Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. The Karma of Self
     … She wants him to come and teach her the Dhamma. There are two versions of the story. One—this is in the Sarvastivadin version—is where she lies in the bed, and as soon as he comes into the room, she throws off the covers and she’s totally naked. The Theravadan version—which I think is probably more true to what can happen … 
  3. Learning by Doing
    Many of the Thai ajaans would like to start their Dhamma talks by saying, “Make a survey of your body; make a survey of your mind.” With the body, make sure that it’s sitting up straight, hands in your lap. With the mind, make sure that it’s sitting up straight, too. In other words, it’s not leaning forward into the future … 
  4. Choices
     … That’s one reason we listen to the Dhamma: to get an idea of what these other choices are. And then we listen further to see how we can dig down to see what choices we’re making that we’re not aware of. Because the big problem is that we keep making choices in the hopes that they will bring happiness but they … 
  5. Thinking & Evaluating
     … I noticed, when I was living with Ajaan Fuang, sometimes I’d ask him a Dhamma question and I’d get a one-word, two-word answer. That was it. I realized that what he was doing was giving me the one-word or two-word answer that should cut through the particular problem. These were the quick answers that he had learned to … 
  6. Guarding Against Trouble
     … The problem is that sometimes, when we’re practicing the Dhamma, we lack common sense. We hear about the Dhamma protecting us or we hear about our good intentions protecting us, and we think that we don’t have to be wary about the world around us. Our good intentions will protect us. But the Buddha never said that. The protection you get from … 
  7. Recollection of Hell
     … All fabrications are stressful.” Then there’s: “All dhammas are not-self.” The word dhamma here applies to unfabricated phenomena, like the deathless, as well. Whatever passion you fabricate for that, you have to learn how to let go of that, too. Only then can there be full awakening. So it is possible to use these aggregates as a path to a truly safe … 
  8. A Much Better Place
     … There are also the four worldly dhammas:* loka-dhammas.* Actually, there are eight altogether, but they come in four pairs: there’s gain/loss, status/loss of status, praise/criticism, pleasure/pain. We don’t like to think of these things as pairs that have to go together. We like to think we could have the gain and the status and the praise and … 
  9. A Path for a Noble Desire
    The passage we chanted just now, Setting the wheel of Dhamma in Motion, was when the Buddha introduced his basic teachings, his very first sermon. He started with the noble eightfold path. It’s interesting that he would depict his teaching as a path, not just a body of descriptions. It was a set of instructions to follow. As he pointed out, everybody lives … 
  10. Meaning & Purpose
     … When the mind gets still and is not analyzing dhammas, it’s suffering from delusion, which is another unskillful state. But: If you can’t have any desire in your practice, and you have to spend all your time analyzing dhammas, you’re not going to be able to complete the whole path, because concentration is part of the path. That person was saying … 
  11. Reflecting on Karma
     … This is why teaching the Dhamma is one of the best gifts you can give somebody else. But you have to be careful. Who’s going to listen to your Dhamma? A lot of people don’t want to hear it. The best way, of course, is through creating a good example in your own actions. But your attitude toward other people regardless is … 
  12. Solid in the Face of Death
     … He cited four Dhamma summaries, and they were all about the facts of aging, illness, and death. The world is swept away—that’s aging. It offers no shelter, there’s no one in charge—that’s illness. You can’t tell other people to share your illness or take it from this person and give it to that person so that the first … 
  13. Dethinking Thinking
     … When these things come in and say things, ask yourself, “What if the opposite is true? And why do I have to believe those concepts anyhow?” When I was in Thailand at Wat Asokaram, we’d have Dhamma talks every night. They had a rotating roster of monks. And out of the fourteen monks on the roster, maybe two could give good Dhamma talks … 
  14. To Certify Yourself
     … This principle applies all the way through the practice of the Dhamma. There’s a spot where the Buddha says the Dhamma is nourished in your mind by two things: by committing yourself to the practice and then by reflecting on the results. If the results are good, you keep it up. If the results are not good, you change. So, right now, experiment … 
  15. Breaking the Arrows
     … They talk about taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, which means is that you take refuge in their example. The Buddha was someone who found a way to experience aging, illness, and death without suffering. The Dhamma he taught was the body of instructions that he left behind: This is how you do it. And the Sangha is composed of … 
  16. Nibbana Is Better than You Think
     … You’ve got the opportunity to practice the Dhamma. The Dhamma is available. The opportunity to practice is here. So, take advantage of it. As for what it means to finally put an end to suffering, what it would be like to have no more suffering, it’s really going to change your mind. The meaning we have in life is the meaning that … 
  17. The Joy of Growing
     … It’s not simply a matter of following instructions… You have to think for yourself, observe for yourself, as well This is how the Buddha found the Dhamma, and this is how we’re going to find it, too. We have the advantage that he came before us and pointed out what the good questions are. But it’s up to us to ask … 
  18. Overconfidence & Underconfidence
     … There must be something wrong with me.” That seems to be the voice of the Dhamma saying, “Here, you’re bad. You’re not up to snuff.” Well, that’s not the voice of the Dhamma. It’s Mara, Mara coming to discourage you. This is where the Buddha’s simile to Ven. Sona comes in. When you’re going to play the lute … 
  19. Your Desire to Practice
     … When you stay with a teacher, you have to steal the Dhamma from him. You’ve got to observe what he does, what he wants, and try to figure out why he does those things or wants those things. It goes down to even little details about cleaning his hut. For a long time, Ajaan Fuang wouldn’t let me into his room. I … 
  20. The Four Noble Truths
     … It’s called Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion. The wheel there was the passage where the Buddha talked about each of the four noble truths and about the knowledge he gained about the four noble truths in the course of his awakening. If you notice, there were three steps of knowledge for each truth. First there was the knowledge of the truth … 
  21. Solo Practice
     … In other words, does it work in leading to a sense of calm, to an ability to see things clearly? Whatever passes that pragmatic test, that’s Dhamma. And your notion of what it means to pass, what it means to work: That’s going to develop over time as your standards get higher and higher. Ajaan Fuang used to use the word, “be … 
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