Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Bodywork for the Mind
     … But there was one time when one of his students invited to her house, saying that she didn’t want him to chant, she just wanted to have a Dhamma discussion. She had some of her friends come over, so before the meal we had a Dhamma discussion. One of her friends had been studying meditation with another teacher who basically had told her … 
  3. Dignity in the Face of Hardship
     … I think I’ve told you about the time I gave a Dhamma talk and I happened to mention the word dignity in the talk. Afterwards, a Russian woman came up. She’d been living in the States for ten years. She told me she learned the word “dignity” in her English class in Russia, but this was the first time she’d heard … 
  4. Emulating the Truth
     … This is how we also develop the wisdom faculty in the factors of awakening, the factor that’s called analysis of qualities, dhamma-vicaya: looking at what’s skillful in our actions, and what’s not skillful, and seeing that they’re clearing different. It’s important to realize that we overcome doubt not simply by forcing ourselves to believe something, but by looking … 
  5. It’s Up to You
     … So he doesn’t know how many people are going to come in and out of the fortress, but he does know that those who go in and out of the fortress have to go through the gate.” In the same way, the Buddha knew the principle of the Dhamma that all those who would gain awakening would have to develop skillful qualities, practice … 
  6. Conviction & Confidence
     … They often say in the Canon that someone hears the Dhamma from the Buddha, goes off, and then in no long time becomes an arahant. How long is that: “no long time”? Think of the case of Raṭṭhapāla. He wants to ordain. His parents are against his ordaining. He goes on a hunger strike. Finally, his friends convince the parents, “Look, it would be … 
  7. Kindness in the Light of Karma
     … And all the crazy things where people, even so-called Dhamma teachers, say how you should just learn how to accept your base motives and be okay with them. But then, of course, if those base motives are okay, people will act on them. That’s why the world is in such a mess. You look around and it’s not very inspiring, but … 
  8. The Uses of Right Concentration
     … Remember that when the Buddha gave his first Dhamma talk, all he talked about in detail was right view. He mentioned the eight factors of the path but then focused just on the first factor, right view about suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. That was enough for Ven. Añña Kondañña to experience the Dhamma eye, the first level … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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.”
  21. 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 … 
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