Search results for: virtue

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  2. Resilience Plus
     … You think about your virtue, that you’re going to hold by your virtue in your response. And your generosity: You’re coming from a place of giving rather than being a place of being threatened. And finally, your discernment. What’s the most skillful thing to say or do at this time? Here, your discernment is aided by two other qualities that the … 
  3. Always Observe Your Mind
     … The Buddha talks about four qualities conducive to a good rebirth—conviction, virtue, generosity, and discernment—and there’s a lot of overlap between that list and the list of factors in the path to the end of suffering, especially in the virtue and the discernment. More basically, there’s overlap in the sense that, as you’re following those four practices that lead … 
  4. Born for the Perfections
     … generosity or giving, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. The list doesn’t have a progressive nature, which is why I like to discuss it under the headings of determination. There are four qualities that go into determination, and the different *paramis *can fit neatly under the four qualities. The first determination is discernment. That includes the perfection of discernment … 
  5. A Trustworthy Mind
     … The next quality is virtue or restraint—which is what virtue is all about, restraining yourself from doing harmful things. Again, if you encounter that in another person, that person is likely to be a person you can trust—much more than someone who doesn’t exercise restraint, who’s very casual about the principle of trying to restrain himself from doing harm. Stay … 
  6. No Boundaries
     … When you’re generous, you gain the benefit of generosity, the virtue of generosity in your own mind. The people who receive the fruits of your generosity benefit, too. When you observe the precepts, you develop the perfection of virtue, and the people around you are not subject to being harassed or harmed by you. When you train the mind, everybody benefits. This is … 
  7. Only One Person
     … Give yourself the dignity of being an agent and not just a recipient, not just a victim of other people’s activities or a recipient of their virtue. You want be a generator of virtue, you want to be a generator of generosity, a generator of concentration and wisdom. That’s how these things come out into the world. You’ve got the source … 
  8. Take Heart
     … You think about your virtue, the times when you could have behaved in unskillful ways but you chose not to, even though there may have been a sacrifice involved. But you managed to do it. The Buddha says you can think about the qualities that make people devas. Okay, you’ve got those qualities as well: conviction, virtue, generosity, learning, discernment. You have those … 
  9. From Compunction to Release
     … The Buddha first teaches you dispassion for unskillful actions by talking about the rewards of generosity, the rewards of virtue, and also the opposite of rewards that come when you act on unskillful intentions. But the rewards of generosity, the rewards of virtue are what? Rebirth in the sensual heavens. Then you get into concentration and you can look back at the pleasures of … 
  10. Universal Goodness
     … the goodness of generosity; the goodness of virtue; the goodness of getting your mind under control. These things are good wherever you go. It’s like the difference between the Earth and the sky. You go to different places on the planet, the landscape around you is very different. But you look up, and the stars are the same stars. They may be at … 
  11. Going in Light
     … The parents don’t have virtue. Whereas coming in light means you come into a family where you’re well off. You have an opportunity for education, and your parents are virtuous. They know the Dhamma. Or whether they know the Dhamma or not, they’re still virtuous people. Going in darkness means that you, yourself, become a person who’s not observing the … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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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  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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