Search results for: "Generosity"
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- Into the Light of Consciousness… finding joy in the practice of generosity, joy in the practice of virtue, joy in getting control over your hindrances. That’s a skillful principle that helps you gain some control over the unskillful impulses without trying to hide them. Then there’s a sense of humor. Learn how to laugh at your defilements. Laugh at the impulses that would pull you in a …
- The Wheel of Dhamma… Is it good to be generous or is it not? Is it good to be virtuous or is it not? Generosity and virtue are part of the path, so you want to develop them. And as you develop them, you begin to see that suffering falls away: the suffering of being stingy, of having a narrow mind, of not being true to your principles …
- The Seven Treasures… But if the mind can realize that these things are going to have to go someplace, sometime, anyhow, you can develop the generosity that comes from seeing that other people may need them and you happily give them away. Your mind becomes a lot more open, a much more spacious mind. That’s a mind that’s a lot easier to live in. This …
- Oneness… asked me to give the Dhamma talk in Thai. I had been translating Ajaan Lee, so I used one of Ajaan Lee’s images: comparing the practice to digging a well. Generosity was like a very shallow well, virtue a deeper well, whereas concentration was a well down to the water table. Afterwards he told me that the Dhamma talk had been too interesting …
- Parsing Out Suffering… in terms of the precepts, in terms of meditation, and the practice of generosity. We hold on to certain views about how the world works. And we hold onto ideas about who we are, at least to the extent that we’re the people who are responsible for our happiness—and we’re capable of finding it. But these particular views, these particular practices …
- The Five Hindrances… Stoke up on those qualities of mindfulness and alertness, virtue, generosity—the things you’re really going to need regardless of what happens. And you can do that only by meditating. These are some of the ways of dealing with the hindrances. If you find them getting in the way of your concentration, keep the fact in mind that they’re not your friends …
- Persistence: Lift Your Heart… This is where the other part of the learning how to stick with the duties of right view comes in, and that’s learning how to find some joy in doing the practice—as with generosity, trying to figure out new ways of being generous. If your mind likes to be creative, that’s a good place to look. Of the various parts of …
- Preparing to Meditate… So, when the Buddha teaches us to reflect on our virtues and reflect on our generosity as a way of bringing the mind to a state where it feels confident in itself so that it can settle down, you’ve got to have some generous actions, you’ve got to have some virtuous actions to reflect on. You can’t just make them up …
- Admit Your Stupidity… The qualities are conviction, virtue, generosity, and discernment. Of course, the discernment there becomes the internal quality, what the Buddha calls appropriate attention. It’s a matter of asking the right questions, questions that help you understand where you’re creating unnecessary suffering and how you can put an end to that. That, for the Buddha, was the big issue in life, the big …
- Between Either & Or… You pursue certain pleasures—the pleasures of jhana, the pleasures that come from mastering virtue and concentration, generosity—so that you can use them. Use the pleasure of concentration to put the mind in the proper mood and the proper frame of mind, making it stable enough so it can really see things in a balanced way. And often this requires a lot of …
- Three Recollections… the six recollections are a standard list—recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha; recollection of generosity, virtue, and the devas. They fall into two sets. The first three, of course, have to do with the three refuges. The last three have to do with reflecting on yourself—in a positive way. So tonight I’d like to talk about the first three …
- Holding On to the Path… reach that point, though, hold on tight, because these things really do carry you through all kinds of dangers, all kinds of problems. Each of them is a kind of protection. Generosity is a protection, the precepts are protection, concentration, discernment: These things are all protection for the mind. As long as it needs protection, they provide it. So hold on to them. Work …
- Help Others, Help Your Mind… Maybe Buddhist practice includes more things, like generosity and virtue.” She was right.So try to see this as an all-around practice. When you’re helping other people, as I said, be clear on the fact that you’re not just pleasing them. You’re trying to do things that are actually good for them, which sometimes may or may not be pleasing …
- Intelligent Respect… We live totally off of people’s voluntary generosity. We learn how to keep our needs small so that we don’t burden them. And we find that by living off gifts, we can give the Dhamma as a gift, which creates a special environment for learning the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma. You may not notice that immediately when you hear about how things …
- Determination… As for relinquishment, that involves renunciation and generosity. Renunciation here doesn’t mean just giving up on things. Specifically, it means renouncing sensuality. Years back, I was reading an article saying that people don’t like the idea of renunciation, but basically, renunciation asks only that you give up your unhealthy attachments, which is to some extent true. But at the same time you …
- The Buddha’s Buffet… The third quality the Buddha recommends is generosity. Realize that giving a gift is a trade. By giving any excess wealth away, you develop good qualities in the mind. You develop a more expansive mind, a more generous mind, a more spacious mind, one that really does develop goodwill for others. As Ajaan Lee says, when you’re generous with other people, they’re …
- In Search of What’s Skillful… So this is something we should keep in mind all the way through our own practice, beginning with the practice of generosity, the practice of virtue, and on through meditation. You want to be very clear about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, what you anticipate, and then the results you actually get. As you get results, you have to learn …
- Perfection in an Imperfect World… After all, a part of developing perfections, of course, is developing the perfection of generosity and the perfection of virtue. These are the perfections with which you help the world as you’re helping yourself. With the perfection of renunciation, the Buddha is basically not talking simply about doing without. For him, renunciation means looking for your pleasures in places besides sensuality. That includes …
- Examine Your Happiness… There’s the pleasure of the precepts, the pleasure of generosity, both of which are conditioned things. There’s the pleasure in concentration, which is also conditioned, and you want to motivate yourself to develop that and to appreciate it, so that it can provide you with nourishment on the path. If you jump right in and say, “Well, everything is inconstant, stressful, and …
- Goodwill & Heedfulness… I’d come back, and the thought would really strike me: “Here I am, the beneficiary of a poor person’s generosity. I’ve got a lot to repay.” So I’d dedicate my practice to that person. So remember that when you’re meditating here, it’s not just for you. Other people are going to benefit. It begins with the example of …
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