Search results for: "Dhamma"

  1. Page 89
  2. Not Crushed by the World
     … There are the instructions in Method Two, but then there are also instructions in his Dhamma talks where he changes things around. He talks about different levels of breath in the body, breaths that go in the opposite direction from what he says in Method Two: starting at the feet and coming up the legs, going up the spine, as opposed to going from … 
  3. The Unity of the Path
     … The term “judging mind” has so much bad press here in America, especially in Dhamma circles, when it really shouldn’t. There’s skillful judging and unskillful judging. We’re trying to engage in skillful judging, which is focusing on actions and their results, rather than focusing on what kind of person you are. We’re focusing on what the action is and whether … 
  4. The Second Noble Truth
     … You’re making the Dhamma your island. It’s your way station to get across the river—your safe place, in the meantime, before you reach the other side. This image applies both to mindfulness and to concentration. The Buddha doesn’t make a clear distinction between mindfulness practice and concentration practice. In fact, the establishings of mindfulness are, in and of themselves, the … 
  5. The True Cause of Suffering
    Years back, they were holding the commemoration of Ajaan Lee’s passing away, and they invited a monk from Bangkok to give a Dhamma talk. As the time approached for the talk, he hadn’t shown up. We got a phone call saying he was stuck in traffic and didn’t think he’d be able to make it in time. So they got … 
  6. Dealing with Confusion
     … He would teach that person the Dhamma. It’s in this way that the practice is a process of feeling your way, but it’s only through noticing what’s skillful and what’s unskillful in the mind in terms of what results you get by acting on which voices, which intentions. That’s how you overcome doubt. That’s how you overcome confusion … 
  7. Rivers of Craving
     … When the Buddha talks about the different things that we should respect in order to keep the true Dhamma alive, he talks about the triple training, and then he says again, “concentration.” Now, concentration is part of the triple training. So obviously he meant to stress the fact that concentration really is important, and it tends to get overlooked. So we don’t want … 
  8. The World Does Not Endure
     … But none of those was true in the case of this monk. “So,” he asked the young monk, “Why did you go forth? Why did you become a monk?” And the monk answered with these Dhamma summaries. The first one: “The world is swept away. It does not endure.” He illustrated that point with a question to the king, “When you were young, were … 
  9. Oppressed by Old Kamma
     … You can ask yourself, “If you follow those voices, where will they take you?” They’re certainly not going to take you to the Dhamma. They’re certainly not going to take you to the end of suffering. They just keep pulling you into the old patterns you’ve been following for who knows how long. Is that where you want to go? Sometimes … 
  10. New Feeding Habits
     … Every year when they would do this, they would invite a senior monk to give the closing Dhamma talk. Some years it would be an ajaan from the northeast, some years it would be a high-ranking monk from Bangkok. That year, it was going to be a high-ranking monk from Bangkok, but a few minutes before the talk was about to happen … 
  11. The Power of Intention
     … So you want to make sure that your intention is right in line with the Dhamma as you bring the mind to the breath, and then you intend to stay here. It’s because our intentions make a difference that we can actually train the mind. As the Buddha said, our past karma gives us the potential for different experiences of form, feeling, perception … 
  12. The Uses of Concentration
     … It does not endure.” And there are a lot of teachings in the Dhamma that are unpleasant-sounding but are actually important medicine, just as some of the most effective medicines are bitter. The Buddha teaches these things not to put a wet blanket on people’s lives, on their pleasure, on their happiness, but to put the mind in a position where it … 
  13. A Path of Aggregates
     … It’s not the Dhamma. You have to have a passion for the path. As** Ajaan Fuang used to say, “If you want to be really good at the meditation, you have to be crazy about it.” Keep finding opportunities to do it whenever you are: You’re waiting in line, okay, you can meditate. In the doctor’s office, you can meditate. You … 
  14. The Thinking Heart
     … This is why the Dhamma is called the language of the heart: not because it comes out of the heart, but because it’s the part of the mind that can speak to the heart in a way that helps it understand what its problems are. Another phrase you might use for this is the intelligent heart or the thinking heart. It’s willing … 
  15. Guardian Meditations
     … to learn how to use your thinking as an aid in the meditation. Don’t treat it as an enemy. If you think skillfully, it’s a part of the meditation. Dhamma-vicaya—analysis of qualities, analysis of what’s skillful and unskillful—is a factor for awakening. So try to make use of all the tools that are at your disposal. Figure out … 
  16. Protection
     … There’s a story in the Canon of King Pasenadi, who tends to be something of a naif, but likes to visit with the Buddha and talk about Dhamma matters. He comes to see the Buddha one day and says, “You know, I’ve been thinking about this. Those who have a big army but who don’t observe the precepts, are leaving themselves … 
  17. Understanding Through Developing
     … And then you let go of that statement too—because that, too, is a phenomenon; that, too, is a Dhamma. You don’t cling even to that. That’s when the mind is freed. The question came up a while back: “If all phenomena are not self, then what gets reborn?” To begin with, the Buddha never talks about what gets reborn. He talks … 
  18. To Escape the Prison of Time
     … This knowledge is implicit in the principle of the Dhamma eye: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.” Now, notice this statement is not saying, “Everything that arises is going to cease or pass away.” “Subject to origination” means caused, and when the Buddha uses the word “origination,” it’s almost always in the context of things caused from within the … 
  19. Desire Is Part of the Path
     … The Buddha teaches that all dhammas are rooted in desire. By that, he means that all objects in the mind, all activities in the mind, are rooted in desire. So you have to desire for the path, desire to develop concentration. Don’t be afraid of those desires. Just learn how to relate to your desires in a mature way. That makes them part … 
  20. Abandoning & Developing
     … You see this in the Buddha’s teaching on dhammānupassanā, taking dhammas as your frame of reference as you practice mindfulness. You base your concentration on your breath, and then you notice: Do you have the qualities of mind that help you stay with the breath? ** The two main sets of qualities that the Buddha teaches in that context are the hindrances on the … 
  21. Mind Reading
     … The recollection of the Dhamma: This is an excellent teaching. You look at it, you read through it, and you see that it’s teaching you nothing but noble things, noble ways of behaving, responsible ways of behaving. That’s something timelessly true. It’s as true now as it was in the time of the Buddha. Or you can recollect the Sangha. If … 
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