Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Rhythms of the Mind
     … That seems to work only in countries where people have already had a really good grounding in the Dhamma, either in actually having read it or living in a culture that’s picked up a lot of the attitudes that embody the Dhamma. But for those of us here in the West, it’s hard. Our culture has a lot of anti-Dhammic attitudes … 
  3. Strong Against Anger & Fear
     … I was listening to a “Dhamma talk” a while back where someone was saying that if a strong emotion comes, you’ve just got to ride with it. You have no choice. Once it’s in motion, you’re committed to it. But the whole purpose of Buddha’s teaching is to alert you to choices that you didn’t know before—they might … 
  4. The Ennobling Path
     … As the Buddha said, when you break down the present moment in this way, you see nothing but dhammas. The world dhamma here can mean phenomenon, it can mean event, it can mean activity, or the way of looking at things as is directly experienced. However you want to conceive that term of dhamma is fine, as long as you’re right with things … 
  5. Songkran
     … After all, we’re not here to reinvent the Dhamma wheel. The Buddha set forth the Dhamma wheel as to why we’re suffering, how we can stop suffering. He laid out the duties very clearly. It’s good to reflect on that: What good lessons can you derive from the past? That’s what mindfulness is all about: remembering those good lessons and … 
  6. The Elephant Hunter
     … They listen to his Dhamma, and they’re converted. That’s a sign of an awakened person—just as when you go into the forest and you see the footprints of an elephant, you know that that’s an elephant, a big, bull elephant because the footprints are large.” So the friend says, “In that case, I’d like to meet with the Buddha … 
  7. A Sense of Yourself
     … Ajaan Fuang talked about how when he was young and actually began listening to the Dhamma, he looked at his lifetime up to that point. The more he’d listened to the Dhamma, the more he realized that he was lacking in a lot of merit. He was born into a very poor family, he’d lost his parents, wasn’t doing well in … 
  8. Taking a Stance
     … So why did you ordain?” And Raṭṭhapāla said that there were four Dhamma summaries he learned from the Buddha that inspired him to ordain. The first was, “The world is swept away, it does not endure.” You can set your mind on all kinds of goals in the world, but if you’re looking simply for the goal of what you can accomplish outside … 
  9. The Buddha Teaches a Yakkha
     … As for the Buddha’s final answer, that’s become a famous set of dhammas, or qualities. It’s listed in a Dhamma textbook in Thailand as a set of qualities appropriate for lay people, but they’re appropriate for everybody. The late king of Thailand, Rama IX, when they celebrated the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bangkok, gave a talk to the … 
  10. Inner Critics
     … That’s why you need to have a teacher.” This is why the Buddha set up what is essentially an apprenticeship for passing along the Dhamma. You live together, and through living together, you get to know the teacher and the teacher gets to know you. This can provide an ideal situation for the teacher to point out where you’re being sloppy, where … 
  11. You Should Heed These Shoulds
     … And, of course, we’ve got the whole Dhamma-Vinaya. The Vinaya is full of “shoulds” and “should nots.” When the Buddha taught the Dhamma he didn’t just give information. He roused, encouraged, and urged his listeners to act as well. I say all this because this is a feature of the Buddha’s teachings that’s often denied. We’re told that … 
  12. To Know the Buddha
     … Take the sutta on setting the wheel of Dhamma in motion: Sometimes it reads as if it were just an outline of what the Buddha had to say. The Buddha mentions the five aggregates but doesn’t define what they are in the sutta, so maybe he actually did define what they were when he gave the talk reported in the sutta. That part … 
  13. Faith in the Practice
    We hear about the students of the Buddha who heard one Dhamma talk and gained awakening. And some of them seem to have an unfair advantage. There was one woman who was going out on a picnic one day. She took all her servants along, and they played in the park. On the way back, she stopped off and visited the Buddha. He gave … 
  14. Appreciating Merit
    There’s that chant we have at the end of every chanting session: “Through the power of all the Buddhas, all the Dhamma, all the Sangha, may you forever be well.” What is that power? Where does it come from? The Buddha gained his power from his generosity, his virtue, and his meditation, developing concentration, developing discernment all the way to nibbana. As did … 
  15. True Friends & False
     … And it’s good to listen to the Dhamma, too. This is why we have Dhamma talks during the meditation. Because if the Dhamma isn’t here to listen to, you’re going to start listening to your own opinions: “I like this, I don’t like that”—whatever the mind has to say. An important part of the meditation is to get out … 
  16. Solving Real Problems
     … It gives direction to your practice, so you’re not floundering around, having to re-invent the Dhamma wheel all the time. The Dhamma wheel was set in motion a long time ago and it’s still in motion. Study the Dhamma and then do the best thing you can with that study—i.e., put what you learn into practice. Use these concepts … 
  17. Conserving Your Strength
     … Even though your ears don’t fall deaf, you don’t have to pay attention to anything you hear, even this Dhamma talk. Let it be in the background. Give the mind something to do that’s really good for the mind: Stay with the breath. When the breath comes in, know it’s coming in. When it goes out, know it’s going … 
  18. The Same but Different, but the Same
     … There’s a passage in the Canon where a monk goes around and asks other monks, “What were you contemplating when you finally broke through to the Dhamma, had your first glimpse of the Dhamma or the awakening of the Dhamma eye?” One monk said he was contemplating the five aggregates, another monk said he was contemplating dependent co-arising, other monks were contemplating … 
  19. Fear
     … A third is that they don’t really understand the Dhamma, they haven’t resolved their doubts about the Dhamma. These are three things that can be cured only through meditation. The other reason for fearing death is when you know that you’ve harmed other people. There’s always a fear that comes with the thought that maybe there is a punishment for … 
  20. Overcoming Obstacles
     … Seven years after he gave that Dhamma talk, he was dead, and he was sick in the meantime, many, many times. And many of the people he gave that Dhamma talk to are now dead, too. We’re alive. But again, we don’t know how much longer it will be before we go. So take advantage of the opportunity you’ve got. Be … 
  21. Goodwill as Right View
     … Goodwill is what the Buddha depended on to teach, to go out of his way to establish the Dhamma and Vinaya. Ordinarily, a teaching Buddha has only one duty, which is to teach his contemporaries how to gain awakening. And then there’s the optional duty of establishing a Dhamma and Vinaya that’ll last a long time, for future generations. It takes a … 
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