Search results for: virtue

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  2. Values
     … Fear of loosing your virtue, fear of loosing your right view, though, is a fear that comes from a sense of power. You have the power to protect these things. No one else can destroy your virtue; no one else can take away your right views. You’re the one who can destroy them; you’re the one who can take them away. You … 
  3. Virtue Nurtures Concentration
    Close your eyes. Try to stay with your breath, all the way in, all the way out. Notice where the breathing is most prominent—where you can see it most clearly. Focus your attention there. And then make sure the breath is comfortable. Right there. You can start with long breathing for a while and see how that feels. If long breathing feels good … 
  4. Strength of Discernment
     … I’m going to need mindfulness and alertness for sure.” So you ask yourself: “What are those things based on?” They’re based on virtue and they’re based on right view. So work on your virtue. When you’re living in difficult times, you have to be very careful and determined that you’re going to maintain your virtue in spite of the … 
  5. Figuring Out Concentration
     … So sometimes, when you’re feeling down about the meditation, remind yourself that you do have generosity as one of your virtues. That lifts the mind, gladdens the mind. And the same with virtue itself, the virtue of holding to the precepts: As you’re sitting here, you’re not getting involved in the various ways you could harm yourself or harm other people … 
  6. A Safe Haven
     … But you can make your inside certain, that you can depend on your views, you can depend on your virtue. Then when things change outside, you’ll still maintain your virtue; you’ll still maintain your integrity. In that way, you have a sense of confidence living in this world, that you can live in the world and not be affected by the dangers … 
  7. Book search result icon The Heart a Flowing Stream Everywhere & Always
     … loss of relatives, loss of wealth, loss through disease, loss in terms of virtue, loss in terms of views. He then goes on to show that loss of relatives, loss of wealth, and loss through disease are relatively minor, whereas loss of virtue and loss in terms of views are serious. The former forms of loss won’t send you to a bad destination … 
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  8. Being Right
     … And the sixth quality is that your virtues are things that you hold in common. You all hold to the same standard of virtue. These last two qualities are where things get difficult, especially when you’re living out in the world where people are not practicing the Dhamma, are not interested in the Dhamma. They’ve got totally other ideas, totally different agendas … 
  9. Page search result icon Contents
     … 17. Arahants of every sort attain both release through concentration and release through discernment, having developed the threefold training to completion. The Ever-present Truth § 1. The root meditation themes § 2. Virtue. § 3. Potential § 4. Contemplating the body § 5. Purifying the mind § 6. The method of practice for those who have studied a great deal § 7. The principles of the practice are ever-present … 
  10. Pain
     … conviction, virtue, generosity, discernment. But you’re really going to need them at the moment of death, too. Conviction that the Buddha was right: What you do with the mind right now is really going to make a difference. That was one of his major insights in the night of his awakening. Your past karma throughout life may have an influence on where you … 
  11. A Happy Tradition
     … You develop your virtue; you develop your discernment. So, there are skills that can enable you not to suffer, no matter what your past karma is. He’s giving you power. For a lot of us, that takes a lot of getting used to. Either the culture of our families or the culture of the religion we were raised in told us to have … 
  12. Nurturing Patient Endurance
     … On top of conviction, comes virtue. In fact, virtue is part of conviction. If you really are convinced in the power of your actions, you’re going to be very careful about how you act. And generosity: That, too, grows out of conviction. As the Buddha said, you’re convinced that something good will come from your generosity; it’s not a waste. It … 
  13. The Search for Happiness
     … But if you see that you’re living a relatively harmless life, that yields more joy in of the practice of virtue. You see that you’re principled: that people could give you rewards for breaking the precepts but you wouldn’t accept those rewards. That gives you a sense of self-esteem, a higher level of happiness. Then, of course, there’s goodwill … 
  14. Catch It in the Act
     … All the basic elements of the path—virtue, concentration, and discernment—are things you already have to some extent. So if your virtue is weak, you can develop some concentration, not as much as when your virtue is strong, but still you can develop some. And you can develop some wisdom even when your concentration is weak. It won’t be as good as … 
  15. Book search result icon Noble Strategy What is Emptiness?
     … To master the emptiness mode of perception requires training in firm virtue, concentration, and discernment. Without this training, the mind tends to stay in the mode that keeps creating stories and worldviews. And from the perspective of that mode, the teaching of emptiness sounds simply like another story or worldview with new ground rules. In terms of the story of your relationship with your … 
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  16. Reflect
     … In the same way, virtue is a mirror. Concentration is a mirror. And ultimately, of course, discernment is a mirror. It teaches you how to relate to your thoughts, both the thoughts that occur in the context of the concentration, and those that occur outside. You want to be able to step back and not get taken up by what you think is true … 
  17. The Seven Treasures
     … That was it, as if virtue simply had to do with externals. As Ajaan Mun pointed out many, many times: The essence of virtue is in the intention. Intention is a quality of mind, so virtue is a quality of mind. It’s a quality you want to ensconce in your mind, because it makes life easier for you and for the people around … 
  18. Heedful of What’s Precious
     … But for the Buddha, the simple fact of being alive or having belongings is not in and of itself a virtue. As he once said, “One day lived mindfully is better than a hundred years lived mindlessly.” One day lived with virtue, one day lived with concentration, one day lived discerning the arising and passing away of your mental states, is better than a … 
  19. A Sense of Yourself
     … That leads to the second quality the Buddha asks you to look at, which is your virtue. To what extent are you actually causing intentional harm? He gives five types of harm you want to avoid across the board: killing, stealing, illicit sex, lying, and taking intoxicants. But there’s also the harm that comes by inciting greed, aversion, and delusion in yourself by … 
  20. A Generosity of Spirit
     … One is generosity; the other is virtue. Virtue is basically abstaining, not harming anybody, and that’s a gift that can be given to all beings. Just as goodwill is unlimited, our virtue can be unlimited. In other words, we don’t harm anybody, we don’t kill anybody, we don’t steal from anybody, have illicit sex with anybody, don’t lie to … 
  21. Setbacks
     … The standard explanation is that virtue nurtures concentration, concentration nurtures discernment, discernment leads to release. But the actual Pali explanation of this is that, “Concentration nurtured with virtue leads to great rewards. Discernment nurtured with concentration leads to great rewards. When the mind is nurtured with discernment, then it’s released from the effluents.” In other words, there is the possibility of having concentration … 
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