Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. How to Think about Death
     … And the fourth is the realization you haven’t really seen the true Dhamma. Because when you see that there really is something deathless that can be found through the path, that lifts the fear of death immeasurably, because you realize that death is not the end. So wherever you can chip away at your fear of death, you make the fact of aging … 
  3. Rebirth is Relevant
    Rebirth is Relevant March 9, 2012 The sutta we chanted just now, the Dhamma-niyama Sutta, is usually chanted on occasions related to a death. It’s interesting that the really serious suttas—like this one, and the passages from the Abhidhamma, dependent co-arising, the Fire Sermon, the Not-self Discourse—are chanted on occasions related to death. When you have a housewarming … 
  4. Analyzing Results
     … In Pali this is called dhamma-vicaya, analysis of qualities. The qualities here specifically are skillful and unskillful qualities in the mind. To see what’s skillful and what’s not skillful in your mind, you have to notice what kind of results you get from fostering those qualities. So it’s good at the end of each meditation to notice how it went … 
  5. Your Inner Teacher
    When you listen to a Dhamma talk while you’re meditating, don’t put much energy into listening. Put most of your energy into the meditating. Otherwise, the talk will interfere with the meditating, which is not what you want. The talk is here to act as a fence. If your mind wanders off the breath, if it wanders away from your body, here … 
  6. Worth
     … After all, where else are you going to draw your strength? We draw our strength from listening to the Dhamma, we draw our strength from the examples of other people. But ultimately we have to find that strength within us. And the meditation helps to develop that strength, because all the things we need in life to work on our character are there in … 
  7. Anumodana
     … After all, the practice of Dhamma is a practice for the sake of happiness. And although the ultimate happiness, nibbana, doesn’t depend on other people, the path is nourished by the goodwill for other people, by empathetic joy for other people. We can help one another along the path in this way. So as you go through the brahmaviharas, take good note of … 
  8. A Diffuse Light
     … It’s in this way that you can begin to see how all four tetrads—the tetrad related to the body, the tetrad related to feelings, the tetrad related to the mind, and the tetrad related to dhammas—help one another along. As you get more sensitive to the process of fabrication, energize it in the beginning and then calm it down. You’re … 
  9. Prepare to Die
     … You look into magazines not only for general housewares but there’s also the Dhamma Crap catalog, with all these wonderful things you can buy to enhance your meditation experience. It’s all things, things, things. So it’s good to have a practice that cuts those things off. Ajaan Suwat once commented that when you practice the eight precepts—say, on the full … 
  10. Engaging the Whole Mind
     … Sometimes they come to the Dhamma, thinking, well, you can get beyond right and wrong just by willing yourself to transcend them. But you can’t get beyond them that way. You get beyond right and wrong by figuring out what’s right and what’s wrong, dropping what’s wrong, working with what’s right until it’s completed the job. Then you … 
  11. Clinging & the End of Clinging
     … The things that we do to get ahead in the world will not necessarily help us get ahead in the Dhamma. Sometimes they’re at direct cross-purposes because as we call into question where we’re aiming in life, it begins to call into question a lot of the things we’ve been doing; a lot of the things we identify with as … 
  12. Little Decisions
     … They can hear the Dhamma, but then there’s the attitude, “Well, things are kind of comfortable right now. Let’s allow things to be comfortable, there’s no need to push.” As a result, long periods of time can go by before they actually practice. So time gets frittered away in little bits, but those little bits, if you didn’t fritter them … 
  13. Self Power, Other Power
     … The Dhamma’s always there to practice. Here we are, right now. There’s no better time to practice than right now. So have the confidence that this will provide you with the refuge you need. Because as the Buddha said, “There is no other refuge.”
  14. A Network of Goodness
     … But with the goodness of the Dhamma, nobody loses. You practice generosity. When you choose to give, you benefit. Your mind gets more expansive, and you realize that you’re not a slave to your selfishness. And of course, the people who receive your gift benefit as well. The same with virtue: There are a lot of people out there who are very happy … 
  15. A Skillful Heart
     … There are a lot of people who want to have Dhamma without kamma. And so they say, “We have goodwill for all beings because all beings have Buddha-nature or all beings are intrinsically good.” In a case like that, your goodwill is not really independent. When you run across people who are definitely evil in their intentions, what are you going to do … 
  16. More than Just Letting Go
     … That’s why we have the Dhamma; that’s why we’re here practicing. He wanted to solve not only his problem, but also help other people solve theirs. So it’s good to think of his example and how it might apply to our lives. When he talks about ways of doing good in the world, there are basically three: generosity, virtue, meditation … 
  17. Getting Out of Karmic Debt
     … This was one of Ajaan Mun’s favorite Dhamma topics. The Buddha describes them as four. The first three have to do with contentment: You’re content with whatever food, clothing, or shelter you have. At the same time, you don’t exalt yourself and disparage others over the fact that you’re contented and they’re not. But you’re happy with the … 
  18. Complacency
     … There’s one especially fine passage where the Buddha warns about a danger in the future that the monks will use the tips of their tongues to find the tip-most flavors, and the Dhamma will die away. The question is: Do you have the attainment that’s going to make you safe, when those changes come? And if you realize that you don … 
  19. Going Out of Your Way
     … As the Buddha said, if you’re stingy with material things, stingy with the Dhamma, there’s no way you’re going to get into the jhanas—and no way, of course, you’re going to get into nibbana. So it’s good to reflect: How often do you go out of your way for other people? Of the forms of goodness, it’s … 
  20. Dimensions of Right Effort
     … So our duty as meditators when we listen to the Dhamma is to figure out, “Where am I? Which part of the Dhamma talk do I need to listen to right now? And which part can I save for later?” It’s all aimed at the path, and your job will be to figure out when you’re falling off to the right, when … 
  21. Endurance & Contentment
     … It’s because we can change our ways that the Buddha taught the Dhamma. So look into that verbal fabrication. Technically, it’s defined as directed thought and evaluation, but it basically comes down to the chatter going on in the mind. When you invest that chatter with your identity, it makes it hard to step back from it. So instead, you can look … 
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