Search results for: "Dhamma"
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- Taking Risks… And as you read his Dhamma talks for the remainder of his life—he lived for another eight or nine years—you see that he was continually experimenting with different ways of working with the breath energy, different ways of conceiving the breath, trying different things out. That’s the attitude you have to develop as a meditator: Keep trying things out. Because no …
- The Wisdom of Equanimity… As the king is sitting there listening to this amazing Dhamma talk, all he can think of is, “I really regret that I killed my father.” So he confesses the murder to the Buddha, and then leaves. The Buddha then remarks to the monks, “If the king hadn’t killed his father, he would have become a stream enterer right there. But because he …
- Acceptance & Equanimity… There was that study they did years back of laypeople who were very much into the Dhamma in Sri Lanka. The researchers came out with the conclusion that the laypeople were all suffering from minor depression, which may have been true in some of the cases. You hear about everything as being inconstant, stressful, and not-self, nothing is worth going for, so you …
- Appreciation… They read the Buddhist texts in such a way as to see the Dhamma as very pessimistic. They interpreted the first noble truth as “Life is suffering.” They interpreted nirvana as total annihilation: that somehow the only way out of suffering was to be wiped out. Yet here they saw Buddhists having a good time at Buddhist festivals. They thought, “These poor Buddhists, they …
- Question Your Perceptions… But then you go through his Dhamma talks, and you find he has the breath doing other things as well. Which means that he continued to explore and to try things out to the end of his life. So try out different perceptions. Perceive the breath as originating outside, coming in. Perceive it as originating in the body and then radiating out in such …
- Listening to the Practice… What attitude precisely is needed in this particular point, in this particular place—this particular state of the breath, state of the mind, state of the body, state of the world around you? The practice of the Dhamma is very situational—not in the sense that everything is relative but in the sense of realizing that the particular technique, the particular approach that’s …
- The Self-correcting Mind… You read his different Dhamma talks and writings, and you find that he has lots of different ways of suggesting how you do this. So you try his ways, and if they don’t work, you start thinking up your own. This is what it means to use evaluation. As Ajaan Fuang used to say, the two things you need to develop your skills …
- The World of Conviction… And you notice, if you look through Buddhist history, that when people try to change the Dhamma—especially into forms that said, “You can’t do this on your own. You need some outside power to come and help you”—they also change the story of the Buddha’s awakening. There’s one version where, as the Bodhisatta’s sitting under the tree, he …
- Choosing Not to Suffer… I’ll continue to practice the Dhamma. Don’t worry about that. It’s bad to die when you’re worried, because that becomes the dominant mindset that you go with.” She was able to put him at ease. And it so happened that he didn’t die. He recovered. At one point, when he was just barely strong enough to walk, he went …
- The Humble Way to Awakening… So the Dhamma that explains the cause of suffering and the path to its end is the Buddha’s contribution to end our bewilderment so that our search actually leads to the end of suffering. In the course of following his path, you’ll also find that other issues get settled as well. Suffering is like the watering hole in the savannah. If you …
- Victory… all the four noble truths, dependent co-arising—all the factors are right here—the four establishings of mindfulness, the areas where you pay attention to body, feelings, mind states, dhammas. These are all in this area of your awareness. So you want to sensitize yourself to this area of awareness and see what you’re doing with it. It’s not just a …
- Return of Wisdom for Dummies… This is why he said that the Dhamma is nourished by commitment and reflection. You commit yourself to doing as best you can and you reflect: Where is your best still not good enough? How can you make it better? As he said, if you learn how to reflect on your actions like this and see where they’re causing even the slightest bit …
- The Origination of Suffering… Sāriputta said, “If you want to understand the Dhamma, you have to see how it all fits into the four noble truths.” So, if you want to understand what you’re doing right here, right now, remember you’re here to attack suffering at its cause. This means you’ve got to understand the cause and the strategic challenges it presents: You tend to …
- Determined to Make a Difference… He wanted to gain it in such a way that he could teach the Dhamma so that other people could gain awakening, too. Without strong desire, without strong focus, he never would have been able to have accomplished that. So it’s good to reflect on what he had to say about determination, so that we can take those lessons and apply them in …
- Squeezing Goodness Out of the Aggregates… Ajaan Maha Boowa gave them three months’ worth of Dhamma talks, almost every night without exception. And they recorded all of the talks. When they returned home, the friend who had cancer died after a couple months. The old woman doctor still was around. She said, “Suppose I try transcribing the tapes?” There were more than eighty tapes altogether, and she was more than …
- Respect for Suffering… So when we study the Buddha’s Dhamma, that’s what we’re studying: how we’re suffering and how to put an end to it. He said there are four truths you have to know about suffering. In fact, that was his first teaching: know what suffering is, what its cause is, know that you can put an end to suffering, and then …
- Attachment to the Body… We owe the Dhamma to the fact of aging, illness and death, and to his desire to overcome them, to triumph over them. All of his teachings take their meaning from them. The first noble truth: Suffering is aging, illness, death. Dependent co-arising explains how we give rise to aging, illness, and death, and how we can stop doing that. We focus on …
- Strength of Conviction… You’re dealing with people who don’t share the values of the Dhamma, who have other priorities, other agendas. And you have to develop your own inner strength to maintain your practice in the face of those priorities and agendas. In other words, you have to learn how not to accept them and not get sucked into other people’s values when you …
- Remorse… No matter how much we understand about the Dhamma, there are times when we forget. Thinking in this way gives you the motivation to want to get out of the cycle. And the path of meditation is the most skillful way out. Some people say that it’s selfish that you’re just pulling yourself out. But think about what samsara means. Samsara’s …
- Discernment on the Path… He gave very short Dhamma talks, and one of the talks he gave was basically one sentence. He said, “Take buddho as the path for the mind." Buddho is the meditation topic he worked with, but the same principle applies to the breath or whatever other topic you’re focusing on. It’s your path. You stick with it; you follow it. With the …
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