Search results for: "Suffering"

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  2. Overcoming Delusion
     … Because the whole problem with an unskillful action is that even though it’s causing suffering, it’s causing stress, it’s causing harm in one way or another, we don’t see it. Either we don’t see the connection—we know that we’re suffering but we don’t know why. Or we accept the level of suffering and say, “Well, that … 
  3. Inner Authorities
     … Many people have pointed out that that’s two things, unless you decide that accepting suffering is the end of suffering. But the Buddha never said, “one thing and one thing only.” What he said was, “All I teach is suffering and the end of suffering.” Two things. So, we have a choice. Which do you want? Do you want to keep on suffering … 
  4. Appropriate Attention
     … When you have a sense that you’re suffering, he doesn’t simply say that there is suffering. He says that suffering is something that you’re doing. You’re clinging to the five aggregates of form, feeling, perceptions, thought fabrications, and consciousness. And why are you doing that? Because of craving. Now, that right there is pretty radical. Most of us, when we … 
  5. Respect for Heedfulness
     … And that’s why Buddhism focuses on suffering and stress: to give rise to the kind respect for heedfulness that will take us beyond suffering. Some people accuse Buddhism of being very pessimistic and negative, focusing only on suffering and stress as if it were denying that there is any pleasure in life. But the Buddha never denies pleasure. He talks about it very … 
  6. Proving the Teachings
     … He said, there is suffering in life—in the way we cling to the aggregates—and it comes from craving. We tend to blame our suffering on people outside, situations outside, but actually, whatever the situation is, the reason it makes the mind suffer is because of the way the mind relates to it. Think of all the effort we put into trying to … 
  7. The Equanimity of a Victor
     … We suffer but we don’t understand our suffering. When the Buddha says suffering is the five clinging-aggregates, our immediate reaction is “What? What does that have to do with my suffering?” It seems abstract, far away, technical. But it really has to do with what you’re doing. Because the aggregates are activities. They’re actions. Even form is something you actively … 
  8. Refuge for All Beings
     … He taught an end to suffering—not only for people who deserved not to suffer but for everybody, whether you “deserve” your suffering or not. It wasn’t a matter of deserving or not deserving; it was simply a matter of discernment—realizing that if you could find true happiness within, it would be for everybody’s good. That was the kind of goodwill … 
  9. The Power is in Your Hands
     … The craving that causes suffering is not somebody else’s craving; it’s your own craving. I know of one Dhamma teacher who objects to this, saying that actually craving comes from suffering, and then he leaves it right there: Craving is natural because suffering is natural. He doesn’t explain where suffering comes from. But what purpose does that solve, and what problem … 
  10. A Path Rooted in Desire
     … Here our desire is to put an end to suffering, to act in a way that, instead of causing suffering, will actually bring about its end. So. Try to understand: What is suffering, how is it caused, and what would be required to put an end to it? That’s right view. Then you realize that the various truths of right view—suffering, its … 
  11. Equanimity & Exertion
    We meditate to put an end to the causes of suffering and stress. And as the Buddha said, there are two kinds. Which means you need two kinds of meditation or two aspects to the meditation. The first kind is the kind of suffering or stress whose cause goes away when all you do is just look at it with equanimity. In other words … 
  12. Mindful of the Buddha’s Shoulds
     … So, No, you should try to comprehend your suffering. You comprehend it by seeing that the suffering itself is something you might not expect. The Buddha gives examples: aging, illness, and death are suffering, not getting what you want is suffering, having to be with what you don’t like, having to be separated from what you do like. These things are all suffering … 
  13. Stubborn Clinging
     … pointing out first that our clinging is suffering. This is the essence of all the mind’s sufferings: its ways of clinging to the five aggregates. The recognition of this suffering—the stress, the pain you’re causing yourself—and the recognition that it’s not necessary: Those are the only things that are going to get you out of those really stubborn mind … 
  14. The Dhamma Wheel
     … Yet the Buddha’s saying that if we go for the craving that causes these things, it’s going to cause suffering. He’s saying some counterintuitive things. Feeding is suffering. The desire to take on an identity so that you can feed is a cause of suffering. Yet for most of us, this is where we find our pleasure. Then there’s the … 
  15. Make a Difference
     … Here you have to have compassion, because if you act in ways that are harmful, even without ill-will, you’re going to suffer as a result. So you have to think about the well-being of those who might be suffering. And again, if there’s anything you can do to help them end their suffering, you’d be happy to help. Try … 
  16. Perceptions of Self & Not-Self
     … You didn’t want to suffer. You wanted to put an end to suffering. But if you abandon the path, is it because you want to continue suffering? Do you not love yourself anymore? If you have any concern for yourself, you want to stick with the path. There’s also a passage where Ven. Ananda says that it’s necessary to have a … 
  17. Free Not to Suffer
     … Then there’s the suffering and stress in the four noble truths, and that’s the suffering and stress that comes from your own craving—which means there’s something you can do about that. And, fortunately, that’s the suffering that weighs the mind down. Without the craving, there would be no more cause for suffering in the mind no matter how things … 
  18. Choosing Not to Suffer
     … When a mind is well trained, even going through the experience of aging, illness, and death, it doesn’t have to suffer. There will be the stress and suffering of the physical elements, but the mind, if it learns how to let go of any attachment to those things, doesn’t have to suffer along with them. That’s a potential here in the … 
  19. Skillful Thinking
     … What is suffering? Is it physical or is it mental? Look at it. Is it possible for there to be pain in the body and yet no suffering in the mind? That’s an important question. And exactly how do you experience suffering? What is the experience of suffering? That’s something you need to comprehend. As for the cause of suffering, once you … 
  20. Mange in the Mind
     … As the Buddha said, the world and the end of the world, suffering and the end of suffering can all be found right here in this fathom-long body. So that should capture your interest right there. This is where suffering comes from, it’s inside right here. And the end of suffering can be found here as well. Just that thought should make … 
  21. Attachment vs. Affection
     … unlimited compassion, realizing that there are people who are suffering and you’d like to do what you can to relieve their suffering. You’d also like them to act in ways that can help eliminate suffering. That’s an aspect of compassion that’s often missed. It’s not simply a floating-around kind of wish for people to be happy. It also … 
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