Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Weathering Karma Storms
     … When Ajaan Mun gave his last Dhamma talk, that was the theme he concluded with: determination. In his terms he said, “Be determined not to come back and be the laughing stock of the defilements ever again.” It may feel like the defilements are laughing at you right now, but you learn to put up with it. You’re determined, “I don’t want … 
  3. The Escape of Discipline
     … All of those passages we chanted just now, the four Dhamma summaries, come from the story of Ratthapala, a young man who came from a very wealthy family. He heard these teachings from the Buddha and he realized, “I can’t stay at home. If I want true happiness, I’ve got to go out and become a monk.” And whether or not we … 
  4. Guiding Truths
     … This is why the Buddha said the Dhamma is paccatam , individual. It’s universal in its truth, but very individual and very direct in how you’re experiencing it right now—which is why the truths are also opanayiko pertinent, relevant all the time. They’re always there to put to use. They’re always there to depend on. So don’t ever let … 
  5. Choiceful Awareness
     … And then we’ll have to go through the process of growing up again and finding the Dhamma all over again. Who knows when your next chance is going to be? So we don’t listen to the neuroscientists who say that people don’t really have choices, because we realize that our choices do matter, and they matter right now. That’s the … 
  6. Harmony, Right & Wrong
     … I know communities where, when you give a Dhamma talk, nobody else in the roster of teachers is allowed to criticize you—both in lay communities and in some monastic communities. No matter how wrong it is, you’re not supposed to say anything contrary. This is what gives harmony a bad name. As the Buddha said, true harmony is based on having goodwill … 
  7. Feel-Good Religion
     … It’s in this way that Buddhism, the Dhamma, is a feel-good religion. It’s not a Pollyanna-ish placing hopes on clouds. It’s feeling good right in the very foundation of your experience of the mind, your experience of the body. After all, nobody’s forcing you to breathe in a way that’s uncomfortable. No one is forcing you to … 
  8. Look at Yourself
     … You can take that as a Dhamma lesson: If you place your heart with other people, they can squeeze it. So you’ve got to place your heart inside, place your gaze inside, and look at yourself. This is what the four noble truths are all about. The cause of suffering is craving. Whose craving? Yours. The cause of suffering is ignorance. Whose ignorance … 
  9. Mindfulness Immersed in the Body
     … You want to make sure, at the very least, that the purposes for which you hold on to the body are connected with the Dhamma. And then you have to release the mind from that. So we work our way up. Let’s start by being comfortable with seeing the parts of the body, regarding the body in this way so that it’s … 
  10. Pay Attention to Some Things
     … Sariputta said, that just as the elephant’s footprint can encompass all the footprints of all the other animals on earth, in the same way, the four noble truths encompass all Dhamma teachings. And look at the Buddha’s policy in answering questions. He was asked about whether the world was finite or infinite, eternal or non-eternal, whether your soul was the same … 
  11. Brahmaviharas at the Breath
    I came across an interesting Dhamma talk by Ajaan Suwat in which he reverses the usual order for spreading thoughts of goodwill. He says, “First you start with other people.” You’re planning to sit down to meditate; you don’t want thoughts of issues from the day to get in the way of your meditation. So you clear the decks, remind yourself: You … 
  12. To Gladden the Mind
     … As he said, you’re always going to have doubts about him until you’ve found the Dhamma within, and he pointed out how to do it. He didn’t ask that you simply just believe, believe, believe. He said that we all come with uncertainty, and where are you going to cure the problem of uncertainty? You can cure it by looking into … 
  13. The Core of Experience
     … All dhammas, he said, have release as their core. For “core,” he used the word sara, the heartwood of a tree. But that’s what it basically means: essence, core. Release is the only core to be found in experience, but there is a core there. If there were no core at all, we’d just be floating around with nothing of any real … 
  14. Exercising the Mind
     … These are lessons you learn sometimes from listening to the Dhamma, sometimes from your own observation of what you’ve done. And you want to be able to keep those lessons in mind so that when a strong emotion comes, you’re not suddenly pulled by the emotion into forgetting what you know is really good for you in the long term. We try … 
  15. Pride
     … I’ve got to work on it.” As a result, he said, he turned the whole thing into Dhamma. So learn to let go or your mana when it’s getting in the way of the practice, but nurture it—your confidence—when you need to be confident that you can practice and to be able to just stick with things, even when other … 
  16. Ven. Ananda’s Awakening
     … that when the Buddha gave a Dhamma talk anywhere, he would come back and repeat it to Ananda. This meant that Ananda knew more about the Buddha’s teachings than anyone else. So after the Buddha passed away, the monks got together and decided to create a standardized version of the Buddha’s teachings that could be remembered by all the monks. They realized … 
  17. Your Duty Lies Right Here
     … In fact, in his first Dhamma talk, of the eight factors of the path, that was the only one he explained. But it was enough. The five brethren realized the implications as he listed the things that follow on right view. They were able to put the path together and gain the results. So see the issue of the suffering that you’re creating … 
  18. Meaning & Happiness
     … It’s a principle of the Dhamma: If you see a lesser happiness that gets in the way of a greater happiness, you have to be willing to give up the lesser happiness for the sake of the greater. A British translator of that passage wrote a footnote saying that this couldn’t possibly be the meaning of this verse, it’s too simple … 
  19. Older than the Cosmos
     … So we have the Dhamma, we have the example of the Buddha, an expert with regard to the cosmos: lokavidū, as we chant it every day, every day. He said to look at the cosmos: This is what it has to offer. All these wonderful things, but the only way you’re going to experience them is through this process of fabrication, and anything … 
  20. Equanimity After Victory
     … And how can you counteract that allure by finding something else in the mind that has even greater allure that’s on the side of the Dhamma? You have to strategize. To think. Choose your battles. So we’re not just here to accept whatever comes up on the kammic screen. We’re here to see what’s wrong with what we’re doing … 
  21. The Flow of Time
     … That’s what the Dhamma has to offer.
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