Search results for: "Suffering"
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- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- Solidly Established… You want to think, act, and speak in ways that actually bring about happiness rather than bringing about pain and suffering. Yet you look at the way people behave throughout the world, and there’s a lot of pain and suffering being produced. Fortunately, we’re not doomed to suffer forever. We have this ability, which is to learn. We can see that we …
- The Value of Effort… When there’s stress or suffering, you don’t want to run away from it or push it away. You want to comprehend it. That requires watching it, understanding it, so you can see where it comes from, and what you’re doing in particular that’s contributing to it. There are, after all, two kinds of stress and suffering. There’s the stress …
- A Path for a Noble Desire… The truth of suffering is something he says you should comprehend, to see that it does lie in the clinging. The cause of suffering is not things outside, it’s your own craving. The cessation of suffering is the end of that craving. And you can realize that cessation by developing the path. So, this is the basic framework for the Buddha’s teachings …
- One Point, Two Points, Many Points… We were talking earlier this morning about name and form and how they play a role in the arising of suffering. Well, they also play a role in the path leading to the end of suffering. You’ve got form, which is the form of the body, the four great elements, and the breath is the most prominent element. You’ve got perception: whatever …
- Cosmic Scale, Human Scale… We’re all lucky we’re here right now, so take advantage of it, because there’s a lot of suffering out there. As the Buddha said, the amount of suffering left to beings who haven’t gained the Dhamma eye is like all the dirt in the Earth. The amount of suffering left to those who have gained the Dhamma eye is just …
- Antidotes for Narcissism… And it’s not just that you are suffering. In order to maintain an identity that has a body and feelings and so forth, you need to feed. That’s the other great contemplation. “What is one? All beings subsist on food.” Everybody’s feeding on everybody else, physically, emotionally. This causes suffering both for the feeder and the fed upon. We tend to …
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