Search results for: "Discernment"
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- Giving to the Meditation… You’ve got these qualities of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment. They’re all there in an inchoate form. You’ve got the seeds for these things. The meditation is simply an opportunity to allow them to grow and to flourish, so that the seeds of well being that you already have will have the opportunity to show exactly how far they can go. So …
- How to Think about Death… first with the concentration and then with the discernment as you learn how to notice which motions of the mind go toward suffering and which other motions go away. This becomes your foundation, your safe place. So we think about death, we think about the unattractiveness of the body, not to get discouraged, not to be depressed. In fact, for the opposite reason: We …
- Mindful of the Buddha’s Shoulds… And you can ask yourself, “Why do I have to be interesting?” You’ll have something to get interested in soon, when you work on discernment, but first get the mind to settle down and have this sense of ease. Allow it to saturate the body. Then the question will come up, “Is this as good as it gets?” And the answer is “No …
- On the Surface of Things… This is what discernment is all about: seeing distinctions and seeing connections between those distinct things. They’re not absolutely distinct. If they were totally distinct, there would be no causal connections. Insight is seeing where the connections are: What influences what? Where is the cause, the samudaya, the arising-together on this level? When you see how ephemeral it all is, that’s …
- The Open Committee… Is this a desire that really is in your own best interest? Where is it going to lead? Use the powers of your concentration, the powers of your discernment to make sure you’re not swayed by any desires that are really contrary to the Dhamma, contrary to your own true happiness. In this way, you bring some order into the committee. You’ve …
- Fear & Conviction… You don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but you do know that, whatever happens, you’re going to need more mindfulness, you’re going to need more alertness, more discernment, more concentration. You’re going to need to have a safe place inside. This is why we meditate. So if you find your conviction getting lax, it basically comes …
- Prepare to Die… You can develop qualities of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment: These things really will hold you in good stead. A lot of the techniques we’re practicing as we meditate will come in useful as we get sick, and especially useful at death. Even this technique of focusing the mind on one thing and learning how to let go of everything else: That’s going …
- Engaging the Whole Mind… In other words, for discernment to arise, you have to engage all the powers of the mind. So it’s not just a matter of technique. The technique is there to give you something to work with. And in the course of working with it, you’re going to have to engage the whole mind. As you’re engaging the whole mind, that’s …
- Nuts & Bolts… This is one of the reasons why there’s no one discernment method or one insight method. In fact, the Buddha didn’t give any insight methods at all, aside from asking you to question things: Why do you go for that? What are the results? The questions are very basic, and I think it’s good that we keep things basic. If we …
- Forest Bathing… Those instructions come down basically to virtue, concentration, discernment, all based on a principle of generosity. So, stop for a while and think about what that means. Happiness is found through generosity and then perfected through virtue, concentration, and discernment. This is why we meditate. This is how we escape danger. A forest is a good place to do this because as you let …
- Kindfulness… conviction, persistence, mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment, goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity. These are all good qualities to develop. As for the word qualities here, it’s best to think of them as habits you develop in the mind. That’s because it’s more useful to think of the mind in terms of what it’s doing than in terms of what it is …
- Kamma & Rebirth—A Handful of Leaves… The first is that you’re developed in virtue and developed in discernment. In other words, you learn to see your own mind and understand what’s going on in your own mind. You can talk yourself into doing the things that you know are good but you may not like; and you talk yourself out of doing the things that you may dislike …
- Respect… The gradual slope comes from refining your powers of discernment. As the mind settles down, you’ll see things more clearly, you’ll see where you’re holding on to ideas or feelings that are weighing you down, and you let go of them. But then you’ll find there are other more subtle ones that are also weighing you down. So let go …
- Limitless Compassion, Limited Resources… Is it entangling? Because the more you get entangled with other people, the less time you have to practice concentration, discernment, the direct training of the mind. So this is one of the quandaries: How do you help without getting entangled? You learn from other people’s example. And you realize that the best help you can give to other people is to teach …
- The Real World… Whereas the wealth you get in the Dhamma is the wealth of conviction, a healthy sense of shame and compunction, virtue, learning, generosity, discernment. This wealth is really yours—and it’s really good. You can do good things with it, and you’re not the only one who benefits. With the pleasures of the world — gain, status, praise, sensual pleasures — all too often …
- Clinging & Feeding… Then we feed the mind with conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment, all of which are good food for the mind. These are the things that strengthen us, so that we can manage the path. So the Buddha doesn’t try to starve us right from the start. He simply tells us to take a different approach to our feeding. Feed on good food …
- Goodwill as a Strength… And you do that through a lack of goodwill, a lack of discernment. So goodwill’s something you have to keep in mind all the time. And as for the battles you fight in the world, choose them well. Choose your battles well. But always fight using goodwill. Remember that it is a strength.
- Right View… Of course, you’ve got to have a lot of mindfulness and alertness to discern the bear’s motives when he’s chewing on you. That’s why the Buddha has us practice mindfulness and alertness as we meditate, not so much in case we’re attacked by bears, but because there are a lot of issues in the world in which the issue …
- Deep Understanding… On the level of listening and thinking, you can hear about mindfulness, you can hear about alertness, you can hear about concentration and discernment, but it’s when you actually try to develop these things in the mind you come up against issues you might not have thought of before, things that weren’t in the plan. And you find that as you develop …
- A Skillful Heart… This means your goodwill has to be backed up by discernment. 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 …
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