Search results for: virtue

  1. Page 43
  2. A Post-goodness World?
     … generosity, virtue, and the development of goodwill. As the Buddha said, the term “act of merit” is another word for happiness. It’s a type of happiness that’s blameless. It doesn’t harm anybody at all. When the Buddha taught giving, he didn’t teach that it had to be only to monks and nuns. As he said one time, even if you … 
  3. A Clear, Calm Lake
     … But losing your right view, losing your virtue: Those things are not inevitable. You would have to choose to lose them. But when you’re confident that you wouldn’t, then you’re really safe. That confidence can give you a good foundation so that, at the very least, that much of your mind can be like a clear, calm lake that doesn’t … 
  4. Unattractive
     … He wants you to use the body in the right way—to help you with your concentration, to help you with the practice of generosity and virtue. He’s taking your happiness seriously. He’s more concerned for your true happiness than you are. So learn from him. It’ll be for your own good.
  5. In Accordance with the Dhamma
     … practicing generosity, practicing virtue, developing concentration, developing your discernment. He gives very clear instructions on how to do these things. So you want to clear away all the encumbrances that get in the way of really focusing where the problem is: your own clinging, your own feeding, things you hold very dear. If you can’t let the things you hold very dear be … 
  6. A Post for the Heart
     … This is what we try to develop as we develop the mind in concentration and also with the practice of virtue and generosity—a good solid post in the mind. If the mind isn’t firmly planted like this, it’s like a post that’s just lying there on the beach. The water rises, and the post gets washed up with the water … 
  7. Responsible Conviction
     … In the same way, as we practice virtue, we practice concentration, even the psychic powers that come with concentration: Those count as footprints and scratch marks. They’re promising, but they don’t prove things yet. But when we gain our first glimpse of awakening, that’s when we know for sure that the Buddha really did know what he was talking about. That … 
  8. A Load Off the Mind
     … So even though we have the path laid out to some extent—we know that virtue, concentration, and discernment are important and we know the breath is a good place to stay—still, there’s a lot that we’ve got to learn about how we breathe and how we approach the meditation. Sometimes you find that as soon as you sit down to … 
  9. Fence Me In
    One of the Thai ajahans has spoken of virtue as a fence for your actions and concentration practice as a fence for the mind, something that keeps you within bounds. And of course, here in America, we don’t like fences. The old song, “Don’t Fence Me In,” seems to typify most of our attitudes. But the purpose of having that fence is … 
  10. Put the Other Person’s Heart in Yours
     … No. No, the Buddha never said life is sacred.” That idea came from wanting to understand the precepts without ever having to think about kamma. Kamma underlies everything the Buddha taught. Virtue, concentration, discernment: These things are all kamma. The path is a kind of kamma. And you have to understand it that way. As for the rationale behind the precepts, as the Buddha … 
  11. Sensitivity Through Generosity
     … And that quality of sensitivity is best developed through generosity, through virtue – all the standard parts of the path. Then read up on Dhamma and Vinaya. The Vinaya’s not there just for the monks. As Ajaan Suwat once said, it’s there for everybody. When lay people come and deal with the monks, they’ve got to learn about the monks’ Vinaya to … 
  12. Unlimited Mind, Limited Resources
     … The recollection of your generosity and your virtue serves two functions. One, when you’re meditating and you’re beginning to feel like you’ve got no ability at all, try to recollect the times when you were generous or you abstained from doing something harmful even though you could have gotten away with it. That gives you a sense of your worth. That … 
  13. Rhythms of the Mind
     … Patience is a virtue that we’re pretty weak in. And again, the fact that you’re willing to do this again and again opens the opportunity to see subtleties you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. As the territory becomes more familiar, you pick up things that you didn’t pick up the first time. So let the mind grow following its own rhythms … 
  14. In the Driver’s Seat
     … He said the actions of the past give the same kind of result, which is something very, very different, because if you have a change of heart—which includes developing unlimited thoughts of goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity; training the mind so it’s not easily overcome by pleasure, not easily overcome by pain; training it in virtue and discernment—then the results … 
  15. The Three Perceptions as Tools
     … That’s an area where, for the time being, you don’t apply the perception of not-self to your virtue, concentration, or discernment. Particularly with concentration: Some people see their concentration come and go, and they decide that that’s insight—concentration is inconstant, stressful, not-self, out of your control. But that’s a misapplication of the perception. After all, we’re … 
  16. The Buddha’s Program
     … So what are the Buddha’s feeding instructions? He has you feed on generosity; feed on virtue; feed on meditation; thoughts of goodwill; and then the meditation of getting the mind to settle down with the breath, to gain discernment. All these instructions are the assumptions that you use to feed well—and feed in a way that takes you to a point where … 
  17. To Be an Adult
     … We have to use our opportunity to meditate, to practice the Dhamma in all ways—in terms of generosity, virtue, concentration, and discernment—as protection, both from dangers within ourselves and from dangers outside. As the Buddha says, the real dangers outside are not so much what people can do to us, they’re what other people can get us to do. They can … 
  18. Keep Your Spirits Up
     … It could be the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha; your own virtue, your own generosity; the fact that you have the qualities that would make a person a deva. Those are things you could think about, too. Think about that inspiring theme until the mind settles down, happy to be with that theme, and then see if you can transfer that sense of calm … 
  19. At Normalcy
     … The word for virtue or precept, sila, is often also translated as “normalcy” in Thai. You’re at normalcy when you’re not killing, not stealing, not engaging in illicit sex, not lying, not taking intoxicants. It’s a healthy normalcy. This is how the practice of the precepts connects to the meditation: You keep your mind in a balanced state so that it … 
  20. Bowing & Chanting
     … The Dhamma teaches virtue, concentration, discernment, release. The Sangha represents your willingness to practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma—in other words, not just in accordance with your preferences, but in accordance with what the Dhamma really demands. It’s aimed at disenchantment, dispassion, and the freedom that comes from dispassion. These are all qualities that are good to develop within yourself … 
  21. Respect for Concentration
     … It’s like being skeptical about virtue; skeptical about the path; the possibility of a true happiness. You even get some “Dhamma” teachers who say, “Well, you know, the Buddha wasn’t all that awakened after all. He still had his shadow side. He still had his doubts and emotional issues.” What does that leave? It leaves us nothing. Everything else in the world … 
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