Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. We’re All Learning the Ropes
     … a Dhamma and a Vinaya that have lasted now for 2,600 years and have provided a lot of help to a lot of people. Maybe we can’t leave behind something quite so majestic, but we can leave behind whatever goodness we can muster. That way, when we leave the world, we leave on good terms, not out of aversion but with a … 
  3. Relating to Results
     … But in the area of the Dhamma, it doesn’t work that way. If you admit your mistakes, that’s the beginning of a learning process. As when you’re focusing on the breath right here, right now: If you’re focusing in a way that makes the breath constricted, you want to know. And don’t just blame it on the breath, saying … 
  4. The Range of Our Responsibility
     … Before he said his last words, he gave the opportunity to the people present to ask him any questions they might have about the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, the path, or the practice. He made that offer up to four times. First three times: “Anyone who wants to speak up can speak up.” The fourth time he said, “Maybe you feel embarrassed … 
  5. Right View about Right View
     … Now, as another sutta says, dispassion is the highest dhamma. It’s what all the other teachings are meant to induce. Even when the Buddha gives the questionnaire on the three perceptions: Is this constant or inconstant? Inconstant. If it’s something inconstant, is it stressful or pleasant? Stressful. If it’s inconstant and stressful, does it deserve to be self? No. Now, that … 
  6. An Inside Job
     … What’s unconnected there? What’s lacking? I was talking to someone a while back who said before he came to the Dhamma, he had a tendency to criticize and criticize and criticize himself so that he could actually go ahead and do something really unskillful. In other words, he’d tell himself he was a bad person to begin with, so he might … 
  7. Good Fences
     … the practical intelligence of someone who knows how to take the knowledge they’ve been getting from the Dhamma and actually put it to use, keeping it in mind and using it at all times—not only when they’re meditating. In this way, your fence is in place all the time. Your protection is there all the time. There’s nothing inside the … 
  8. Goodwill for the Whole Committee
     … This is why we listen to the Dhamma. This is why we read things that inspire us to believe in the principle of action, the principle of skillful action, and give us some ideas of what skillful approaches might be. This is where it’s useful to study, to read, to listen, to enlarge the range of your imagination and the range of your … 
  9. Good & Independent
     … They need the weapons of teachings in the Dhamma, but they also need nourishment—and the nourishment comes from the concentration. At the same time, when the mind settles down like this, it’s a lot easier for it to discern what’s actually going on—to see why it’s causing suffering. When blatant suffering comes up, you can see it really clearly … 
  10. The Carpenter’s Adze
     … You can reflect on the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, on your own generosity or your own virtue when you’re feeling down. Reflect on death when you’re feeling lazy. Learn how to read your mind by watching what it does, how it reacts to different types of training. After all, the carpenter himself has to do that. He’s not focusing … 
  11. Appropriate Attention
    When you listen to a Dhamma talk while you’re meditating, you have to remember that the talk has a purpose. And you have to ask yourself: What is your purpose in listening? Ideally, the purpose of the talk is to help you understand where there’s suffering, what causes it, the fact that it can be brought to an end, and then, how … 
  12. The Four Biases
     … They talk about taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, and this is what they mean: You take the qualities of the Buddha—his mindfulness, discernment, concentration, integrity—and you train the mind so that it can be protected by those qualities inside. That’s the true meaning of refuge. When you have that quiet corner in the mind that you … 
  13. Equanimity Isn’t Apathy
     … Even after his Awakening, he spent 45 years establishing the teaching, the Dhamma and the Vinaya. It took a lot of work. And he didn’t do it with an apathetic attitude, thinking, “I don’t care whether it works or not.” He put a lot of effort into making it a teaching that would last. He noticed that some people would take the … 
  14. Recovering Your Balance
     … You can think about the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Sangha. One of the really fine things about Buddhism is that it was founded by someone who knows what it’s like to make a mistake. Even in his last lifetime, the Buddha made a huge mistake—six years of tormenting himself. And all those previous lifetimes! You look in the Jātaka stories and … 
  15. Big Desire, Detailed Focus
     … You remember things you’ve learned from books, things you’ve learned from Dhamma talks, things you’ve learned from your own experience, and apply them, when they’re relevant, to what you’re doing as you try to get into concentration. So when you’re being mindful of the breath, it means you keep the breath in mind, and you remember to keep … 
  16. The Skill of Stillness
     … You’re inspired by the example of the Buddha, of his noble disciples; you’re inspired by his Dhamma.” The other side, of course, is realizing the dangers of not doing the work. You can get in a bad mood and it spirals down. So you’ve got to learn how to control your moods—see the dangers of just following the ups and … 
  17. Feeding on the Breath
     … As soon as the Dhamma talk is over, there won’t be much else to listen to. And so the mind’s first response is to churn out thoughts. So you have to learn how to think about the breath in a way that makes it interesting, to fight off those other thoughts that would pull you away. I was speaking with an osteopath … 
  18. A Thread into Awareness
     … why that part of the mind feels justified in saying, “Okay, now we’ve done some meditation, we’ve invested enough in the Dhamma. Let’s invest in something else.” You can tell it, “As long as you’re not yet an arahant, you haven’t invested enough in the mind.” You want to very picky about where you’re going to find your … 
  19. The Heightened Mind
     … Many of those arahants had gained awakening after listening to only one Dhamma talk, so some of them, at least, didn’t realize the full range of the Buddha’s teachings. So he gave a very general survey, from the very basics up to the highest. One of the points he emphasized was what he called the heightened mind. Heightened mind usually means the … 
  20. Delight & Beyond Delight
     … The Dhamma is that special. So as you’re making yourself worthy of that path, learn to appreciate the fact that you’re headed in the right direction. Then, as the path becomes more alluring, you can look back at the other habits you’ve had in the past and you’ll be more willing to see through their allure. The reason why we … 
  21. From Darkness to Light
     … Ajaan MahaBoowa used this image in one of his Dhamma talks. He said we take the mud that’s in ourselves and we throw it around outside, saying that everything outside is muddy. We find fault with this person, find fault with that situation. We can’t stay anywhere. We have to keep going, going, going. You have to look back into yourself and … 
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