Search results for: "Dhamma"

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  2. Gladdening
     … But the whole point of the teaching, the whole point of why we have the Dhamma, is that the Buddha is making things clear. Again and again and again, when he would give Dharma talks, people would express their appreciation and say, “Something that had been overturned has now been set upright. In many and various ways, the Tathāgata has made things clear, as … 
  3. Understanding Pain
     … The Dhamma is all about explaining what the pain is, how it happens, and what we can do to put an end to the cause. All too often, we don’t deal with the cause; we try to fight off the pain immediately, without looking at what’s really causing the pain, especially when it has to do with the suffering in the mind … 
  4. Mature Strategies
     … It’s amazing how many people — even scholars and Dhamma teachers — believe that, but that’s not what he said. He simply said that there is suffering in life. You can’t argue with him there. And he points out all the obvious sufferings we live with. Birth is suffering, all the pain that goes into being born and giving birth. Aging, illness, and … 
  5. A Sense of Yourself
     … Why should we learn the Dhamma? The Buddha doesn’t require that you learn the whole Pali Canon. Just have enough familiarity with the basic principles. Have a good idea of what the path is like. Have a general idea of where you’re going and what’s needed to get there—because there’s so much misinformation out there. Like the idea that … 
  6. Persistence: Lift Your Heart
     … As you read some of his other Dhamma talks from later years, you find that he had other ways of dealing with the breath—sometimes just the opposite. In Method Two, he says to get the breath energy going from the neck down the spine. In other places, he says to start with the breath energy in the soles of your feet and have … 
  7. Disconnecting
     … Yes.” “Do you love me?” “Yes.” “If something were to happen to me, how would that affect you?” “It would change my very life.” Then she says—“That’s what the Buddha meant when he said that sorrow and lamentation come from those we love.” This is the first time Pasenadi listens to the Dhamma and decides that it’s actually good, and that … 
  8. Insight in Concentration
    When there’s a Dhamma talk during the meditation, you don’t have to listen to the talk. It’s here to act as a fence. If your mind wanders away from the breath, you run into the fence, which is here to remind you to go back to the breath. Otherwise, let the talk stay in the background, like you let your thoughts … 
  9. Happiness is a Skill
     … Now, a lot of my understanding of the Dhamma has grown in the years since, but that’s one point that’s stayed the same. The Buddha did teach a skill. He approached happiness as a skill. And it’s a choice: You can choose to be happy. Some people don’t like to hear that, because it makes it sound like the people … 
  10. Admit Your Stupidity
     … That’s the opposite of Dhamma practice. The things you don’t want to forget are not other people’s misdeeds—you want to not forget your own, so that you can learn from them. When you have that attitude toward the practice, you’ve overcome a lot of problems right there. When I went to stay with Ajaan Fuang, I’d been a … 
  11. Right Inner Speech
     … For instance, you can take on really a advanced Dhamma question when it’s not the right time yet. Or you can look at your perceptions. Today we talked about the issue of lust, how you look at something and you could perceive at as beautiful—that’s true—but it may not be beneficial to perceive it as beautiful. That’s when you … 
  12. Into the Cave with the Tiger
     … That’s what’s described in the phrase that goes along with the arising of the Dhamma eye: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.” The important word there is origination. It doesn’t mean simple arising. It means things that are caused, and in particular, things that are caused from within the mind. But now you’ve found something that … 
  13. The Art of Right Speech
    Ajaan Fuang often said, when we’re practicing the Dhamma, we’re working on a skill. We’re not just memorizing words or ideas; we’re learning how to deal skillfully with issues in the mind. And the first principle in that skill, he would say, is how we relate to the breath, because there are many layers in the mind. Some are more … 
  14. The Wisdom of Tenacity
     … In other words, you can’t gain the Dhamma by figuring things out too much in advance. The person who’s going to succeed is the one who’s convinced that there’s gold here, but it may take time and it may take work. But he’s willing to put in the effort. He’s willing to use his tenacity. You take the … 
  15. Between Either & Or
     … You see this a lot among former addicts who come to the Dhamma. They indulged in alcohol, they indulged in drugs, and now they’re going to indulge in starving themselves, trying to deny all kinds of sensual pleasure. Well, neither extreme, as the Buddha pointed out, is going to work. It’s easiest to think in extremes because extremes can be expressed in … 
  16. Start with Yourself
     … Then, over the generations, more and more people have benefited from that one person who really wanted to find the Dhamma. He wasn’t out to change the world. When he started out he wanted to change himself, to learn how to trust himself. And then, when he was fully able to trust himself, other people could rely on him with a sense of … 
  17. Birth Is Suffering
     … As long as there’s going to be a birth, make sure that you suffer as little as possible out of it, and you go to a place where there’s a minimum amount of suffering and a maximum opportunity to practice the Dhamma so that ultimately you can find the escape. Anytime in your dealings with the world, you want to make sure … 
  18. Balanced Meditation
     … Recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha. Recollection of relinquishment, recollection of virtue. The qualities that make people into devas—that’s a recollection. Recollection of death. Mindfulness immersed in the body. Mindfulness of breathing. And the recollection of the peace of nibbana. These are good topics to know for when you’ve got specific problems coming up. In other words, when you … 
  19. The World of the Noble Truths
     … We’re talking about how the Dhamma has an attha, which is a Pāḷi word that means “meaning,” “goal,” “benefit.” This world of the four noble truths delivers you to that attha, that benefit, that goal. They find their meaning in taking you there. So try to look at your actions in the context of that view, that world—because then you know what … 
  20. A Handful of Leaves
     … You may have read books, you may have heard nice ideas and Dhamma talks, but unless you really take care of this problem inside you, there will always be problems. Once you do take care of this, the problems are gone. Nothing weighs on the mind. There will be the stress of having a body. The body will grow old, get sick and die … 
  21. Not Getting What You Want
     … And of course, it’s not going to work with the Dhamma. You can’t play the reverse of Barney the Dinosaur, saying, “Well, if I don’t want something strong enough, then it’ll come.” You learn how to cultivate skillful desires and then apply them in a skillful way. So those desires there in suffering can actually be cultivated wisely: The desires … 
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