Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Respect for What’s Noble
     … When the Buddha himself was giving Dhamma talks, the texts say that he’d give talks of four kinds: instructing, urging, rousing, and encouraging. Notice that: four verbs. Only one is “instructing.” The other three basically give you the energy you need to follow through, convincing you that, Yes, you can do this. So here, again, the Buddha’s asking you to have respect … 
  3. The Wisdom of Wising Up
    The Wisdom of Wising Up February 15, 2011 When you meditate during a Dhamma talk, pay very little attention to the talk. Give your primary attention to the meditation, to what you’re doing right now: focusing on the breath. If you find the mind wandering off, bring it back. The talk helps you realize when you’ve wandered off. It acts like a … 
  4. Generating Good Energy
     … Ajaan Lee talks about this in one of his last Dhamma talks, “Crossing the Ocean of Life.” There’s the energy of your goodwill, which other people can pick up if you have any karmic connection with them. The people who’ve helped you in the past: You can help them through the energy of your mind when it’s well-trained. He makes … 
  5. Defilements at the Door
     … xx Then with dhammas, the fourth frame of reference, he talks about seeing the events in the mind as events, coming and going. You begin to see that there’s a pattern, so that you can understand why they come, why they go. If they’re unskillful, you can figure out how to use that understanding of cause and effect to make sure they … 
  6. Strong & Heedful
     … I’ve had many long talks with other Dhamma teachers about how to translate the word appamāda from Pali into English, and they keep saying, “Isn’t there a better word than heedful? It sounds strange.” But maybe that’s a sign that we need to listen to this particular teaching, because the concept of heedfulness implies that there are dangers, as the phrase … 
  7. Judging Mindfulness & Concentration
     … That’s how you find out how really good the Dhamma can be.
  8. Things that Arise & Pass Away
     … There’s a Dhamma talk where Ajahn Chah is talking to a group of monks and makes the point that they really have to pay attention to arising and passing away. And he adds, “But that’s not the end of the problem.” You have to turn around and look into your mind. What’s causing it? What’s pushing that change? Because that … 
  9. Mistakes
     … That’s the only way your Dhamma practice is going to progress. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of theories, theories that take you nowhere. Whereas if you learn how to learn from your mistakes, they can take you far. Look at the Buddha himself. He made many mistakes in the course of his path. But he was able to recognize them as mistakes … 
  10. The Path of Action
     … In Thailand, a lot of my training in the Dhamma was not just sitting there with my eyes closed but it was also sitting there with my eyes open, watching what was going on, how people behaved. Particularly seeing Ajaan Fuang interact with other people: what he would say, what he wouldn’t say; what he would do, what he wouldn’t do. And … 
  11. Joy in Effort
     … The other approach is to realize that the Dhamma is all around you in the present moment. You just relax into the present moment and there you are. Now, if those were the two only alternatives, the second would obviously be the only reasonable approach. But there are other alternatives as well. It’s possible to relax into the present and still be filled … 
  12. Persistence
     … You remember to apply right effort and remember where to apply it, based on what you’ve been learning, either from Dhamma talks you’ve heard, from your own reading, or from your own practice. You learn your lessons and you try to keep them in mind so that you can apply them. Then you gain your own sense of touch as to how … 
  13. The Allure of Sensuality
     … You may ask yourself, “Why do I keep siding with those?” Think of that image in the Dhamma summaries, about the world being a slave to craving. That goes together with an image in the sutta it’s drawn from. It’s about a king who’s got everything he really needs, he’s eighty years old, he’s about ready to die. And … 
  14. Surprise Yourself
     … One tetrad deals with the body, one with feelings, one with the mind, and one with dhammas. In other words, they deal with the frames of reference that we use to establish mindfulness. But the question is, do you follow them 1 through 16? The way the Buddha describes how they embody mindfulness practice suggests that you could focus on any one tetrad all … 
  15. Momentum Through Restraint
     … In that way, we create a good Dhamma foundation inside. And the influences that go outside will be good influences as well. This is what we need. We’re responsible for our actions more than for anything else, so we want them to be good for our own sake and good for the people around us. It’s very hard to find a secure … 
  16. Honesty
     … He said, “Bring me someone who’s honest and observant, and I will teach that person the Dhamma.” This means being honest not only with other people, but also with yourself. When I was young, my mother liked to experiment with recipes. And you know how children are, they don’t want to eat anything new. They like familiar foods. So we were always … 
  17. Boring
     … the recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha. Recollection of death—the fact that it could happen at any time. Whatever recollection you find gets you more motivated: Think about it for a while until you’re ready to come back to the breath. And remind yourself: Everything you’re going to need is right here, simply that you haven’t noticed it … 
  18. Ripples Go Far
     … The purpose of the meditation is to sort them out, so that you can realize that these are the ones you can’t trust, as in that Dhamma talk by Ajaan Lee: How do you know that every thought that comes popping up into your mind actually comes from you? Maybe it comes from the germs in your bloodstream. Maybe it comes from spirits … 
  19. Practicing Meditation to Perform at Death
     … It is possible on some levels of the deva realms to practice the Dhamma, but it’s so easy to get carried away with the bliss. You get these pleasures you never had before, and part of the mind says, “Well, let me enjoy them for a while and then I’ll practice.” But then you forget. So, it’s good to reflect on … 
  20. Doubt
     … Remember, one of the reasons for fearing death that the Buddha cited was that you haven’t seen the true Dhamma—in other words, you haven’t gained stream-entry. But at the very least, even if you don’t get to stream-entry, you can minimize your doubts by being very observant about your own mind to see what in it is skillful … 
  21. Gratification
     … In the same way, when you practice the Dhamma, it’s not always the case that mindfulness or alertness comes easily. Concentration, discernment: These things are often very hard, yet they’re the skills we need to develop if we don’t want to suffer. So a second level of skill is learning how to develop skills in areas where it’s hard. That … 
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