Search results for: virtue
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- Interdependence… The effort here is the effort we put into our meditation, the effort we put into virtue, concentration, and discernment. We use the things we’ve got and we try to use them skillfully, which means that as we’re practicing, we’re still interdependent. We’re still in an unstable position—but, at least, it’s better than not practicing. I know a …
Sutta Nipāta
Sn 2:9 With What Virtue?
2:9 With What Virtue? This sutta mentions the metaphorical notion of “heartwood” (sāra) three times. Although sāra as a metaphor is often translated as “essence,” this misses some of the metaphor’s implications. When x is said to have y as its heartwood, that means that the proper development of x yields y, and that y is the most valuable part of x …Show 7 additional results in this book
The Graduated Discourse
… You’re not afraid that somebody will accuse you of a breach of virtue, because you don’t have any breaches of virtue. Then, when the Buddha saw that people were amenable to hearing about what was good about generosity, what was good about virtue, he would talk about the pleasures of heaven. And here, it’s interesting: In the Canon there are a …- Technique & Attitude… the virtues they develop, the good qualities they develop. Then you realize that you’ve got those good qualities too. It’s the same with the recollection of generosity and the recollection of virtue. You think about your own generosity, your own virtue, the times when you’ve given up things that you would really like but you realized that it would be better …
- The Graduated Discourse… what was called his “graduated discourse” or “step-by-step discourse.” There are stories about people coming to see the Buddha, and he would start with a talk on generosity, a talk on virtue, then a talk on the rewards of generosity and virtue in heaven, and then the drawbacks and, as he said, even the degradation involved in sensuality—in a sense, what …
- May You Forever Be Well… So it’s important that you be able to express your goodwill not only with thoughts of goodwill or with blessings, but also through virtue. You resolve that you don’t want to harm anybody, and you follow the Buddha’s guidelines on the kinds of action you want to avoid regardless of what the situation is. But virtue’s not just a matter …
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Keeping the Breath in Mind & Lessons in Samādhi
Introduction
… But once the mind is firmly in place, it can be very useful in developing virtue and discernment. Virtue is like placing pilings on the near shore of the river; discernment, like placing them on the far shore. But if the middle pilings—a centered mind—aren’t firmly in place, how will you ever be able to bridge the flood of suffering? There …Show one additional result in this book
- Treasured Possessions… You have your virtue. You don’t have to give into someone else’s request or encouragement that you break the precepts. These are things that you keep that nobody else can take. But if you don’t keep them, then they’re not going to stay. So keep this in mind, that you’ve got to preserve your virtue and your right view …
- The Mind You Bring… As for our virtue, the Buddha says you want your virtue to be equal, but not just equal on any level: equal on the level that the noble ones would approve of. In other words, they see that you hold by the precepts all the time, without exception, and you handle the precepts in a way that’s conducive to concentration. In other words …
- Living Together… The fifth and sixth principles have to do with your views and with your virtues. We all try to live up to right view, and we ought to bring our virtues up to the level that they say is pleasing to the noble ones. In other words, our virtues are strict, clear-cut, universal. Under no circumstances would we kill, have illicit sex, steal …
- Virtue Fosters Concentration… These two topics come under a larger frame, called the four virtues of purity. These virtues include your precepts, restraint of the senses, the purity of your livelihood, and reflecting on the requisites. All of these are habits that you develop as you go through the day. If you follow these kinds of virtue, you bring good habits into the mind as you sit …
- Faith in Awakening… The same with virtue: Virtue includes a sense of shame and a sense of compunction. They go together. With virtue, you refrain from doing harm. Your motivation is that, one, you would be ashamed to do harm; you realize it’s beneath you. And two, your sense of compunction is that you really do care about the results of your actions. This, too, is …
- Lessons from Generosity & Virtue… They’re recollection of virtue and recollection of generosity. At the very least they remind you that you have done good, that there are good members to your mind. You’re not totally hopeless. You’re not totally incapable of doing good in the world. They also remind you also that you’re capable of overcoming some of the mind’s more blatant forms …
- The Brahmaviharas on the Path… In other passages, he talks about developing virtue and then, once you’ve got your virtue, you develop mindfulness and contentment; and from mindfulness and contentment, you work on the hindrances, develop concentration, and finally develop discernment—which makes it sound like you have to perfect one step before you can get to the next. But you have to remember that the point in …
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Awareness Itself
Glossary
… An inhabitant of the higher heavens of form and formlessness, a position earned -- but not forever -- through the cultivation of virtue and meditative absorption (jhana), along with the attitudes of limitless love, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity. Buddho : Awake -- an epithet of the Buddha. Chedi : A spired monument, containing relics of the Buddha or his disciples, objects related to them, or copies of Buddhist scriptures …Show one additional result in this book
- Helping OthersThe Canon often presents a linear picture of the practice, where you work on your virtue and then you work on your concentration and then on your discernment. We like to think it’s nice and stepwise that way. But, in practice, we discover that you have to work on all three at once. Virtue without concentration gets very dry after a while and …
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Along the Way
Happiness as a Skill
… Similarly with virtue: A person practicing the most skillful level of virtue is said to have “virtues pleasing to the noble ones: untorn, unbroken, unspotted, unsplattered, liberating, praised by the observant, ungrasped at, leading to concentration.” These are the virtues of a person who has achieved stream-entry, the first of the four levels of awakening, the first glimpse of the deathless. From this …Show 7 additional results in this book
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Happiness as a Skill : The Practice of Puñña
… Similarly with virtue: A person practicing the most skillful level of virtue is said to have “virtues pleasing to the noble ones: untorn, unbroken, unspotted, unsplattered, liberating, praised by the observant, ungrasped at, leading to concentration.” These are the virtues of a person who has achieved stream-entry, the first of the four levels of awakening, the first glimpse of the deathless. From this …
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Food for Thought
Taking the Long View
… People disenchanted with rebirth make an extra effort to build up their virtues so that they won’t have to come back and be reborn. If you want to cut down the number of times you’ll take rebirth, you should steadily increase your inner quality and worth. In other words, make your heart clean and bright with generosity, moral virtue, and meditation. Keep …Show 6 additional results in this book
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