Search results for: "Dhamma"

  1. Page 65
  2. Worlds Inside & Out
     … It’s another world, it’s another dwelling, which they actually call vihara-dhamma, a dwelling for the mind. It’s the trailer you take along the noble eightfold path, so that you always have a home while you’re on the path. Eventually, of course, you’ll have to let go of this home, but in the meantime it’s a good home … 
  3. Always Observe Your Mind
     … That’s how you grow in the Dhamma.
  4. A Trustworthy Mind
     … You take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha by bringing their qualities into your mind. As you do that, you eventually become part of the Sangha that other people can take refuge in, too: the noble Sangha. This is how goodness gets spread around. But it’s up to you to exercise your freedom to choose that goodness to begin with … 
  5. The Power of the Mind
    Mano-pubbangama dhamma, mano-settha, mano-maya: Phenomena are preceded by the mind, ruled by the mind, made of the mind. This is the Buddha’s assertion of the power of the mind. We’re not simply on the receiving end of things. The mind is what shapes our experience. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations do come in through the senses, but … 
  6. A Good-Natured Attitude
     … There’s even the story about Ajaan Maha Boowa giving a Dhamma talk one time about how Thai people are obsessed with lottery numbers. There was an elderly monk who was listening in, and by the end, the elderly monk was in tears from laughing so hard. The type of humor that the ajaans had and that I appreciated was good-natured humor. They … 
  7. One Person
    I learned the other day of a Dhamma teacher claiming that nobody’s going to get awakened until everybody gets awakened. Of course, that immediately calls into question: What about the Buddha? Was he not awakened? The fact that he was awakened and couldn’t take anybody else with him into awakening—he could teach other people the way, but they had to do … 
  8. The Wrong Uses of Right
     … Ajaan Lee has a nice Dhamma talk on this one. Nibbana doesn’t have right views or wrong views; it doesn’t have views at all. But you can’t get there without views – correct views – right views and using them rightly. The fact that you can let go of views ultimately: If you couldn’t let go of your views, then you’d … 
  9. The Problem of Suffering
     … All the teachings in the Canon, all 84,000 sections of the Dhamma, focus on this one problem and its solution. You don’t have to do the problem. The problem is already there, already happening. The solution, though is something you have to do. As the phrase in the chant just now said, antakiriya, to make an end: It’s to make an … 
  10. In Touch with Your Fabrications
     … The Dhamma tells us that we’re suffering because we’re not in touch with how we create feelings. “Feelings,” here, of course, are emotions. They’re a kind of saṅkhāra, or fabrication, and there are basically three: bodily, verbal, and mental. Bodily is how you breathe—this is the part that gets the feeling into your system, into the body. Verbal is how … 
  11. Alone Together
     … So these are some of the principles that the Buddha would have us keep in mind so the group can get along, even in difficult circumstances, so that our enforced time together doesn’t drive us apart, but actually strengthens the group, strengthens our practice, creates a good emotional field around the fact that we’re here together practicing the Dhamma, something that’s … 
  12. See Your Thoughts as Strange
     … Right now it’s especially strange, but even when society seems to be relatively normal, going its ordinary way, from the point of view of the Dhamma it’s still strange: people going along with their defilements. As Ajaan Mun used to say, whatever culture there is in the world, it’s a culture of people with defilements. There’s only one culture that … 
  13. A Good Narrative
     … Think about all you went through before you found the Dhamma in this lifetime, and having to go through that all over again. Just the prospect of having to go through grade school and high school is enough to induce huge bouts of somvega. But still there comes a point where we start picking things up again. There’s another passage where the Buddha … 
  14. The Buddha’s Rules of Order
     … You have to question it: “What’s its purpose?” You have to ask these voices, “What is your intention?” Sometimes a voice will come in and it’ll sound like Dhamma and it’ll come down really hard on you, making you feel that it’s impossible for you to practice, so you might as well give up. That’s not a compassionate intention … 
  15. You’re Doing Something Wrong
     … When you can admit your mistakes, that, the Buddha said, is a cause for growth in the Dhamma and Vinaya. The ability to admit mistakes starts from outside. When you have the attitude that you freely admit your mistakes, and try to make amends when you can—when you’re dealing with other people—then that attitude becomes an inner attitude as well. When … 
  16. A Clear, Calm Lake
     … It’s often said that people listening to the Buddha’s Dhamma would gain that sense of confidence, even though the Buddha didn’t say, “May you forever be well.” But he did give them a perspective on things, pointing out that the present moment is not totally a new moment, unprecedented. Every present moment has a pattern. There are going to be influences … 
  17. Ups & Downs
     … As I mentioned earlier, look into the books of Dhamma talks from the great ajaans. It’s not that they explain very much in their Dhamma talks. Their talks are mostly encouragement: that the paths and their fruitions are still within reach, and you’ve got the basic resources you need. You’ve got a body, you’ve got a mind, and that’s … 
  18. A Post for the Heart
     … All too many people think, “Well, Buddhism is okay about change, so why couldn’t we just change the Dhamma, change the teachings to suit us? What’s wrong with that?” It’s because you’d be left with nothing to depend on at all. The whole purpose of the teaching is to give you something solid you can really depend on. This is … 
  19. Responsible Conviction
     … You can read the teachings and agree with them, and use the Dhamma to talk to yourself when the mind feels low, but without the sense of well-being that comes from concentration, it’s easy for the mind to run out of strength. And without the mindfulness that you develop by sticking with one thing, like the breath, it’s so easy to … 
  20. Organizing Your Inner Committee
     … Even the voices that sometimes seem like the Dhamma police coming in to berate you for not being a good meditator: Those can be your defilements, you know. You have to convert them to the point where they simply notice, “Okay, you’re off the path here, let’s move over a little bit and get back on the path.” When you’re on … 
  21. Potentials for Rapture
     … It could be the recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Sangha—something that you find it uplifting to the mind; something that allows the body to calm down. Then notice—when you’re thinking about those uplifting themes, the things that make you feel inspired—how does the body feel? If it feels good, can you return to the body as it … 
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