Search results for: "The Four Noble Truths"
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- Perplexity… Appropriate attention is basically the seeing things in terms of the four noble truths and figuring out what the duty is in regard to them. When stress or suffering comes, that’s to be comprehended. You’ve got to look and see: What is actually the suffering there in the mind? You have to ferret it out. As the Buddha said, it’s something …
- Delight… So instead, you think in terms of the four noble truths: simply what is suffering, what is the cause of suffering, what is the cessation of suffering, what is the path to the cessation. In other words, you think in terms that have nothing to do with becoming—a self or a world—and that cut through the processes of becoming. And you find …
- You Can Make a Difference… It basically came down to the four noble truths and, as he said, the reason he chose those leaves is because they could help people put an end to suffering. This means that his goodwill was part of his standard for deciding what to teach, what not to teach. So we should accept his teachings in that frame of mind—having gratitude for someone …
- Dependable Friends… After all, as the Buddha said with regard to the four noble truths, suffering is something you want to comprehend, the cause of suffering is something you want to let go or abandon. Cessation is something you want to realize, to verify it for yourself. And then the path to the end of suffering is something you want to develop. So you have to …
- To Free You from Clinging… In some cases, their truth is true and beneficial all the time, like the basic teaching on abandoning unskillful actions and developing skillful ones; or the four noble truths and their duties to comprehend suffering, to abandon its cause, to realize its cessation, and to develop the path. These things are true and beneficial all the time. The teaching on not-self is true …
- Karma & Gratitude… It’s in this way that reflection on gratitude in the context of karma can bring you right here, doing what you should be doing in terms of the duties of the four noble truths.: duties that are not imposed on you, but when you realize you want to put an end to suffering, you want to put an end to karma, this is …
- Outside the Box… They constantly fall under the truths of the four noble truths. That’s what’s constant about them. Ajaan Lee had his own way—in fact, two different ways—of dealing with the three characteristics. One is that he noticed certain aspects of your body stay the same. Your mouth has never turned into your eye. Your hands have never turned into your feet …
- Honoring the Noble Ones… What intentions, what views now would help put an end to suffering, help put an end to this cycle of birth and death? That’s how he discovered the four noble truths. He followed the duties with regard to those truths and gained awakening. That was the point where he didn’t have to use his awakening for anything further. But up to that …
- Thoughts, Wanted and Unwanted… The reflection on stress and the cause of stress—the teachings of the four noble truths—comes in really handy here. There are types of thinking we like to think but they’re causing a lot of stress in our lives. They’re making it difficult for us to get along with other people, making it difficult for other people to get along with …
- One Point, Two Points, Many Points… What we’re doing is to take the basic causes of suffering and to bring as much awareness to them as possible — specifically awareness in the form of the four noble truths: Where is there stress, what are you doing that’s causing stress, and what can you change to make the stress go away? You start with blatant levels of stress related to …
- Practicing on Your Own… The second was the teachings on the four noble truths: how suffering is caused and where you look for the cause so that you can put an end to the suffering, and what you do to put an end to the suffering. These principles don’t change from time to time. You want to hold to these things, because not only does the culture …
- The Five Hindrances… In other words, we don’t look at them in terms of the four noble truths. We don’t see what suffering they’re causing. We just ride with them. The way to starve them is to develop appropriate attention. Look at these mind states simply as that—as mind states, part of a chain of cause and effect. See where these chains of …
- Persistence: Lift Your Heart… We’re given two sets of views that are categorical—one, that skillful actions should be developed and unskillful ones should be abandoned; and two, the four noble truths together with their duties. If we have conviction in the Buddha's awakening, we believe these really are categorical. The problem is that they’re not truths that just sit there. They have duties associated …
- Establishing Priorities… That’s why one of the duties with regard to the four noble truths is to develop the path, the way out of suffering. This is what we’re doing here right now. So wisdom is largely a matter of priorities. As you’re sitting in meditation, as you go through life, your top priority should be to stay here with the breath so …
- To Delight in the Path… This is one of the reasons why, when the Buddha introduced the four noble truths to laypeople, he would start out with these two topics: taking joy in being generous, taking joy in being virtuous. Or if he was discussing the basis for the acts of merit, acts of goodness, he described three: generosity, virtue, and the development of goodwill. Learn how to take …
- Happiness is a Skill… When he defines right view, he defines it as knowledge in terms of the four noble truths. So there is some knowledge involved there, but a lot of things you have to take on as working hypotheses—for instance, that the suffering really is in the act of clinging. The word for clinging can also mean feeding. In the catechism that the Buddha gives …
- Admit Your Stupidity… It asks those questions and it asks the questions that are related to the duties of the four noble truths as well. “How do you comprehend your suffering? How do you abandon what you’re doing to cause suffering? What qualities of mind do you develop so you can realize the end of suffering?” You take those questions and apply them in all areas …
- The Uses of Equanimity… They’re a means to knowledge, the knowledge we develop around the four noble truths: looking for the stress, trying to comprehend it to the point where you can see what’s causing it, what activities you’re engaged in that are contributing to the stress, and learning how to stop those activities, to drop them. That’s where you let go. Essentially, equanimity …
- Birth Is Suffering… It’s the same with the four noble truths, analyzing where there’s suffering and what’s causing it. This is the type of analysis that you apply to all your views. Where is the suffering in the clinging to the view? What’s causing it? What craving lies behind the view? Can you learn to wean yourself off that craving? You do that …
- Balanced Meditation… As for other issues that come in from the course of the day, the four noble truths are a good way of approaching issues that come in, that are standing in the way of your meditation. If the mind is fastening on something, ask yourself, okay, exactly where is the suffering here? That’s a point of view we usually don’t take. We …
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