Search results for: "Discernment"
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- Noble Happiness… It may not seem like much right now, but as you develop your skills in mindfulness, alertness, concentration, and discernment, you find that they lead to a really special kind of happiness. This is why we bow down to the Buddha, because he teaches us of this potential. He teaches us to respect within ourselves things that are really are worthy of respect. And …
- The Duties of Happiness… things like wisdom, compassion, purity, discernment, and integrity. These are all good things. As we stay with the breath and we get it comfortable like this, we’re providing a safe space right here in the present moment where are all the parts of the mind can come together. And particularly, the parts that we tend to identify with, the head and the heart …
- Questioning & Conviction… That’s how you develop your wisdom, how you develop your discernment, motivating yourself to realize that this really is a worthwhile project to pursue. Even though lots of people might say, “What could you possibly learn by just focusing on the breath?” you realize that staying focused here exercises your mindfulness, your concentration, your discernment, all the qualities you’re going to need …
- Working at Home… So the maintaining is an important part of the concentration and an important step in developing discernment. But to gain that discernment you can’t simply use the meditation as a place to hide out at the beginning or end of the day. You have to carry your concentration with you throughout the day so that you can use it as a way of …
- Your Hair Is on Fire… So there’s an element of discernment that goes into concentration practice. You may remember, when the Buddha taught Rahula meditation, that he didn’t start right out with the sixteen steps for breath meditation. He first taught him some ways of approaching distractions with a mature state of mind. In other words, bring some wisdom to the way you deal with the distractions …
- Look at Yourself… So you try to be alert, discerning, focused, so that you can be really clear about what intentions are there in the mind and how you’re following them or not following them, and what the results are—because sometimes you can see the results right away. You notice this especially when you work with the breath. Simply focusing on the breath in a …
- Fear of Death… the effort to give rise to skillful qualities, like mindfulness, alertness, discernment. These are the things that are really going to help you. Even if you don’t make it all the way to nibbana, these qualities will stand by you as the body ages, as it grows ill, as it dies. One of the discoveries the Buddha made on the night of his …
- The Third Frame of Reference… Then as you get into concentration, how do you release it from the grosser levels of concentration to bring it to more refined ones? This is where you begin to gain skill in using your discernment in the meditation, to sense, “Where is there any unnecessary stress in the state of mind I’ve got here? What can I do to drop what’s …
- Selves with Skills… Yet if you have any sense, any discernment, at all, you’ll talk yourself into wanting to do them. The same with the things that you would like to do but give bad results: You learn to talk yourself into not wanting to do them. The Buddha’s discernment is strategic. We’re not here just to accept things and be okay. We’re …
- Homage Through the Practice… So we train it in virtue, concentration, and discernment. Virtue means normalcy. You bring the mind to a state of normalcy where it’s not wanting to harm itself, not wanting to harm anybody else. The desire to harm is abnormal. The desire to wish for your own happiness, to wish for the happiness of others: That’s normal. So keep your mind in …
- Learning from What You Do… finding people who are exemplars, people whose virtue you admire, whose generosity you admire, whose conviction and discernment you admire. Try to learn from them, talking over these issues, emulating them in areas where they’re worthy of emulation. Because we do have our blind spots: That’s what ignorance is all about. It’s not an abstract thing. It’s being ignorant of …
- No Resistance… This will be an especially important skill to develop as you’re moving from concentration into discernment. Ajaan Maha Boowa talks about analyzing pain and realizing that pain may occupy the same space as the body does, but they’re two separate things. If you can think of two separate things occupying the same space but not impinging on each other, that helps you …
- A Friend to the World… And this friend is discerning. Here we’re talking about someone who’s more than just an ordinary, everyday good person but someone who can really see into the causes of suffering and their end. Now, the ideal way to have friendship with this sort of person is to engage this person in discussion about these qualities, and to try to emulate them. So …
- WYSIWYG… As he said to Ajaan Lee, “What is there to see? What is there to get any discernment from? It’s just in, out, in, out.” And as Ajaan Lee replied, “If that’s all you see, then that’s all there is.” In other words, what you’re looking for and the type of interest you take in the breath are going to …
- Finding the Openings… And this is why we develop discernment, so that we offer less resistance to the wind. All the things you hold on to as you or yours, either physical things or the concepts you have about yourself: They offer resistance to the wind. They set up huge sails, so that you can get very easily blown around by change. But when the mind is …
- An Even Keel… Again, this is where your perspective, your discernment, comes in: when you realize that when things happen, you can’t always tell right away what their long-term outcome is going to be. So before you pass judgment, you want to watch. And watch again and watch again, until you’re really sure. So many times in the meditation we come up with our …
- Noble Conversation… Some of them have to do with meditation—the practice of concentration, discernment, release, and knowledge and vision of release—and people like to talk about their ideas about the advanced stages. But some more basic topics are actually more helpful to get you started and get you on the right foot from the very beginning—and to keep you on track. The list …
- When You Practice on Your Own… Then there are the people who find discernment easy and concentration hard, and those who find concentration easy but discernment hard. In cases like that, the Buddha would have you work on developing the area you find hard. This goes against the grain with a lot of people. People who tend to be very intellectual and find it easy to think things through, to …
- People Suffer from Their Thinking… Then the question is, how can you best prepare your mind? The best thing you can do is to train the mind to have more mindfulness, more discernment, more alertness, so that if death does come, the mind doesn’t have to suffer. He has you think the same way every morning at sunrise: This may be your last sunrise. Are you ready to …
- Three Stages in the Practice… Try to have the discernment that the Buddha compares to a well-plastered fortress wall. The enemy tries to climb up the wall but can’t because the plaster’s so smooth. You don’t want to leave any toeholds or handholds for anything to come into the mind right now—which means that as soon as you see the mind latching onto something …
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