Search results for: "The Four Noble Truths"

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  2. Lessons from the Buddha’s Awakening
     … As the Buddha said, the parts he taught about his awakening—the four noble truths—are for the sake of getting people to come to the end of suffering. You focus on that, and you’re focusing on the right spot. Which is why we’re here meditating, developing some of the factors of the path—right mindfulness, right concentration—or, at the very … 
  3. A Well-thatched Roof
     … They don’t like the four noble truths. They tell us that they’re not noble. They tell us that they’re not truths. They tell us that the word for origination doesn’t mean origination; it means result. In other words, suffering results in craving. But that doesn’t give you any idea of how you’re going to get rid of the … 
  4. There is This
     … They are the subject of the four noble truths. That’s the suffering in the first noble truth: the suffering that craving and ignorance shoot into the heart. So our training is learning how not to shoot ourselves with that second arrow. Although it’s always struck me that there’s more than just one second arrow. Lots of arrows get shot into the … 
  5. What We’re Here to See
     … different issues as they come up, but then as your practice gains more and more of a mastery, then you’ll find that it settles back into the main points: the four noble truths, the teachings on fabrication. So keep that framework in mind. But also remember you’re going to be discovering the details about your mind, and a lot of the insights … 
  6. As Days & Nights Fly Past, Fly Past
     … When the Buddha set out the four noble truths he wasn’t simply setting out four interesting facts about an interesting topic—suffering and stress. He was pointing out the fact that this is the big issue in life—the suffering and stress that we’re causing ourselves—and that we don’t have to. The fact that we’re causing it doesn’t … 
  7. Attachment to Views
     … The test always is appropriate attention to the four noble truths: To what extent does this insight give you insight into how to comprehend suffering or stress, how to abandon its cause, or how to develop the path, so that you can realize cessation? Those are the issues. And everything should get tested by those issues. Then, if the insight has done its work … 
  8. The Buddha’s Conventions
     … So, when the Buddha gives his teachings like dependent co-arising, the four noble truths, or the three perceptions, they’re a form of social conditioning, too. This is why the Forest tradition never describes them as ultimate truths. They’re assumptions. They’re conventions. We use the Buddha’s conventions because they serve a purpose that our ordinary conventions can’t. His perceptions … 
  9. The Whole Elephant
     … It’s not too much to grasp. The handful contains everything important to know. And it’s something we can get not only our hands but also our heads around: the four noble truths. That’s not all that much to comprehend. To paraphrase Ajaan Lee, “There are people out there who can manage orchards of thousands of acres, and here we have just … 
  10. The Body Doesn’t Care
     … Look at the duties with regard to the four noble truths. The duty for the second noble truth, the cause of suffering, is to abandon it because it’s when you abandon the cause that you can solve the problem of suffering. Look at the third noble truth: That actually is the abandoning, where you successfully abandon the craving. But there’s an extra … 
  11. Discernment Through Right Effort
     … And then, when we talk about those four kinds of effort, which ones are the most appropriate to apply right now? They’re part of a larger pattern where the Buddha talks about the duties with regard to the four noble truths. Essentially, what’s talked about in right effort are the duties with regard to the cause of suffering and the duties with … 
  12. Terror & Revulsion
     … Four is the four noble truths, and so on. “One” is interesting. The question is, “What is One?” And the answer is, “All beings subsist on food.” This is how the Buddha introduces causality. In other words, causality, interconnectedness, is not always a pretty thing. It’s essentially feeding. And if you’re feeding on something inconstant and undependable, your life is inconstant and … 
  13. The Thoroughbred Horse
     … The other categorical teaching is the four noble truths. and they’re not just idle truths or things to think about. They’re truths that carry a should. Suffering should be comprehended. Its cause should be abandoned. The cessation of suffering should be realized, and the path to the cessation of suffering should be developed. These are shoulds that carry across the board. That … 
  14. sBeyond Acceptance
     … That’s the good news of the four noble truths.
  15. Over the Pass
    When the Buddha set out the four noble truths, he made it very clear that the purpose of the path was to attack the problem of suffering at its cause. In other words, you don’t attack the suffering, you attack the craving. And the attack has two forms: One is developing, and the other is abandoning, restraining. It’s interesting that in the … 
  16. How to Listen to the Dhamma
     … And remember that appropriate attention, especially as it applies to the four noble truths, carries some duties. When the talk points out something that should be abandoned, you actually try to abandon it. If it points out something that should be developed, you try to develop it. That way, in the Buddha’s terms, you get sensitive to what the talk is aiming at … 
  17. Food Insecurity
     … It doesn’t mean only “not-knowing.” It also means “lack of skill.” Remember that the four noble truths—which form the knowledge that replaces ignorance—have their duties. You can know that and just let it pass. Or you can know that and say, “I’m going to take on those duties”: an act of will that requires that you talk to yourself … 
  18. Heedfulness
     … And then it develops from that into seeing things in terms of the four noble truths: “Okay, where is the stress right now? What are you doing to cause the stress? How do you comprehend the stress enough so that you can abandon it? What qualities of mind do you need to develop as a path to get to the point where you can … 
  19. Respect Opens Possibilities
     … The other categorical teaching is the four noble truths, focused first on what is your suffering, after all. The Buddha identifies it as clinging to the aggregates. The aggregates are activities we indulge in. We chanted about them just now. Form—your body is constantly in action. Feeling—feelings of pleasure, pain, feelings of neither pleasure nor pain. Perceptions—the labels you apply to … 
  20. Against Your Type
     … Dependent co- arising, the four noble truths, emptiness: All the really big basic teachings are questions of action and result. That’s how the Buddha wants us to look at things. That’s what right view is all about: seeing things in terms of actions and their results. Then you take that insight and use it to develop all the skills you need, as … 
  21. Mindfulness + Discernment = Intelligence
     … In other words, they have to fit into the skills of the four noble truths. That’s when you use them intelligently. So this is the kind of intelligence we’re trying to develop as we practice: pragmatic intelligence. We look at our memory and ask, “What in my memory is useful for right now? What’s not useful?” Focus only on the things … 
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