress, and not-self to save yourself from getting passionate about things that are going to age, grow ill, and die. Only then can you find a happiness that won’t die. That’s why these three perceptions aren’t negative. They’re aimed …
- Brahmaviharas on the Path… There’s wisdom here, too, in the sense of the set of questions that the Buddha says lie at the beginning of discernment: “What is skillful? What is blameless? What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” The discernment here lies in recognizing that our actions are the big factors that lead to happiness, and that long-term …
- Taking Responsibility… In other cases, the Buddha’s instructions are clear, and it’s just a matter of remembering them and having the wisdom to act on them. If you find an impulse not to act on them, learn how to talk yourself into being willing—at least giving the Buddha the benefit of the doubt. There will be a few cases where you don’t …
- Rebirth & Not-Self… When the Buddha said wisdom comes from asking the question, “What will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?”—remember that “long-term” is really lo****ng in his eyes. It doesn’t stop at death. It keeps on going.
- The Mirror Inside… Ardency, of those three qualities, is the beginning of wisdom. But it depends on mindfulness and alertness as well. You see something that needs to be improved, and you try to improve it. You see something that needs to be maintained, you try to maintain it. So, right now as you’re working with the breath, how’s it going? Does it feel comfortable …
- Fabricating with Awareness… You’re using your wisdom, you’re using your understanding not just to take note of things, but also to realize that you’re already shaping them, so shape them in a good way. Shape them so that they can be a path rather than just one more instance of one more cycle through craving and suffering. You’ve got the choice, so always …
- Motivation… And the desire has to be coupled with wisdom, one, so that it’s neither too excessive—in the sense of getting you all frazzled—nor too weak. And, two, it has to be aimed at causes: what you’re doing to get there. And then three, the effort really does have to be directed at the right causes. There’s that image in …
- Insight Is Seeing What’s Worth Doing… The wisdom lies in the realization that, yes, happiness will depend on your actions, long-term is possible, and it’s better than short-term. But the terms of the question can also get translated into another teaching: the three perceptions of inconstancy, stress, and not-self. Look at “my long-term welfare and happiness.” If something is inconstant, it’s not long-term …
- 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 …
- Hope… If life were entirely passive, if we were just receivers of experiences, then wisdom would lie in learning to accept things, saying, “This is as good as it gets, we might as well learn how to accept it.” But that’s not the way it is. The fact is that we’re creating experience and we can do a better job. And the process …
- Suffering Is a Feeding Addiction… Ajaan Lee identifies this as the wisdom faculty in mindfulness practice. In other words, simply knowing things is not enough. The wise person actually takes good knowledge and puts it to use. But to do that requires strength, because often our feeding addictions, or whatever our addictions may be, are at their strongest when we’re feeling weak and tired. That’s when the …
- Not Crushed by the World… So, you want to make sure that wisdom is looking, discernment is looking, not your greed, aversion and delusion. You have to see the way you engage with your senses as a cause-and-effect process. What you’re looking for, what you’re listening for, will have an impact on the mind. So be very careful about how you go about these things …
- Right View Comes First… But with the right view, we’re borrowing the Buddha’s wisdom, we’re borrowing his discernment. And he’s freely given it to us. So try to make good use of it, because it’s the only way out.
- Worldly Narratives… So it’s part of the Buddha’s wisdom that if sankhara, this process of mental fabrication, is a problem, the only way to get out is not just to tell yourself to stop thinking. It’s to tell yourself to start thinking in ways that are useful, that bring the mind back to the path. When the Buddha analyzed suffering in his first …
- The Buddha’s Basic Therapy… The Buddha said the sign of wisdom is when you look for long-term happiness. And sometimes long-term happiness requires letting go of short-term happiness. So the teachings on karma and rebirth help give you a long view. The Buddha never tried to prove that these things were true, but he said that they’re a really good working hypothesis. And they …
- The Noble Truths Come First… No matter how much you tell yourself that these things out there are not satisfactory, you say, “Well, that’s all I’ve got.” And sometimes that’s how Buddhist wisdom is interpreted: a willingness to accept that “Well, this is all we’ve got, so let’s satisfy ourselves with what we’ve got.” But the Buddha realized that the hungers of the …
- The Right Piece in the Right Puzzle… Then, based on that, the question that’s the starting point for wisdom or discernment is: What is skillful, what is unskillful? The Buddha further refines that: What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness? And, what when I do it will lead to my long-term harm and suffering? Those are the questions that the anatta teaching …
- The Desire for Things to Be Different… But if things stopped there, it would be like the Serenity Prayer, “May I have the courage to change what I can change, the patience to accept what I can’t, and the wisdom to tell the difference.” But there’s more. When you take the powers of discernment you’ve developed as you’ve been getting the mind to settle down and you …
- Matters of Life & Death… Age doesn’t automatically bring wisdom. At the same time, though, youth doesn’t automatically bring foolishness. We can take our youth, to the extent that we still have it, and devote it to the practice. The Buddha has a passage where he talks about future dangers, reflecting on the fact that you’re now young, you’re strong and healthy, you’re still …
- Desire Is Part of the Path… As Ajaan Lee points out, of those three qualities—mindfulness, alertness, ardency—ardency is the wisdom factor. It really burns into things, tries to understand them, and tries to do this well. So these are the qualities that go into right concentration. You’re not just zoning out. You’re not just blissing out. The bliss is there, but one of the skills of …
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