Search results for: virtue

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  2. The Garden of Enlightenment
     … As you develop mindfulness and alertness in the practice of virtue, it helps with the practice of concentration. And again, so on down the line, through discernment to release. It’s something you’ve got to nurture, something you’ve got to train yourself in. It was the Buddha’s great insight to see that by using the processes of causality, cause and effect … 
  3. Restraint
     … It could be in terms of generosity, virtue, or meditation. In terms of generosity, you may ask yourself: What kind of generosity are you still weak in? Probably the most important form of generosity is forgiveness. It’s often the hardest, so you have to look into why. What pride is keeping you from being forgiving? What offended sense of honor is keeping you … 
  4. Worth
     … things like generosity and virtue, persistence, patience, discernment, goodwill, and equanimity. Renunciation, truthfulness, determination. These are all qualities that the heart needs. And they’re things that stick with you, in this life on into the next life. This is where you look for value: your value as a person. Of course, it’s not something anyone else can measure, and it has only … 
  5. Karma & Not-self
     … It’s part of developing generosity, developing virtue, and all the factors of the path. You’re sitting here meditating: Who’s responsible for the meditation? Well, you are. Ajaan Fuang once said that the one thing you have to believe in when you meditate is the teaching on karma, that what you do is what makes a difference. We’re not just sitting … 
  6. Advice for a New Monk
     … The first principle is virtue. In the case of monks, this is holding to the Patimokkha or the monastic code. For laypeople it means sticking to the five precepts. The precepts are promises you make to yourself that you’re not going to harm anybody. You’re not going to kill anything, anybody. You’re not going to steal anything. You’re not going … 
  7. Protection from Remorse
     … The first one is virtue: following the precepts. Like the five precepts we chanted just now: no killing, no stealing, no illicit sex, no lying, no taking of intoxicants. When you avoid these five types of action, you’re providing lots of good protection for yourself. On the one hand, if you don’t go around killing others, they’re not going to come … 
  8. May I Look After Myself with Ease
     … So as you practice virtue, you’re learning how to say No to those things, even though they are in the mind. The things you would like to do or say that would harm yourself or harm other people: You learn how to say No. So at the very least you don’t present an unattractive appearance to the people around you. You keep … 
  9. A Network of Goodness
     … The same with virtue: There are a lot of people out there who are very happy that you’re not breaking the precepts. Otherwise, you’d be oppressing them one way or another. Other people, other beings, and, of course, you, benefit. And with meditation, the fact that you’re getting your mind under some control means that you’re going to be the … 
  10. Limitless Compassion, Limited Resources
     … We’re here because there are a whole range of virtues and good qualities we need to develop in the mind: both in the way we deal with other people and in the way we deal with the mind itself. And a large part of the skill we have to develop in the practice lies in learning how to balance these things out.
  11. Intent
     … The next two skills the Buddha says are necessary in the present moment are, virtue and discernment. Virtue is a matter of restraint. You know there are certain things you could do but they’re going to be harmful, and you can say No, you’re not going to do them. This element of restraint moves from external things into how you approach your … 
  12. Borrowing the Buddha’s Wisdom
     … He also gives instructions on how to do it—the noble eightfold path, which boils down to virtue, concentration, discernment. This is the raft. He gives instructions in virtue in terms of right speech, right action, right livelihood; concentration in terms of right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration; discernment in terms of right view, and right resolve. He spells it all out. Now, there … 
  13. The Limits of Interconnectedness
     … This is what generosity is for; it’s what virtue is for Meditation helps in this way as well. The stronger we are inside, the less we have to lean on others. The more clarity we bring to our own actions, the less we’re likely to harm others. And the greater sense of strength we have inside, the less we’re likely to … 
  14. More than Just Letting Go
     … generosity, virtue, meditation. Generosity here can cover all kinds of things—not just giving material gifts but also giving your time to a particular cause, or taking on a particular issue that you think is important. The Buddha doesn’t lay down any laws about what you can and cannot be generous about. He says to give where you feel inspired. But, he says … 
  15. Getting Out of Karmic Debt
     … has to do for him or herself. However, we’re not totally self-centered. After all, generosity can’t be accused of being selfish, and that is part of the path. Virtue, harmlessness, is also part of the path. The good qualities you develop in your mind send a good influence out and they pay off all your debts. So the Buddha’s attitude … 
  16. Book search result icon Bases for Success Intent
     … The next two skills the Buddha says are necessary in the present moment are, virtue and discernment. Virtue is a matter of restraint. You know there are certain things you could do but they’re going to be harmful, and you can say No, you’re not going to do them. This element of restraint moves from external things into how you approach your … 
  17. Balanced Breathing
     … He said to become consummate through being heedful. “Consummate” here means consummate in your virtue, consummate in your views, bringing all the factors of the path to a state of consummation, completion. You do that by being careful, realizing that you can’t be sloppy. You can’t be careless. After all, some of the things you’re bringing to consummation are tranquility, serenity … 
  18. Page search result icon Clinging & the End of Clinging
     … First he described the joys of giving, then the joys of being virtuous, and then the pleasurable rewards that come from both generosity and virtue in the sensual heavens—rewards that far outweigh the rewards in this life. Once his listeners were attracted to the idea that the best way to attain sensual bliss was through generosity and virtue, he turned the tables on … 
  19. Doubt vs. Discernment
     … You’re going to need virtue, concentration, and discernment, and he divides these things up into factors that are easy to remember. There’s a lot that’s not explained, but at least he heads you in the right direction. When we chant the analysis of the path, notice that the first five factors have very short definitions. The factors having to do with … 
  20. Truths That Are Noble
     … Whatever the factors of virtue, right speech, right action, or right livelihood say that you’ve got to give up, you’re willing to give up. Whatever right resolve says to give up, you give up. Right mindfulness tells you to give up greed and distress with reference to the world. For a lot of us, that’s a huge part of our lives … 
  21. Book search result icon The Karma of Questions Freedom from Fear
     … Better than a hundred years lived without virtue, uncentered, is one day lived by a virtuous person absorbed in jhāna.  — Dhp 110 Third, conviction insists that the need for integrity is unconditional. Even though other people may throw away their most valuable possession—their integrity—it’s no excuse for us to throw away ours. The principle of karma isn’t a traffic ordinance … 
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