Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Relationships
     … What are the beginnings? Well, there’s one passage where the Buddha says, “Give me someone who’s honest, who’s no deceiver, and I will teach that person the Dhamma.” So the first quality you’ll need as you practice the Dhamma is honesty. This means not only being honest with other people, but even more importantly, being honest with yourself. When difficult … 
  3. The Path to Stream Entry
     … Think of the time when Sāriputta the wanderer had gained the Dhamma eye—which is another term for stream-entry—after hearing a very short teaching from Ven. Assaji. He goes back and sees his friend Moggallāna, who was also a wanderer at the time. Moggallāna sees him and says, “Your complexion is bright. Your faculties are bright. Could it be that you’ve … 
  4. Invest in the Breath
     … All he could do was teach her the Dhamma. So she took along a friend, an older woman in her eighties who was a retired doctor. Every evening, they would go and listen to a Dhamma talk from Ajaan Maha Boowa and record it. Then after the woman with cancer died, the older friend came up with the idea of taking all those tapes … 
  5. The Buddha’s Last Word
     … He’d listen to a Dhamma talk by Ajaan Mun and he’d trip over a couple of phrases— couldn’t make heads or tails of them—and so he’d go and think about them for three days. Then he’d go and ask Ajaan Mun, “This point you made the other night in the Dhamma talk. I’ve been thinking about it … 
  6. Getting Your Head Around the Goal
     … There’d be no point in having Dhamma talks like this if that weren’t the case. Then there’s the discernment that comes from thinking things through, and then the discernment that comes from developing. A lot of times, our problem is we want to think things through beforehand in the hope that the more we analyze the issue, the more we read … 
  7. Respect, Confidence, & Patience
    Ajaan Suwat often would begin his Dhamma talks by saying that we should approach the practice with an attitude of respect, an attitude of confidence. Now the respect and the confidence go both ways: respect for the path and respect for ourselves; confidence in the path, confidence in ourselves. Because, after all, what is the basic message of the Buddha’s teachings? It’s … 
  8. Talking to Yourself
     … One time, I was getting ready to give my very first Dhamma talk. And even though it wasn’t going to be my own Dhamma talk—I was going to be reading Ajaan Lee—I still felt a little nervous about it. He said, “Imagine you have a sword in your hand, and if there’s anybody in the room who doesn’t like … 
  9. Issues
     … Disputes are over what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s Dharma, what’s not Dhamma, what’s Vinaya, what’s not Vinaya. Accusation issues: Did so-and-so break one of the principles? And if so, or if not, how do you find out? What do you do when you reach a verdict? The Buddha sets out the processes by which you … 
  10. Inconstant, Stressful, Not-self
     … The other perspective is to view them in terms of the Dhamma summaries that the monk Ratthapala taught to King Koravya: (1) The world is swept away; it does not endure. (2) The world offers no shelter; there’s no on in charge. (3) The world has nothing of its own. One has to pass on, leaving everything behind. (4) The world is insatiable … 
  11. The Power of Intention
    It’s good to think about how much time the Buddha spent searching for the Dhamma, how much energy that went into that, and then how much time and energy that went into spreading the Dhamma—people remembering it and practicing it over the generations and passing it on. Now it’s been passed on to you. They passed it on so that you … 
  12. Self View & Conceit
     … What are they going to think when you’re getting ready to give up? Then there’s the Dhamma as a governing principle: realizing that here’s an excellent Dhamma. It’s very rare that we find a true Dhamma like this. So here’s our chance to practice. If we don’t practice now, when are we going to get another chance? Then … 
  13. Choose Your Actions Wisely
     … This is why it’s good to read the Dhamma, good to listen to the Dhamma, because the Buddha gives you new ways of taking apart that harassing thought, new ways of perceiving the situation, new ways of perceiving the way you’re dealing with it right now. Remember that his word for clinging can also mean to feed on things. Why are you … 
  14. Slings and Arrows of Ordinary Fortunes
     … This is what the Dhamma is for. It’s all for putting an end to suffering. It’s also something we can use. The reflections on aging, illness, and death are not meant to make you discouraged. They’re meant to make you realize that these things are universal. Reflection on separation, again, is supposed to make that point that it’s universal, realizing … 
  15. The Wisdom of Ardency
     … The best use of the Dhamma is not to talk about it, but to use it to get rid of that suffering. It’s in figuring out what you’ve got to do to act more skillfully: That’s where the wisdom lies. That’s where the discernment lies. So you need to develop a sense of how important your actions are. Wisdom is … 
  16. Self Determination
    There’s a theme in several of Ajaan Lee’s Dhamma talks where he says we have a choice: We can be slaves to our defilements or we can be slaves to the Buddha. When we’re slaves to our defilements, there’s no chance for freedom. We may think we’re doing what we want, but it’s usually what our defilements want … 
  17. Goodwill for Snakes
     … It was because of his goodwill for the archer who was sent to kill him that the archer put down his weapons, came in, listened to the Dhamma, and greatly benefited from listening to the Dhamma. That was because the Buddha’s goodwill was so solid. Ours, however, still needs practice, which means we can’t rely only on good intentions. We have to … 
  18. Truths Noble in the Heart
     … This is one of the reasons we have monasteries and why the Buddha set up the institution of what they call dependence, where young monks stay with senior monks for at least five years – not just to hear the Dhamma, because nowadays, you can hear the Dhamma all over the web. What’s special about dependence is that, on the one hand, you see … 
  19. Restlessness & Anxiety
     … In other words, make sure you’re living in a world where a Buddha is still remembered, the Dhamma is taught and practiced, and the Sangha has carried the true Dhamma down for many generations. When you have that context in the world of your mind, it’s a lot easier to hold perceptions that will calm the mind down and give you more … 
  20. Fears
     … There’s nothing I can do for you.” This is where Dhamma practice comes in: facing our realistic fears, our fears of aging, illness, separation, and death. These things are real and they do cause suffering — if you don’t work your way down into exactly where your attachments are. This is precisely the Buddhist take on fear: It comes from clinging and attachment … 
  21. Motivation
     … The second governing principle is the appreciation of the Dhamma. This is a wonderful Dhamma we’ve got here, taught by someone totally free from greed, aversion, and delusion. It’s timeless. That points to the positive aspect of the practice. Then the third governing principle is the world. This is the unusual one. The Buddha says that there are people in the world … 
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