Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. The Karma Snake
    The Buddha once said that if you’re going to grasp his Dhamma, you have to grasp it in the right way. It’s like grasping a snake. If you grasp at the tail, it’s going to bite you. If you take a forked stick and pin it down by its neck, then no matter how much it writhes around your arm, it … 
  8. Dedicating Merit
     … He didn’t sort out the differences between true Dhamma and Thai culture, and so he mixes rebirth up with the Dhamma. Actually, I’ve always felt the fact that I was in Thailand from an early age was not a handicap at all. It was being there when I was still receptive—and being around the ajaans and other people practicing meditation—that … 
  9. Games the Mind Plays
    One of the few times Ajaan Fuang accepted an invitation to a meal was at the home of one of his students, whose sister was also a Dhamma practitioner. Instead of chanting, we made a Dhamma conversation. Or Ajaan Fuang had a Dhamma conversation with the hosts. The woman’s sister said, “I’ve been meditating, trying to get my mind as empty as … 
  10. Right Speech, Inside & Out
     … He liked to appoint himself as a defender of the Dhamma and he would go around asking different ajaans very high-level questions, basically to test their knowledge. So he asked a question of Ajaan Fuang—again, high-level Dhamma, on a high level of practice. Ajaan Fuang asked him, “Has your own practice reached that stage yet?” “Well, no.” Ajaan Fuang said, “In … 
  11. Over-informed
     … He told the five brethren that he would teach them the Dhamma, and “Dhamma” basically meant doctrine. Which doctrine? The doctrine of putting an end to suffering and stress. His criticism of other paths was that they didn’t lead to the end of suffering, whereas the noble eightfold path did lead to the end of suffering. It led to awakening. It led to … 
  12. Wisdom for Dummies
    Wisdom for Dummies April 9, 2009 If you read a lot of books about the Dhamma, it can get pretty confusing after a while, for there are so many different takes on exactly what the Dhamma is. On top of that, there are people who will tell you it’s all very complex, very subtle; only a very erudite scholar or subtle logician could … 
  13. Stick to Your Duties
     … There are a lot of things that people think are really high-level Dhamma—when you start talking in terms of the three perceptions, or emptiness, or dependent co-arising—but as long as it’s just concepts, it’s low-level Dhamma. High-level Dhamma, as he said, is learning how to master this skill: getting the mind to settle down, getting the … 
  14. The Reality Principle
     … And then the fourth is not having seen the true dhamma, having doubts about the true dhamma. Now if we can learn to overcome these four fears of death, death won’t bring suffering. And only when we’ve got a handle on these things can we really be helpful to other people. This doesn’t mean that you have totally overcome the fear … 
  15. The Basic Medicine
    You all know the old image of the Buddha as a doctor and the Dhamma as medicine. When you come to practice the Dhamma, it’s as if you’re learning to be your own doctor, looking after the illnesses of your own mind. Everyone comes up here wounded in one way or another, suffering either from things outside or from things inside. At … 
  16. Values
     … You can focus on the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha either by simply repeating one of those words in your mind as you breathe in, breathe out, or by focusing on their qualities. Think about the Buddha, think about the Dhamma and the Sangha—what you find inspiring about them. You could think about your generosity or your virtue. Think about the times when … 
  17. Blowing Bubbles
     … Otherwise, you get engrossed in the colors of the bubbles and you want to get in—especially when the thoughts are about Dhamma. You can give yourself a whole Dhamma discourse while you’re sitting here. In other words, you’re not really looking at the breath. You’re going off in some Dhamma bubble. Regardless of what the content of the thought is … 
  18. The Triple Training
     … Because we’re people who practice the Dhamma, that’s where our primary focus has to be: What are we doing, to what extent are we committed to the path, and to what extent are we actually learning from it? The Buddha said there are two big obstacles to gaining the Dhamma. One is not being committed, and other is not reflecting. In other … 
  19. Outside the Box
     … Not all of us here practicing are going to be able to teach the Dhamma to other people, but you can be a good influence. You can be a good example. So in that way, your Dhamma practice does help others. When you take joy in finding happiness that doesn’t harm anybody, that comes from this desire to be helpful. So learn to … 
  20. Noble Treasures
    Ajaan Lee once gave a Dhamma talk on the topic of the noble treasures: seven qualities of mind that, as the Buddha said, are not burned by fire, not washed away by floods, can’t be stolen, can’t be seized by robbers or kings. You probably know the list: conviction, virtue, a sense of shame, a sense of compunction, learning, generosity, and discernment … 
  21. Unlimited Mind, Limited Resources
     … It’s not the case that a Buddha can save everybody or bring everybody to the Dhamma. Even Buddhas have had to recognize their limitations. When our Buddha was teaching, a horse trainer came to him once, and he asked the horse trainer, “When you train horses how do you train them?” The trainer said, “There are those that are easy to train, and … 
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