Search results for: virtue

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  2. Human Values
     … generosity, virtue, meditation. When they talk about meditation, they start with meditation on goodwill, realizing that we live together, and if we have ill will for somebody else, we’re going to do unskillful things, and those unskillful things then become our karma. So we’re harming ourselves as we harm others. So we do our best to provide protection, at least from our … 
  3. Inner Wealth
     … They go together with virtue: the promises you make to yourself not to harm others. The Buddha lists five virtues: not killing, not stealing, not having illicit sex, not lying, not taking intoxicants. Of those five, he gives the most importance to not lying, because a lie can do a lot more damage for a much longer time even than killing. You kill somebody … 
  4. In an Imperfect World
     … So we work on the perfections, starting with generosity, virtue, renunciation, all the way up through goodwill and equanimity. But we have to do it in an imperfect world. Just accept that fact. Then do your best with what you can inside the mind, inside the qualities that you develop, while you’re meditating, while you’re engaged with other people. All your activities … 
  5. Good Judgment
     … But then you find people who really are good, who have the qualities of an admirable friend—conviction, virtue, generosity, discernment—then you try to spend more time with them. As you get skillful at judging things outside, then you start getting more skillful at judging your own mind. The factors of right concentration include evaluation, as when you evaluate how well your mind … 
  6. Still
     … heightened virtue, heightened mind, i.e., concentration, and heightened discernment—and then he adds respect for concentration. Because this is already included in the training, why does he have to add concentration again? It’s because people tend to overlook it, not to value it. After all, we’ve read so much about how you don’t want to get stuck on concentration, that … 
  7. Opportunities in the Present
     … What are you doing right now? What are you saying, what are you thinking? Are you making the most of the opportunity to do something good, in the form of generosity in the form of virtue, all the other good qualities of mind? The potential is always right here. So look right here. Stay right here as consistently as you can. You’ll get … 
  8. Mountains Moving In
     … But if you look at the qualities that the Buddha asks you to develop as you practice the path—virtue, concentration, and discernment, or wisdom, purity, and compassion: These are all qualities you can be proud of. Ajaan Suwat used to make the point that sometimes you hear it said in Thailand that the essence of the Buddha’s teachings is that you shouldn … 
  9. Book search result icon It's Like This It's Like This: 108 Dhamma Similes
     … The same with virtue, concentration, and discernment: Virtue, in simple terms, is abandoning evil. A person without virtue is hot. If he abandons evil, he cools down, for he has no guilt. That lack of guilt is the reward of virtue. It makes the mind peaceful. The mind gets concentrated. When the mind is concentrated, it’s clear and clean. You can see lots … 
  10. You Are Not Powerless
     … Getting your passport is like practicing the precepts, developing virtue. And then learning the language of where you’re going means learning how to meditate. But you don’t practice just to shape a future lifetime. The Buddha also teaches us how we can shape a better lifetime for ourselves right here, right now. For instance, he describes the four things that lead to … 
  11. Make the Causes Complete
     … Some people like to do meditation but are not interested in generosity or virtue. Other people are interested in generosity but not interested in meditation. The happiness that comes from that kind of attitude is very partial. It’s not complete. So when we want the results to be complete, we have to make sure the causes are complete. That way, our happiness is … 
  12. Abandoning Effluents (1)
     … The way the Buddha would prepare you is through a life of generosity, a life of virtue. As for your reflections on your generosity and virtue, you ask yourself: What kind of actions lead to long-term well-being? And how do you relate to long-term well-being? After all, ordinary actions that are relatively skillful can lead to good results. But the … 
  13. Page search result icon Names for Nibbāna
     … Following the road involves fostering, among other things, generosity, virtue, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment. Through these qualities, we develop the wisdom and compassion to see that nirvana really is the wisest and most compassionate goal we can set for ourselves: wise in that, unlike other goals, it’s more than worth the effort and will never disappoint; compassionate in that we not only remove … 
  14. Happiness Comes from Your Actions
     … generosity, virtue, and meditation. What’s interesting with meditation is that he also defined it as a restraint, in other words keeping your mind under control, restraining it from doing anything that would be out of line with the qualities you have to develop for the mind to be really skillful. We start first, as he said, with heedfulness. That’s the basis for … 
  15. True Values
     … Then there’s the wealth of virtue, where you abstain from harming anyone at all. You hold to the precepts. That’s your expression of giving safety to everyone. And when you give safety to everyone in that way—you’re not going to kill, you’re not going to steal, you’re not going to have illicit sex, you’re not going to … 
  16. Life in the Context of the Practice
     … Based on that there’s virtue, and then a sense of shame and a sense of compunction. Virtue is the desire not to harm. It’s making up your mind not to harm. We have to consciously take this on as our value because there are so many arguments and so many voices saying that there are times when you do have to kill … 
  17. Getting Along, Inside & Out
     … This would, of course, involve discernment, virtue, and all the other factors of the path. But behave consistently toward yourself as a meditator. Make sure that your mind stays in the right place as you go through the day. It’s not that you’re a meditator only when you’re sitting here with your eyes closed. You’re a meditator all through the … 
  18. Mindful All the Way
    The Buddha says that among the rewards for generosity and virtue is rebirth in heaven. But then we read that rebirth in a good destination is guaranteed only in the case of a stream-enterer—in other words, someone who’s had a first taste of awakening. That sets the bar a lot higher. So the question is, what about those earlier promises? The … 
  19. Truths of the Will
     … What am I becoming right now?” What kind of person are you becoming? We’re all becoming older, but what kind of older person are you becoming? Are you gaining in wisdom with age? Are you gaining in discernment, gaining in concentration, gaining in virtue? Or is your aging pulling you someplace else? That’s a question you have to ask day after day … 
  20. Still Right Here
     … There’s virtue; there’s concentration; there’s discernment. It’s called the triple training. As he said, this training is a middle way between two extremes: the extreme of self-torture and the extreme of sensual indulgence. For most of us, those are the only alternatives. If we see there’s pain, we run to sensual pleasures. If we can’t find sensual … 
  21. Goodwill for the Breath
     … We practice generosity, we practice virtue, as means for long-term happiness. We come to meditate, and it’s for the same purpose. So you want to do the meditation with an attitude of goodwill: goodwill for the people around you, goodwill for yourself, and goodwill for your breath. That’s the object of meditation you’re going to be working with. If you … 
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