Search results for: "Greed"

  1. Page 36
  2. Guarding the Truth
     … We intend to focus on the breath—ardent, alert, mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s the formula. We’re trying to get the mind into a state of concentration. As it settles in, you begin to see what’s going on in the activity of concentration. There’s directed thought and evaluation. The Buddha calls that verbal … 
  3. Calming Mental Fabrication
    When the Buddha teaches concentration practice—breath meditation practice—he gives you a physical fabrication to focus on, i.e., the breath coming in, going out, and then he gives you a verbal fabrication, the instructions, “Keep track of the breath; remain focused on the breath—ardent, alert, mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.” So you keep reminding yourself … 
  4. The Graduated Discourse
     … Can you imagine what the drawbacks of bad actions are? The drawbacks of acting on greed, aversion, and delusion? When you find the mind wandering off, try to think of these principles to re-establish your values or get them back in line with the four noble truths, so that you can actually apply the duties. These are not duties that are being imposed … 
  5. Making a Refuge
     … You’ve got to have protection from your own greed, aversion, and delusion because these things are a lot more dangerous than anything anyone else outside could do. Sometimes we have people coming here to the monastery, and they’re thrown off by the animals around: the coyotes, the snakes. I keep reminding them that the coyotes and snakes don’t do much to … 
  6. Angry
     … You try to train the mind to get rid of its greed, aversion, and delusion, because this practice is a way of showing goodwill to yourself and all other living beings. These are ways of finding happiness that harm no one. The problem is that even within the framework, no matter how much you do goodwill practice, there are times when anger comes up … 
  7. Proactive with Pain
     … It can latch on to anger, it can latch on to greed, it can latch on to lust—it can latch on to all kinds of desires or worries. One of the worst things you can focus on as you’re facing death is worry: either worries about what’s going to happen to other people, or worries about what’s going to happen … 
  8. A Sense of Time & Place
     … What does it need right now? Which direction is it inclined? Toward greed, or toward anger? Is this energy level too scattered or is it too low? How do you bring it back into balance? That’s the internal level. On the outer level, you look at yourself as you interact with other people. What is your position with regard to them? What are … 
  9. Beyond Gratitude
     … Sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s delusion, sometimes it’s greed, sometimes it’s fear, sometimes it’s lust. Sometimes they’re heavy cases; sometimes they’re light. This means that you have to be ready for whatever comes up and deal with whatever comes up, learning how to recognize when a misunderstanding has come in and taken over the mind. You’ve … 
  10. The Karma of Self & Not-Self
     … But at the same time, the Buddha says, you put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That means whatever is out in the world right now, you remind yourself, “It’s not-self. It’s not me. It’s not mine. I have more important things to focus on.” The same with discernment—and this is where the range of not … 
  11. The Need for a Purpose
     … The work of cleaning out your greed, aversion, and delusion is not a minor thing. And you’re not the only one who’s going to benefit. So, you learn how to tell yourself to be happy that you’ve got this seclusion. When the mind is beginning to settle down and part of it says, “Well, you’re not doing much thinking right … 
  12. A Friend to the World, A Friend to Yourself
     … no inappropriate greed, no ill-will, and you try to keep your views straight—in other words, in line with right view. Here again, you set a good example, and you encourage others as best you can. But of course, encouragement is easiest when you’re setting that good example. This is where your well-being and the well-being of others come together … 
  13. Yes & No
     … You try to keep track of that, ardent, alert, mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. There are two activities there. One is choosing your topic. And the other is learning how to say No to everything that’s going to pull you out into the world. The “world” here can either be the world of the senses outside or … 
  14. Compunction
     … You cause harm to yourself by giving in to greed, aversion, and delusion. You might think of breaking the precepts as harming other people, because after all, you’re killing them or stealing from them, lying to them. But he said, no, that’s where you’re harming yourself. If you want to harm other people, you get them to do these things, because … 
  15. Remembering Ajaan Suwat
     … Because you realize that you’re doing this not to make yourself better than other people, but simply because you’ve got these diseases of greed, aversion, and delusion in the mind. You need to cure them. Then there’s the fourth custom of the noble ones, which is to delight in abandoning and to delight in developing. In other words, you abandon unskillful … 
  16. How to Change
     … If it’s not delusional, sometimes it’s anger, sometimes it’s greed, sometimes it’s unskillful desires of other kinds. As you watch the conversation, you come to see: This is how the Buddha handles these people, this is how he handles these defilements. It gives some idea of how you can apply that same approach yourself. This is one of the reasons … 
  17. At Home with the Breath
     … That way, when the mind moves in a particular way—out of greed, anger, or delusion—and creates a sense of stress inside, you’ll see it. It’s no longer obscured by the background hum. So this ability to create a sense of ease in the present moment to make this house of the body into a home is important not just for … 
  18. The Story-telling Mind
     … So a good part of the meditation is often not just being with the breath but — if you find you’ve got a story that keeps obsessing the mind, stirring up greed, anger, delusion, fear, whatever — learning how to deal with that story, learning how to tell yourself new stories. Learn a corrective to the old stories. One of the basic ways of doing … 
  19. Concentration Nurtured with Virtue
     … For instance, when someone has asked you a question, and you know that if you tell them the full truth about the answer, it’s going to harm them—giving rise to greed, anger, or delusion—then you’ve got to be ingenious about changing the topic or giving a partial answer without lying. Taking the precepts requires you to be ingenious, to plan … 
  20. The Dignity of Restraint
     … You realize the benefits that come from saying No to your greed and allowing other people to enjoy what you’re giving away. For example, when you’re living in a group there’s food to be shared by all. If you give up some of your share so others can enjoy a bigger share, you’re creating a better atmosphere in the group … 
  21. Protect Your Inner Center
     … For instance, when greed, aversion, or desire arises in the mind, sometimes it arises in a very weak form—so weak that you hardly notice it. But you may notice that something’s changed in the breath. Sometimes you’ll notice that the influence goes the other way: Something happens in the breath, there’s a tension you’re holding in a certain part … 
  22. Load next page...