Search results for: "The Four Noble Truths"

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  2. A Complete Training
     … And we’re fortunate that we have the Buddha’s teachings on the four noble truths to remind us that when you let go, it can bring the end of suffering. That way, you’re more willing to let go. This is why the Buddha has you contemplate not only things outside—things that would have pulled you away from your concentration—in terms … 
  3. A True Man of No Rank
     … In terms of our practice, in terms of the four noble truths, we have our duties. And even the things that we do voluntarily—when you look around and see something should be done, and there’s nobody doing it, well, you go ahead and do it. That’s a good trait to have as a practitioner, because your ability to look after your … 
  4. From Anxiety to Confidence
     … Of course, that refers to the duties of the four noble truths. Those are things you can do every day, which means you can do them today. Some people say, “Well, I can do them any day,” and then they put it off to a later day. That’s not the proper attitude. The proper attitude is that today is the day because who … 
  5. Delight & Beyond Delight
     … This is why, when the Buddha taught the four noble truths, there are four. There’s not just one noble truth. It wasn’t just that life is suffering. Life has suffering, but life also has the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path you can follow to get there. You want to keep that possibility in mind. That helps teach … 
  6. Investing Your Happiness
     … People often complain about how the four noble truths focus on suffering, but if you look at them carefully you see that the most important of them is the fourth truth, the path to the end of suffering. It’s the first one the Buddha taught. It’s the one truth that contains all four noble truths right there in Right View. At its … 
  7. Purity Comes Through Discernment
     … To see the four noble truths is like seeing a clear still pool of water in the mountains. You see the fish and the rocks very clearly because the water is still. Why is the water still? Because you’re not stirring it up. When you’re still, you can see even the slightest movements in the mind. You catch yourself, “Oh, I had … 
  8. Goodwill First & Last
     … Looking at intentions as skillful and unskillful, looking at views as right and wrong, and applying those perspectives to the question of suffering, he discovered the four noble truths. He applied them, followed the tasks appropriate to them, and gained awakening. So notice the pattern. It starts with his own narratives, moves to the larger picture, and then focuses in on the present moment … 
  9. Mental Movements
     … And when the Buddha talks in terms of the four noble truths, that’s the suffering he’s focusing on, where there’s clinging to the five aggregates: clinging to your body or forms of any kind; clinging to feelings, perceptions, thought-constructs, consciousness. There’s clinging only when there’s craving. So, these are the issues we have to watch out for. He … 
  10. Overcoming Delusion
     … And that’s what the Buddha provided in his teachings on the four noble truths. These are the categories of what he called appropriate attention: Look at things in terms of cause and effect, skillful and unskillful. Judge them by the level of stress or harm or suffering that they cause. That’s how you want to look at things. Look at your own … 
  11. Factors for Awakening
     … Now, appropriate attention is another way of saying you apply the framework of the four noble truths, trying to figure out what has to be developed, what has to be abandoned. And because most of us in the West tend to fall into the type of discernment fostering concentration, or those who think too much, it’s good to go through these seven factors … 
  12. Between You and Your Eyes
     … I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say about meditation, “Well, get the mind to be still and then start looking for the three characteristics.” That’s skipping over a huge area of practice, which is based on the four noble truths. Look for where there is stress. Try to comprehend it. Comprehending means knowing it so thoroughly that when … 
  13. Hold onto the Breath
    Earlier this year I was giving a talk back East, and I pointed out the fact that in terms of the four noble truths, the first noble truth is basically the clinging. We cling to the five aggregates, and the clinging itself is the suffering. Then, later on in the talk, I mentioned that there’s got to be some clinging in the path … 
  14. Not Just a Witness
     … Appropriate attention frames things in terms of the four noble truths. Inappropriate attention frames things in other ways—or maybe it doesn’t even have a frame. That’s what bare attention would be. But look at where attention is in the lineup of dependent co-arising. There are factors before it that shape it, give it a frame. By the time you get … 
  15. In Accordance with the Dhamma
     … You have to raise your sights as to what true well-being is and bring your oughts or your shoulds, your sense of what should be done, in line with the duties of the four noble truths, because as the Buddha said, this is the way to true happiness. This is the way to freedom. This is the way to stop oppressing the rest … 
  16. Dhamma is Timeless
     … Buddha said, they’re categorical, which means they’re always true, always beneficial, no matter where you go. There are only two of his teachings that he said were categorical: the four noble truths and the teaching that skillful qualities should be developed, and unskillful ones should be abandoned. The two principles come together, because the noble truths are not just ideas that sit … 
  17. To Comprehend Suffering
     … The second kind is the stress in the four noble truths, dukkha, which can also be translated as suffering or dis-ease. That, the Buddha said, we have to comprehend. And he gave us tools for comprehending it: the five aggregates. If there’s any stress weighing the mind down, you can know for sure that it’s because you’re clinging to any … 
  18. Take Nothing for Granted
     … That’s what the four noble truths are all about: actions you’re doing in the present moment, some of which are leading to suffering, some of which are leading away from suffering. The Buddha gives you some pointers, but you’ve got to see for yourself: Exactly what do those pointers point to? What are you doing right now? Where is the craving … 
  19. Factors for Stream-entry
     … asking questions in terms of the four noble truths. What’s skillful and unskillful? The Dhamma is Dhamma not because you can defend it with rational arguments, or you can put up very elaborate lists of citations that this comes in that passage, and that comes in this passage. Those aren’t the criteria that the Buddha mentioned. His first criteria are: If it … 
  20. Factors for Stream Entry
     … Appropiate attention means basically looking at things in terms of the four noble truths, seeing how whatever teaching you’ve learned from the Dhamma applies to the problem of suffering in your life: Where are you suffering? And what are you doing to cause that suffering? Notice that’s the question: What are you doing? We don’t blame the suffering on things outside … 
  21. A New Framework
     … You measure them in terms of the four noble truths: Are you causing suffering? Or are you not causing suffering? You’re causing stress or you’re not. These are things that anyone can notice, yet most people don’t notice because they don’t look very carefully. Or they don’t make the connection between the fact that they’re suffering and the … 
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