Search results for: "Discernment"
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- The Gift of Meditation… All of the goodness we do in the practice—in terms of generosity, virtue, concentration, discernment—is the kind of goodness, the kind of happiness that spreads around, that doesn’t have clear boundaries—which is what makes it special. As the Buddha said, when you look after yourself, you’re looking after others; when you look after others, you’re looking after yourself …
- The Buddha Defines Wisdom… It’s a very high standard for discernment or wisdom, but we can learn some lessons from it whatever level we’re on in our own practice. One is that wisdom is practical. In no case does the Buddha talk about wisdom being a body of knowledge in the abstract. It’s mainly a matter of skills, plus a set of values: that you …
- Practical Wisdom… It can be done, it’s simply a matter of wanting to do it enough, and then being as wise and discerning in acting on that desire. We all want happiness. We search for happiness. Sometimes there are people who say that the more you search for happiness, the more it runs away, so if you give up it’ll come to you. That …
- To Certify Yourself… It’s in the ardency that your discernment develops, because ordinarily you could be mindful of anything and it would count as mindfulness. You could watch yourself doing things, no matter what you’re doing—good or bad—and that would count as alertness. But ardency means that you’re trying to do this well. That’s what makes the other qualities good. And …
- The Joy of Growing… After all, you want to get it so that it thinks about the things you want to think about, and doesn’t think about the things you don’t want to think about, and you’re going to develop your attitude to be more discerning about what you want to think about based on what you’ve noticed, based on what you’ve observed …
- Respect for What’s Noble… This way, when you train these forms of clinging to be actually part of the path, as you develop virtue, concentration, and discernment, you have energy. You have confidence. This is another reason why we respect the Buddha: He basically teaches us to respect ourselves, that this is something we can do. So it’s all of a piece. Sometimes you hear people say …
- All for the Sake of Freedom… And then all aspects of the path—virtue, concentration, discernment: Finally we let those go, too. This is the purpose of everything the Buddha taught. So we’re not here just to be mired in aging, illness, and death or what’s inconstant, stressful, not self; trying to embrace these things briefly and squeeze whatever little pleasure we can out of them before we …
- Established in Full… In fact, understanding what’s going on is what discernment is all about. And the first way you’re going to understand what’s going on is to try to get the mind really quiet, really still. As the Buddha says, you want your awareness to spread, to fill the whole body. You want a sense of ease and well-being, refreshment, to spread …
- Overconfidence & Underconfidence… In meditation, it comes down to looking how much energy you have, how much energy can you put in right now, so you adjust all the other factors of the practice in terms of your conviction, your mindfulness, your concentration, your discernment to be in tune with the amount of energy you have. For example, tuning your conviction: There are passage where the Buddha …
- Treasures from the East… Finally, there’s discernment. The Buddha defines this as “penetrating knowledge of arising and passing away.” “Penetrating” means that you see causes, you see results, you see the variety of results that a particular quality can give rise to, good and bad. You can also see how to avoid suffering around that particular quality. So, you’re not just watching things coming and going …
- The Kamma of Meditation… When you’ve trained yourself in virtue and concentration, you develop discernment to see that even the good things you’ve developed in the path as you’ve let go of everything else, you’ll eventually have to let go of those good things, too. There’s a time and place for using the perception of self. There’s a time and place for …
- Exploring Fabrication… That’s where you let go of everything, even the path, even the discernment that got you there. This is how we come to understand fabrication. This is what insight is all about—not just watching things arising and passing away, but realizing the extent to which the mind causes them to arise and to pass away. You’ve got to dig down into …
- Beyond Imagination… And the same with the thoughts that would give rise to discernment: The different ajaans talk about different ways that you can imagine taking the body apart and doing things with it: putting it here, putting the parts here, putting them there. Imagine a knife cutting through the different parts of the body you have right now. So there’s room for imagination on …
- Persistence… The author’s idea was that the first path is the one that uses more discernment and is wiser and easier. But I’ve never seen that path go anywhere. I’ve never seen the Buddha teach that path. He taught only one path, and in that path right mindfulness, right effort, and right concentration all have to go together. You remember to apply …
- Patience & Sensitivity… Because that’s what your discernment is going to be ultimately: your sensitivity. You’re not trying to impose the Buddha’s concepts on your experience. You’re trying to use his concepts as tools for opening up, becoming sensitive to areas you weren’t sensitive to before. It’s like people who learn how to be professional tasters. They have to learn a …
- Working from the Inside… As you learn how to do it with more and more skill, that’s when your wisdom and discernment start to show their results. This is why one of Ajaan Lee’s favorite types of imagery has to do with skills: the skills of weaving a basket, carpentry, sewing things, making tiles, taking silver and making objects out of the silver. It’s in …
- Four Bases of Success… He was very clear about the fact that we are trying to gain concentration, we are trying to gain discernment, we are trying to gain release. He would often use images of investment. You invest your time and energy in things that will give a good return. So success is a valid issue. We’re here because we do want to gain peace of …
- Resisting the Germs of Defilement… So it’s important to remember that the quality the Buddha calls analysis of qualities, which is the discernment factor in the factors for awakening, isn’t simply a matter of noting or recognizing. It’s more a figuring things out and knowing that these teachings are meant to be acted on, in terms of the things you bring into your mind right here …
- Tough Goodwill for a Tough World… Of course, you have to do that in skillful ways yourself, which is where goodwill involves a fair amount of discernment and equanimity. But think of goodwill as a strength. And it is a protection. When the Buddha talks about the rewards of goodwill, he talks about the protection that it gives from physical dangers, among other things. This theme is carried out in …
- Goodwill & Kamma… mindfulness, alertness, ardency, concentration, discernment. The simple choice to do this is good kamma, and as you maintain the choice, maintain that intention, that’s good kamma as well. The Buddha talks about two kinds of good kamma. One is the kamma that leads to a good course through samsara—or, because samsara is not a place, it would be a more correct to …
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