Search results for: "Generosity"
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- The Graduated Discourse… generosity, virtue, the rewards of generosity and virtue, here on Earth and in heaven. But then the drawbacks—and these are the drawbacks of good actions. Can you imagine what the drawbacks of bad actions are? The drawbacks of acting on greed, aversion, and delusion? When you find the mind wandering off, try to think of these principles to re-establish your values or …
- Good Eating… Those kinds of pleasures really hurt over the long term, but the act of generosity is something that you can feed on for a long time. Recollection of generosity, recollection of the gifts you’ve given in the past, is actually a form of meditation. It’s useful for the days when the meditation seems dry and you begin to wonder if you’re …
- Indecision… So many of the Buddha’s lists of ways of explaining the Dhamma start with generosity. The three forms of merit or inner worth start with generosity. The talk that he would give to get people ready to hear the four noble truths starts with generosity. Here in the West when we learn about Buddhism, one of the first things we learn is the …
- Perfecting the Mind in an Imperfect World… There’s no one in charge, as we chanted just now—because acts of generosity have to be allowed a certain amount of freedom. In fact, the Buddha was very strict about how he would have the monks talk to laypeople about their generosity. Monks are not allowed to hint or scheme, to try to figure out ways to squeeze a little more generosity …
- A Sense of Yourself… The fourth quality is generosity. How hard do you find it to part with your things? How hard do you find it to give of your time or your energy to other people when they ask for it, or even when they don’t ask for it, but you see that they could use it? What gets in the way of your generosity? When …
- Relating to Kamma… Back in the time of the Buddha, there was an issue around whether generosity really was worthwhile. It came from those many, many centuries of the brahmans’ saying that generosity is good—when given to the brahmans. People would react. Part of the reaction came in the form of a teaching that said that people didn’t have any free will, so when someone …
- Don’t Underestimate Merit… I’d get back to the monastery, eat their food, and warn myself, “Okay, today you’re the beneficiary of a poor person’s generosity. You can’t be sloppy in your meditation. You can’t be lazy. You’ve got to do this for them.” But even as a layperson sitting here meditating in the monastery, you’re surrounded by people’s generosity …
- Approaching the four noble truths… The Buddha starts by teaching that generosity is a good thing. This was a controversial issue at that time. There were some teachers who said that generosity didn’t mean anything. Whatever you did was influenced by the stars or by other forces beyond your control. So, generosity was meaningless. The Buddha is basically here saying that generosity is meaningful. And it gives good …
- Appreciation… He said it was because people here in the West come to meditation mainly without having gone through the training in generosity and the training in virtue that Buddhism gives. Or at least, they hadn’t found the joy in being generous and virtuous. This is partly because the training in generosity and virtue we receove here is that generosity is forced on you …
- Heedfulness & Confidence… There’s training in virtue, concentration, discernment; or generosity, virtue and meditation. These skills provide us with protection, in teaching us how to deal with whatever negative things do come up, and how to send out a good energy. There’s a good energy that comes with generosity, and it tends to attract other good energies in the world. The same with virtue, the …
- Generosity & Virtue as Skills… the skills of generosity and the skills of virtue. These two skills teach patience and a lot of other good attitudes that you’re going to need as you meditate. The skill of generosity comes from realizing that your happiness can’t depend on your eating alone. There’s a happiness that comes from sharing, because in sharing you realize that you don’t …
- Reading Your Meditation… He starts instead with the topics of generosity and gratitude. The fact that we’re responsible for our actions means that generosity and gratitude are valid emotions, valid activities. They really do have worth. If we didn’t have freedom of choice, what would there be to be grateful for? It’d be like being grateful to a stone for dropping. It drops not …
- A Slave to Craving… You start with generosity, move up to virtue, and develop goodwill. That’s how you begin meditating: meditating on goodwill. All of these things teach you important lessons that you can then bring properly to the meditation. The lesson of generosity, or of giving, is that giving does have its rewards, but to gain those rewards, you have to give first. Generosity also teaches …
- Monotasking… That’s a form of generosity, to share something that you have in terms of your knowledge or your energy. Then when you sit down to meditate and the mind starts feeling dry, you can reflect on that. Now, you’ll find that one act of generosity can be reflected on only a limited number of times before it starts getting dry, so you …
- Appreciating the State of Peace… The four qualities are discernment, truth, generosity, and calm. The discernment, of course, is expressed in our realization of what the true aim is—the most skillful aim: to put an end to suffering. This gives a context to the practice of metta. It also helps us understand the content of metta as well. In terms of the context, we realize if we really …
- Dignity in the Face of Hardship… The good things in life do come from virtue; they do come from generosity. They are good, but they have their dangers. This is why we look beyond just the good things in life to the path, where we look to release. It may not be the case that you gain release in this lifetime, but you want to put yourself in a position …
- Greed for Outer & Inner Wealth… The forest ajaans like to point out how wealth can be used to develop good qualities of the character, particularly the perfections, such as the perfections of generosity and goodwill, showing your goodwill for others; being generous with your time and assistance—in other words, getting some good out of your wealth. Ajaan Lee talks about wealth as being like being a fruit: You …
- Into the Cave with the Tiger… With generosity, you’re shaping the present moment. You’ve got something, and the normal tendency is to take what you’ve got and consume it. But you decide, “No.” You can perceive it would be better if you gave it away. Okay, there’s perception. Then there’s the thinking and evaluating going on. In fact, one of the reasons we engage in …
- For Goodness’ Sake… And one of them was, “When Westerners come to the monastery, what do they come for?” He’d been talking about virtue and generosity to the laypeople, so I mentioned that a lot of people don’t come thinking about generosity and virtue at the very beginning. Their first motivation for coming is to find peace of mind. One of the people in the …
- Recollecting the Devas… Another quality that makes you a deva is generosity. This is the beginning of right view—that there is what is given—which sounds almost too obvious to state. But you have to remember that back in the time of the Buddha the issue of generosity was a controversial one. The brahmans had been saying for centuries that generosity is fruitful, but you had …
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