Search results for: "The Four Noble Truths"
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- The Truth of Perceptions… And for some reason the Buddha didn’t call the four noble truths “the four noble truths.” He called them “the four,” because the word “noble,” of course, is just advertisement—that was what the author said. Basically, according to this person, the Buddha was telling each of us that we should find our own truth, and he was just giving suggestions. When you …
- You’re Doing Something Wrong… This connects with the basic message of the four noble truths, one that people often miss: The four noble truths are basically saying you’re doing something wrong. The fact that you’re suffering, the fact that you’re not an arahant, means you’re doing something wrong. And a good place to start to check where you’re doing something wrong is with …
- Appropriate Attention, Appropriate Intention… That gives you the four noble truths; and each of those truths carries a duty. You try to comprehend suffering. In other words, sit with it long enough to watch it and figure out what really is the suffering here. He boils it down to the five clinging-aggregates, which is not an immediately clear or obvious way of explaining it. To see it …
- The Three Perceptions as Tools… In other words, we’re applying these perceptions in the context of the four noble truths and their duties. It’s important to remember this context. When we do, we understand what these perceptions are for and can get the best use out of them. On their own, the perceptions could lead us to think or do just about anything. We could focus on …
- Your Judgments Matter… The second was the four noble truths: suffering, its origination, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. These teachings have two important features in common. And it’s good to think about these features because they form the foundation for everything else the Buddha taught. They provide the context. One of the features is that they present dichotomies: the distinction between skillful and …
- The Intelligence of Restraint… So it’s important that we learn to see restraint as a form of intelligence, especially when it’s informed by the four noble truths. That way, you can exercise restraint without any concern about what other people might think, because you know what you’re doing. This afternoon, I was talking about the famous encounter that Ajaan Mun had with Somdet Mahawirawong, the …
- Mindful to Be Skillful… The other’s the four noble truths. These are the teachings you want to keep in mind at all times. When the Buddha talks about right mindfulness, he talks about being mindful of the body, feelings, mind states, and mental qualities in and of themselves. But there’s more to it than just that. You’re mindful, which means that you keep these things …
- What You Sense Directly… You have some place in the back of the mind where you know a little bit about the four noble truths: that dukkha—stress, pain, suffering—is something you do through your clinging. And the reason you cling is because you crave. But that craving can be put an end to, by developing the path. So you’ve got unskillful causes, the different kinds …
- An Auspicious Birth… The term “duty,” here, relates to the four noble truths, and their duties were the Buddha’s purpose in the teaching the four noble truths: that you have different duties depending on what’s arising. If there’s suffering, the duty is to comprehend it. If there’s craving or clinging, the duty is to let it go. As for the cessation of suffering …
- Gaining the Dhamma Eye… The purpose of the four noble truths is to focus us in that direction, to get us there. But more is required than just knowing the four noble truths. The Buddha said there are four qualities that help get you to that first taste of awakening. The first is associating with good people, admirable people, because the people we associate with really do have …
- Awaken to Your Potentials… He mentions the four noble truths. The three characteristics have to do with the way things are. The four noble truths have to do with potentials — what potentials those things have. As the Buddha said, there is a potential for a path to the end of suffering even in those aggregates that are inconstant, stressful, not self. You can put them together in such …
- Freedom through Restraint… They’re the duties of the four noble truths: to comprehend the suffering, to abandon the cause, to realize the cessation of suffering by developing the path. So, in line with those duties, we’re trying to develop the path and to abandon everything that’s going to get in the way of the path. You’ve got to keep these duties foremost in …
- Protection in all Directions… It’s the basis for the four noble truths. Some people say there’s no connection between the teachings on karma and the four noble truths, but how can that be? The four noble truths are about actions and their results. There are certain actions in the mind that lead to suffering; there are certain actions in the mind that lead away from suffering …
- Filling in the Buddha’s Outline… Ask yourself: “To what extent am I contributing to that?” That’s actually applying the four noble truths to a very immediate problem. The four noble truths are not objects that you put up on a table and worship. They’re tools for analyzing problems, and the problem here is this: something’s weighing down the mind. The four noble truths teach you to …
- Dispassion Is Freedom… If you can develop some dispassion for that, that’s when you’re ready for the four noble truths and the duties of the four noble truths. So think about the concerns you have as you go through the day, the things you actually are passionate about. We tend to regard our passions with a lot of pride. But look at the things that …
- Bare vs. Appropriate Attention… not looking at things in terms of the four noble truths, but looking in other terms. These other terms can run the gamut. The Buddha gives a few examples: “Who am I? What am I? Do I exist? Do I not exist?” A lot of the questions we tend to bring to the practice: “Am I basically good? Am I basically bad? Am I …
- A Simple Path Through a Complex Map… What kind of knowledge? Knowledge in terms of the four noble truths. What is knowledge in terms of the four noble truths? Appropriate attention. So as you’re looping things back through name and form, where you can apply appropriate attention to them, that helps get you out of the system leading to suffering. At the same time, you’re looping it past intention …
- Asalha Puja… That phrase, “Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion,” comes from a part of the talk where the Buddha talks about the four noble truths. He starts out originally by talking about the noble eightfold path, and he starts explaining right view, which is seeing things in terms of the four noble truths. Then he explains that there are actually three levels of knowledge …
- The Languages of Right View… And then there’s the language of the four noble truths, which doesn’t talk about worlds or people at all. It talks simply about actions and whether they lead to suffering or away from suffering. It’s good to be able to switch between those two languages. Sometimes you need to talk to yourself as you, as a person, to remind yourself of …
- A Skillful Attitude… And with your change in attitude, you’re actually more primed to see things in terms of the four noble truths. There’s a tendency to regard concentration practice and discernment practice as two different things, but ideally they should come together. And what are the four noble truths aside from a way of looking at your experience from the point of view of …
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