Search results for: "Suffering"

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  2. How to Think about Death
     … crying, suffering. An old person, a sick person, a dead person. Sometimes they add to the list someone who’s in prison and in chains. These are the warnings all around us, and as human beings we can see them and can think about them. We can learn how to take advantage of them so that we don’t have to suffer when unfortunate … 
  3. Taking a Stance
     … We want to understand or comprehend what it is to suffer, so that we can identify the cause. When we see the cause, that’s what we let go. We do this by developing the path, and eventually get to the point where we can realize the cessation of suffering. Those are the duties the Buddha sets out. And notice they’re duties in … 
  4. A Memorial to Your Life
     … Only then can you comprehend suffering, let go of the cause, fully develop the path, so that you can realize the cessation of suffering. All this comes under that quality of asking questions, and then looking, paying full attention, asking questions again. This interplay back and forth between intentness and circumspection, commitment and reflection—this is what will take you far. It’s how … 
  5. The Desire for Things to Be Different
    Sometimes you hear that the craving that causes suffering is the desire for things to be different. That’s partially true, partially false. After all, the desire to get better concentration, the desire to get rid of your defilements, to abandon unskillful qualities, develop skillful ones: Those desires are all part of the path. There may be some pain that goes along with that … 
  6. A Slave to Craving
     … It depends on the suffering of other beings. This is what those reflections on the requisite are for. The food we eat, the clothing we wear, the shelter we live in, the medicine we use: We gain it through suffering, sometimes our own suffering, and a lot of times the suffering of other beings. Even if you’re vegetarian, think of all the farmers … 
  7. An Equanimity You Can Feed On
     … The reason they need to be backed up by equanimity is because often when you see people who are suffering, or other times when you are suffering and you can’t do anything about it, you can’t let yourself get worked up. Or there are cases where you see that people are happy, but you realize it’s not going to last. You … 
  8. Craving & Clinging
     … Sending the mind outside, he said, was the cause of suffering. Suffering was the result of sending the mind outside. The mind seeing the mind is the path, and the result of the mind seeing itself was the cessation of suffering. His explanation fits in with a theme that you see again and again in the teachings of the forest ajaans: that the mind … 
  9. Beyond Likes & Dislikes
     … It starts with the regular chain of dependent co-arising up to suffering and then adds, “But based on suffering comes conviction.” At some point you have to suffer enough to say, “There must be a way out.” And you’re going to look for that way out. You’re serious about it this time. You’re willing to make whatever sacrifices are needed … 
  10. Using the Committee of the Mind
     … It’s worth desiring.” Ill-will will tell you, “So-and-so did something really bad and they deserve to suffer for it,” and it can come up with all kinds of reasons for wanting to see that person suffer. Sleepiness comes on, and a part of the mind says, “Yes, I really do need to rest.” Restlessness and anxiety: You feel virtuous about … 
  11. Focused on Your Duties
     … But if you want to put an end to suffering, you have to comprehend suffering, to see clearly what it is. You have to abandon its cause and develop the path so you can realize the cessation of suffering. Those are your duties if you accept them. Where does suffering happen? Where can you see it clearly enough so that you can comprehend it … 
  12. Brahmaviharas & Noble Truths
     … But if you think about it, what would motivate the Buddha to teach about suffering and the end of suffering, if it wasn’t goodwill? That’s what motivated him to find the path to the end of suffering to begin with: goodwill for himself. And then he taught it because of goodwill and compassion for others. He had empathetic joy for all those … 
  13. The Dhamma Channel
     … And the crickets here, the trees, the animals… A lot of the calls of the animals remind you that those animals are suffering. And they don’t know anything about four noble truths. They don’t know anything about the path to the end of suffering, so they’re just stuck there for the time being. So you ask yourself: Well, here I am … 
  14. Goodwill Starts with Gratitude
     … Think of someone who may be suffering right now. In some cases, the people who are suffering now are especially sensitive, so it’s good to send goodwill to them. It can having a calming effect on their minds. Now, how much they’ll actually benefit from your goodwill is something you can’t control. It’s as if you’re a radio station … 
  15. Mastering Causality
     … Unless we can change that habit, we’re not going to see much improvement in the issue of why we’re suffering, of how we suffer. But if you really look at a physical pain, you realize that while part of it comes from something wrong with the body, another part comes from what the mind is doing to manage the experience of pain … 
  16. Starting from Within
     … For most people, they’re so tied up with their own sufferings that the only way that they can get worked up enough to help other people who are suffering or being treated unfairly is if they get really angry and have a lot of ill will for the perpetrators. But that kind of energy burns itself out pretty quickly—and burns you out … 
  17. Cross-questioning
     … This is the whole point of trying to comprehend suffering. Remember that suffering is defined as five clinging-aggregates. The Buddha right there is giving you a key. It’s the clinging that you’re going to have to understand. When he’s talking about comprehending suffering, that’s what he means: comprehend the clinging. See where it is, what it is you’re … 
  18. Goodwill in Heart & Mind
     … You’ve got to work on the problems inside—the way in which you’re creating unnecessary suffering for yourself—getting past any of the obstacles in the mind that refuse to admit that, refuse to see that. Because as long as you refuse to see that, you’re going to continue to create more suffering. Then you take that suffering out on others … 
  19. Break Things Down
     … That’s where he says you’re going to find the solution to the problem of suffering. As he said, if skillful mental qualities couldn’t be developed, he wouldn’t have taught people to develop skillful qualities. And if developing skillful mental qualities led to suffering, he wouldn’t have taught them to do that, either. The same with unskillful mental qualities: If … 
  20. Cleaning up Your Personal Environment
     … Living in this world is bound to have lots of suffering, but there are different levels of suffering, and different types. The type that comes from influences from your past karma, the type that comes from other people’s actions: That’s suffering outside of you. But there’s also the suffering that you’re creating by pulling these things in through your craving … 
  21. In Accordance with the Dhamma
     … May all those who are suffering be released from suffering. May those who are happy continue in their happiness. Also, may all those who are creating the causes for misery stop. May all those who are creating the causes for happiness continue. Those are the wishes expressed in those three attitudes. But then equanimity comes in, and it’s not a wish. It’s … 
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