Search results for: "Conviction"
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- Noble Treasures… How’s your conviction? Conviction in the Buddha’s awakening means conviction that human beings can do this. You’re a human being, you’re in the scope of the Buddha’s teachings, so you’ve got this possibility, too. Look at your virtue. Your sense of shame. The word “shame” has gotten really bad press, especially here in the States, even though we …
- Nurturing Patient Endurance… On top of conviction, comes virtue. In fact, virtue is part of conviction. If you really are convinced in the power of your actions, you’re going to be very careful about how you act. And generosity: That, too, grows out of conviction. As the Buddha said, you’re convinced that something good will come from your generosity; it’s not a waste. It …
- Taking the Buddha at his Word… Once you have that conviction, then you start looking for why this is a good practice, how it’s a useful practice. You start figuring things out. You understand. This is how understanding comes from conviction, as in the list of the five strengths: The list starts with conviction, and then goes through persistence, mindfulness, and concentration to discernment. If you’re convinced that …
- Unchanged by Loss… That perception helps you stick with that conviction. And strengthened conviction makes it easier and easier to get the mind into concentration. It helps you develop that earth-like quality of being solid in the mind, so that whatever comes up as you work through energy knots in the body, you’re not going to be knocked around by it. So, this principle of …
- It’s What You Give… strength of conviction, strength of persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. We can find the sources of these strengths within. When we hear the Buddha’s teachings, they make sense, but it’s up to us to make that movement of the heart, which is conviction. We have to give our assent, take on these principles as working hypotheses, and then put forth our effort …
- Strong & Heedful… Conviction is conviction in the principle of karma. In other words, believing that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the intentions you act on. That conviction helps get rid of the delusion that somehow you can act in sloppy ways, or act in careless ways, or even act in evil ways, and not suffer the consequences. So many people …
- Refuge & Strength… But the way out is suggested by the fifth reflection, which is that “We’re the owners of our karma.” We take this on conviction. When the Buddha taught karma and rebirth, he didn’t say that he could prove these teachings to anybody, but that we could be find through the practice that these things are true. So we have to have conviction …
- Strength from Within… But in addition, you need conviction and discernment. Conviction here means believing that your actions really are important. Ajaan Lee, when he was giving a Dhamma talk to one of his students who was on her deathbed, reminded her that strength of the body and strength of the mind keep us going, but ultimately we have to depend on strength of the mind. When …
- Wealth & Strength… The first one was, “What is a person’s wealth?” And the Buddha’s answer was “Conviction.” Think about the forest ajaans. Many of them came from poor backgrounds, but they were wealthy in conviction: that there was a way out of poverty, there was a way out of the dead end of being in the low end of the Thai social scale, and …
- A Dhamma Bucket List… One is conviction, conviction in the Buddha’s awakening. Think about what that means for you. The Buddha gained his awakening through his own actions, by developing good qualities of the heart: ardency, resolution, heedfulness. And he isn’t the only one who has those qualities. It’s simply that he worked on them. So those are some things you could work at. Develop …
- Trust in Heedfulness… The list starts with conviction. And as the Buddha says frequently, the various members of the list—starting with conviction on through persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment—are developed through heedfulness. Now, this may seem a strange combination: Conviction, on the one hand, implies trust; and heedfulness implies wariness. But if you look carefully at what heedfulness means, it means that you believe that …
- The Equanimity of a Winner… You have conviction in the power of your actions, and conviction that the Buddha has shown us a good path. It’s a warrior’s path and it’s a victorious path. You have conviction in what he taught and its implications for your actions, that you can do this, too. You, too, can put an end to suffering. From that conviction, you develop …
- Heeding the Deva Messengers… All of this conviction comes under conviction in the Buddha’s awakening. He saw the principle of karma, he saw the principle of becoming as it takes shape in the mind and how it then plays itself out not only in thoughts in the mind, but also in the states of being you take on outside. Becoming is basically taking on an identity in …
- Developing Discernment… So if you’re looking into ways for how to develop discernment, look at how to develop conviction, persistence, mindfulness, and concentration. How do these things contribute to giving rise to discernment? First there’s the strength of conviction. This means conviction in the awakening of the Buddha, that it was an important event that makes all the difference in the world: the fact …
- Taking Charge… mindfulness, alertness, compassion, goodwill, discernment, concentration, conviction in the principle of action. These are going to be related in one way or another to what are called the five strengths. For to move your life in the direction you want it to requires strength, especially if you’re having to change directions. So you need to have conviction in the principle of action, that …
- You Can Do Better… One is conviction; the other is discernment. These are the things that pull your practice along. It’s easy to see how conviction would play that role. Belief that the teachings are true pulls you to practice. It’s interesting that discernment is also pulling you to practice. It’s the power that gets the whole thing going. In other words, you think about …
- Booster Stages… Develop an attitude of confidence, he said, an attitude of conviction, not only while you’re meditating, but also throughout the day. All the people in the past who found true happiness: This is how they did it. Do you want true happiness? Most often you’ll say, “Yes,” but a lot of time you can also tell yourself, “No, I just want something …
- Conviction & Persistence… The second point is that we have to develop the conviction that helps with this—and then the mindfulness and the concentration and the discernment that we need in order to keep that consistency going. Conviction is what gives us the motivation that this is important: that, one, it is possible, and two, it really makes a difference. This is an essential part of …
- On Not Being a Victim… He focused his conviction on that. And the power of his conviction made a difference. It reshaped his mind, reshaped his experience of things. It shaped his mind until it reached a point where it could see things very clearly in terms of why there is suffering and how you can put an end to suffering. It didn’t just happen; it happened through …
- To Strengthen the Path… The first is conviction: conviction that the Buddha really knew what he was talking about. He really was awakened. He really did see that your actions are important. They shape your life. They don’t totally shape things in the present moment out of nothing, because, after all, you have to live with the results of past actions. But you do have some choice …
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