Acceptance
October 31, 2008
As with so many other issues, the Buddha took a middle road when it came to the issue of other-power and self-power on the path. On the one hand, there’s the famous passage where Ven. Ananda comes to see the Buddha and exclaims that having admirable friends is half of the practice, half of the holy life …
… The Buddha taught it rightly in every way, in every facet, for remedying defilement of every sort. Nothing excels this Dhamma—in particular, the Dhamma of the middle way, which is summarized as virtue, concentration, and discernment. This is the Dhamma of causes, the methods with which we should train ourselves and which the Buddha taught us in full. As for the Dhamma of …
… But you look at the world of the path and you realize,
as they say, “It’s admirable in the beginning, admirable in the
middle, admirable in the end.” Good all the way through.
… Actually, there’s no reason that meditation should get in the way of our work, because it’s strictly an activity of the heart. There’s no need to dismantle our homes or abandon our belongings before practicing it; and if we did throw away our belongings in this way, it would probably end up causing harm.
Even though it’s true that we …
… the buying, selling, and trading of various objects for the convenience of those who desire them, as a way of exchanging ease, convenience, and comfort with one another – on high and low levels, involving high and low-quality goods, between people of high, low, and middling intelligence. This should be conducted in honesty and fairness so that all receive their share of convenience and …
… Which was how he then came back to the middle path, avoiding the
extremes of sensual indulgence and self-torture: in other words, using
this state of mind—calm, clear, easeful, that we’re trying to work on
right here right now—as a way of observing the mind to see what it
does to create suffering. He realized that the cause of suffering …
… Aging, illness, and death are its shadows or effects that show by way of the body. When we want to kill our enemy and so take a knife to stab his shadow, how is he going to die? In the same way, ignorant people try to destroy the shadows of stress and don’t get anywhere. As for the essence of stress in the …
… It may be built into the
way you’re acting, but it can be removed from the way you act. And
tackling that kind of suffering is an area where you can make a
difference.
That’s where the Buddha focused. He didn’t take on all the suffering
in the world—which is another misconception you hear around: that the
Buddha said he …
… And the best way to keep those
duties in mind is to simply be with the body in and of itself, how it
feels to be with the body right here right now.
For example, the breath: If you’re concerned about the duties of the
world, the breath has only one function for you, which is to keep you
alive. So when you …
… He is called awakened.”6
Then Sabhiya the wanderer—delighting in and approving of the Blessed One’s words—gratified, joyful, exultant, enraptured & happy, asked the Blessed One a further question:
“Having attained what
is one said to be a brahman?
In what way is one a contemplative,
and how is one ‘washed’?
How is one called a nāga?
Answer, Blessed One, when I …
… We go that
way.” And for a third time, the Blessed One said, “This,
Nāgasamāla, is the route. We go this way.”
Then Ven. Nāgasamāla, placing the Blessed One’s bowl & robes
right there on the ground, left, saying, “This, Lord Blessed One,
is the bowl & robes.”
Then as Ven. Nāgasamāla was going along that route,
thieves—jumping out in the middle of the …
… Stay with
them all the way through the in-breath, all the way through the out-.
This is where mindfulness gets developed because you have to keep
remembering you’re going to stay right here with the sensation of the
breathing. You’re not going to allow yourself to slip off. If you do
slip off, then as soon as you notice it, come …
… Either his buffalo will get bogged down or else he’ll trip over the bag and fall flat on his face right there in the middle of the field. The field will never get plowed, the rice will never get sown, the crop will never get gathered. He’ll have to go hungry.
This is the way our practice of the Dhamma tends to …
… If we don’t see them clearly, don’t take them to heart, and don’t try to find a way out, there’s no way we can put an end to what causes our fears. Just like the deer: if it’s complacent about the hunter’s headlights, it’s going to end up strapped to the fender for sure.
So to genuinely …
… This message was aimed directly at the monks—on the grounds that they had no family to attend to them, so they should care for one another—but it’s phrased in such a way that the message applies indirectly to lay people as well: When you belong to a family, you’re duty-bound to look after the aged, ill, or dying members …
… There’s the way
the energy flows in your body when you’re angry, as opposed to the way
it flows when you’re feeling lust, or how it flows when you’re feeling
fear. There are the thoughts that contribute to that particular
emotion. The way you evaluate the situation around you: That’s
contributing to your emotion. And the feelings and perceptions …
… The first thing that you have to understand about pain is that some of it comes from your actions in the past—such as the way you’ve been using your body, the way you’ve been feeding it, the extent to which you have or haven’t been exercising it—but some of the causes for the pain are things you’re doing …
… And you, monks, are very helpful to brahmans & householders, as you teach them the Dhamma admirable in the beginning, admirable in the middle, & admirable in the end, as you expound the holy life both in letter & meaning, entirely complete, surpassingly pure. In this way the holy life is lived in mutual dependence, for the purpose of crossing over the flood, for making a right …
… Learn to open your mind to other ways of conceiving and
perceiving the breath. Ajaan Lee talks about the breath coming in and
out of the back of the skull, in and out the middle of the chest, lots
of different spots in the body. Allow yourself to conceive the breath
in that way and see what happens to your experience of breathing as …
… Sometimes it lands on its base, sometimes on its tip, sometimes smack on its middle. We’re slippery characters, changing roles all the time [§41].
20. As a summary, what would be a good way to teach children some healthy lessons about kamma?
You might try the lessons the Buddha gave to his own son, Rāhula [§42].
First he taught Rāhula how important it …
Principles in the Practice, Principles in the Heart | Things as They Are : A Collection of Talks on the Training of the Mind
… The Buddha taught it rightly in every way, in every facet, for remedying defilement of every sort. Nothing excels this Dhamma—in particular, the Dhamma of the middle way, which is summarized as virtue, concentration, and discernment. This is the Dhamma of causes, the methods with which we should train ourselves and which the Buddha taught us in full. As for the Dhamma of …
Sn 3:6 Sabhiya
… He is called awakened.”6 Then Sabhiya the wanderer—delighting in and approving of the Blessed One’s words—gratified, joyful, exultant, enraptured & happy, asked the Blessed One a further question: “Having attained what is one said to be a brahman? In what way is one a contemplative, and how is one ‘washed’? How is one called a nāga? Answer, Blessed One, when I …
