Search results for: "The Sangha"

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  2. Respect, Confidence, & Patience
     … As for the chanting—respect for the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and then the various reflections we chant in translation—these remind of us of why we are practicing. The chant this evening on aging, illness, and death encourages an attitude of samvega, which is difficult to translate. It means a combination of dismay over the meaninglessness of life as it’s … 
  3. Overwhelmed by Freedom
     … So while I have the time, I should practice and try to attain that which I haven’t yet attained, to see what I haven’t yet seen, so that when I do face aging, illness, death, social unrest, or a potential split in the Sangha, my mind will still be at ease.” This is what heedfulness is all about: to remind you that … 
  4. Heedful, Ardent, & Resolute
     … Even though we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, ultimately we have to take refuge in ourselves because we’re the ones who have to do the work. What this means is that we try to take the qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha and develop them within ourselves. As the Buddha said, he found his awakening … 
  5. Forgiveness
     … The Buddha places a heavy emphasis on harmony within the Sangha but he never advises trying to achieve harmony at the expense of the Dhamma. If someone is advocating a position that’s really against the Dhamma, and you can’t get the person to change his or her mind, then that’s it. The Sangha expels the person. Or if the conflict is … 
  6. The Joy of Heedfulness
     … They have verified confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; their precepts are already pleasing to the noble ones; but, he says, if they let themselves be content with that, that’s heedless. In other words, you can’t simply let yourself be content even with good things in the mind, much less bad. I was listening to a talk a while … 
  7. Cooking Food for the Mind
     … If you’re feeling discouraged, you can think about the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, particularly the Sangha. Sometimes it’s hard to think about the Buddha as a model for your own life, because he seems so super superhuman. But there are tales in the Theragatha and Therigatha, and also on the lives of the forest ajaans, that make you realize how they … 
  8. How to Be Alone
     … And the Sangha provides an opportunity to learn directly from people who’ve had lots of time alone, leading a purposeful life, and have come out stronger as a result. So it’s good to look into the Buddha’s teachings not only for techniques in the meditation, but also for the attitudes you need in looking after yourself. Now, the techniques are important … 
  9. Admirable Friendship
     … Things are different here.” My response was always the same. “At the moment, I’m physically far from my teacher—far from the members of the Sangha that gave me support and encouragement. If I change my behavior from the way they taught me to behave, I would be far from them not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. But if I stick … 
  10. Fighting Attitude
     … If you can’t trust people like that, who are you going to trust? As for doubts about yourself, remind yourself of the Sangha, the Sangha of noble disciples. Throughout the past there have been all kinds of people: old people, young people; men, women, children; well-educated people, people with no education at all. Even cases of people who’ve contemplated suicide. There … 
  11. When it’s Hard to Settle Down
     … Or you can reflect on the Sangha and stories in the Canon of members of the Sangha, many of whom suffered an awful lot and got very discouraged in the practice but were able to pick themselves up and finally gain awakening. That can be inspiring, too. So there are various reflections you can engage in. Sometimes you can spend the whole hour in … 
  12. Of Essential Worth
     … When we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, it’s because they’ve set an example of what a really honorable human life is like. They suggest the possibilities of what human beings can do. And it’s an inspiring set of possibilities. So this path is something that really is worth giving your life to. And as the Buddha … 
  13. Is It Worth It?
     … We’re fortunate that we have this path as an option; we have the Buddha and the Dhamma to point it out for us, and the Sangha to keep it alive.
  14. Looking after Yourself with Ease
     … We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, but they’re primarily examples. They learned how to depend on themselves—the Buddha and the Sangha—by depending on the Dhamma. What kind of Dhamma did they depend on? Look at what resources you have inside. That’s what they depended on in themselves. In the Buddha’s analysis, we shape our … 
  15. Murderers, Vipers, & Floods, Oh My!
     … We talk about taking refuge in ourselves and at the same time, taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. It’s all the same thing because you take them all as examples you want to emulate. Without the examples, where would you gain any idea of how to do this? This is why the Buddha said the whole of the practice … 
  16. Criticism
     … This is why we have the Sangha. Otherwise, people would just go out and practice on their own, thinking that they could depend on themselves. But you need the eyes of somebody else because there’s a lot of yourself that you can’t even see. How many parts of your body can you actually see? To see many of the parts, you’d … 
  17. Forest Bathing
     … May none of those beings—with no feet, two feet, four feet, many feet—do me any harm.” Then you think about how the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha are unlimited, whereas there is a limit to creeping things. There’s a limit even to devas and spirits. That thought gives you something larger to hold on to. What are you holding on … 
  18. Furnishing Your Home for the Mind
     … If thinking of the Buddha seems a bit too far and high up for you, you can think of the Sangha. There are passages in the Canon where the members of the Sangha, monks and nuns, talk about their troubles meditating. They found themselves getting waylaid on the path one way or the other. One nun talks about how she’d become a famous … 
  19. Borrowing the Buddha’s Wisdom
     … And I’ve got the help of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha.” These principles of finding a person of integrity, listening to the true Dhamma, applying appropriate attention, and then practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma: These are the principles that the Buddha says can take you all the way to the first level of awakening. They’re basic but they … 
  20. Making the Dhamma Your Own
     … When you’ve learned that you really do have something to fall back on, that gives you a lot more confidence in yourself and in the qualities of the Dhamma—these qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha that we’re trying to internalize. You know them for sure only because you’ve tested them. I’ve noticed a lot of people … 
  21. Feelings of Unworthiness
     … Even in the story of Devadatta, who tried to destroy the Sangha: He’s going to suffer for a long time, but it’s not an endless suffering. There’s always a way out. Even Mara is supposed to eventually become a private Buddha. So this is a story in which even the bad guys get their redemption. You’re not nearly as bad … 
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