Search results for: "Wisdom"
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- Why Train the Mind… The ones that already have some wisdom and alertness and mindfulness get stronger. And it turns out that when they’re in charge, everybody is a lot happier. There are a lot of committee members that will resist this, but they’re foolish. Just like the human beings you see around you: A lot of people would be better off if they learned how …
- Asalha Puja… Ardency here is the wisdom factor—realizing that you don’t just sit here and let these things happen. The wise thing to do is to try to abandon unskillful qualities and to develop skillful ones. When the Buddha mentioned his categorical teachings, there were only two: One is the four noble truths; the other is the principle that skillful qualities are to be …
- Guardian Meditations… his purity, his wisdom, and his compassion. That was the kind of person who found this path. Now, the problem with thinking about how amazing a person the Buddha was, is that it’s hard for you to relate to him. In that case, you can think about the Sangha instead, the noble Sangha. You read about them in the Therigatha and Theragatha, various …
- Not-self, Not No Self… Those are the kinds of questions he has you ask: “What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness? What when I do it will lead to my long-term harm and suffering?” That’s where wisdom begins, as he says. You realize that you have to take responsibility for your happiness or suffering. And then if you’re …
- Alone with Your Mind… You can think about his wisdom, you can think about his purity, you can think about his compassion and remind yourself that this is what a human being is capable of. That’s uplifting because you can look around the world and see what other things human beings are capable of, and it gets pretty depressing. But we have the Buddha’s example. Then …
- On Deserving to Be Happy… We hear so much about mindfulness as simply watching things arise and pass away on their own, and accepting the wisdom of accepting that. But that wasn’t how the Buddha defined mindfulness. Mindfulness is a more active property. It means keeping in mind the duties with regard to the path. We’re looking not for the three characteristics, we’re looking for the …
- Endurance & Restraint… You feed off of wisdom, you feed off of discernment. It’s in this way that you can aim at that goal of unbinding, total freedom. It’s all too easy, as we go from day to day to day, to forget our larger goal, especially when there’s a lot of work around the monastery, a lot of work in our homes. But …
- Invest in the Breath… But if you learn how to have a little bit of firmness, a little bit of patience, endurance, wisdom in asking questions about the pain and not taking it on as “your pain,” you can come to your senses. It’s just a pain that’s there. It’s in the body. And if you wonder, “Why is this happening to me?” Well, you …
- The Skill of Restraint… You’ve already been developing the wisdom and discernment that protect the mind, keeping it here. You don’t have to cook them up fresh every time you sit down and meditate. So think of everything you do throughout the day as a skill, including the way you exercise restraint. Sometimes that means not looking at or listening to the things you don’t …
- The Dhamma Wheel… Remember the Buddha’s definition of the first question that leads to discernment or wisdom: “What will I do that will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” “Long-term”: He’s talking about time, he’s not talking about just being in the present moment. Someone sent me an article today from a British newspaper. It was about the Buddhist approach to …
- 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 …
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