Search results for: virtue
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- Control from Within… As we practice, we tend to overlook these teachings on generosity and virtue. After all, generosity is a pretty generic virtue. Every society talks about it. A lot of the precepts are things that we’ve learned from our own society, and we see them in many, many other societies, too. That’s part of the Buddha’s point, but he takes it a …
- True Happiness Starts with Giving… There were people who actually said that there was no virtue to giving at all. The argument was that everything you do is predetermined by either the stars, or some creator, or your past karma, so that when you actually give something, you didn’t have any choice in the matter, which means there’s no virtue in it. Another argument was that people …
- The Psychology of Virtue… In the Dhamma textbook for the first level of the exams that these books were designed for, they defined virtue as “restraint of body and speech.” Someone brought this to Ajaan Mun’s attention, and he said, “That’s wrong. It doesn’t mention the mind at all. The mind is the important part of the virtue.” When you look at the training rules …
The Sublime Attitudes
3. Mettā in Words & Deeds
… He emulates consummate conviction in those who are consummate in conviction, consummate virtue in those who are consummate in virtue, consummate generosity in those who are consummate in generosity, and consummate discernment in those who are consummate in discernment. This is called admirable friendship.” — AN 8:54 §3.4 As he was sitting there, Prince Abhaya said to the Blessed One, “Lord, would the …Show 4 additional results in this book- Losses… That’s loss of your right view and loss of your virtue, because that kind of loss can take you to hell. You don’t have to wait to hell at the end of your lifetime. If you live in a world where you have wrong view, and you don’t think your actions make much of a difference, or your intentions—the quality …
- Long-term Happiness… generosity, virtue, and meditation. You ask them, “With generosity, where should I give a gift?” The first thing they’ll tell you is give where you feel inspired, where you feel the gift would be well used, because the act of generosity is our first experience of freedom of will. There are so many times, as little children, we just go with our emotions …
- Switzerland Inside… That’s what the qualities of virtue, shame, and compunction are for. Virtue is basically refraining from doing anything that would be harmful, and that’s reinforced by a sense of shame. Not the unhealthy sense of shame that’s the opposite of pride: The Buddha recommends the healthy sense of shame that’s the opposite of shamelessness. In other words, you have a …
- The Graduated Discourse… From generosity or giving, he would move onto virtue, which is also a kind of gift. You give safety to yourself, safety to others, through restraint. Virtue for the Buddha is mainly an issue of restraint. You refrain from killing, stealing, illicit sex, lying, and taking intoxicants. That way, you protect yourself and you protect others. You give the gift of safety to them …
- Make the Most of This Breath… It’s because of this that the Buddha said that virtue and discernment wash each other—and by virtue here he meant not only virtue but also concentration as well. Virtue and concentration, on the one hand, and discernment on the other, he said, are like two hands. When you’re washing your hands, your left hand washes your right hand, your right hand …
- Dhamma Opportunism… And even though these may be virtues you don’t want to develop, they’re still virtues, and there’s a good lesson in learning how not to give in to your wants. So look around. Look for the opportunities. After all, if people can be opportunistic about wanting to do evil, why can’t we be opportunistic about wanting to do good, to …
- Worry… There’s a passage in the Ajaan Mun biography where someone comes and asks Ajaan Mun about the relationship between virtue and the mind. And Ajaan Mun says that you can’t separate the two. If you could separate the two, there’d be cases where people’s virtue could be stolen. But the truth is, if you have the virtue, nobody can steal …
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Merit
Introduction
… giving, virtue, and meditation. The next three sections focus on the ways in which each of these activities can be pursued so as to produce the most happiness. For instance, the section on giving discusses how the happiness of generosity can be maximized by wisely choosing the proper motivation for giving a gift, a proper gift, and a proper recipient for one’s gift …Show 6 additional results in this book
- A Graduated Discourse… If the Buddha saw that the person listening to the talk was receptive and had some experience with generosity, he’d go on to virtue: abstaining from killing, stealing, illicit sex, lying, and taking intoxicants. Virtue, too, is gift, a gift of safety. He’d talk about the benefits of virtue both, again, social and individual: social in the sense that you’re creating …
- Lift Your Mind… Even when we do the external practices of generosity and virtue, the emphasis is on the mind, what qualities of mind you’re developing. When you give a gift, you’re developing a sense of inner worth and inner wealth—that you have more than enough to share. Even in difficult times, the Buddha says it’s always wise to give a gift. Maintain …
- Virtue & Right View… As he said, if you lose virtue and right view, then it’s a serious loss. Loss of your relatives, loss of your wealth, loss of your health—even though those they may be serious, they’re not nearly as serious as losing your precepts and losing your views, right views. So maintain those as your precious possessions as you go through the day …
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An Unentangled Knowing
Part II : Breath Meditation Condensed
… The same holds true with virtue, concentration, and discernment. They’re our tools—and we need a full set. We need the discernment that comes with Right View and the virtue that comes with self-discipline. Virtue is very important. Virtue and discernment are like our right and left hands. If one of our hands is dirty, it can’t wash itself. You need …Show 2 additional results in this book
- Happy in the Doing… generosity, virtue, meditation. Notice he says that the act itself is a kind of happiness. It’s not the case that you have to work hard and sweat and then hope for a reward later on. In the act itself, you know that you’re doing something good that’s leading to happiness for you and for others, something that’s harming nobody at …
- Pleasing to the Noble Ones… training in heightened virtue, heightened mind—or heightened concentration—and heightened discernment. They’re listed in that order to give you a sense of the order in which they’re mastered. When you reach stream-entry, you’ve mastered virtue. You have some mastery of concentration and some mastery of discernment. It’s not as if you start doing concentration only after stream-entry …
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A Meditator’s Tools
The First Six Recollections
… And how is the defiled mind cleansed through the proper technique? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones recollects his own virtues.… As he is recollecting virtue, his mind is cleansed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned. He is thus called a disciple of the noble ones undertaking the virtue-uposatha. He lives with virtue. It …Show 3 additional results in this book
- Freedom from Fear… your virtue and your right views. If you look at your behavior and keep to the precepts, that’s the quality that develops all kinds of good qualities in the mind. Ajaan Mun was once asked if you could divide a person’s mind from his or her precepts. He said, “No, it’s a quality of the mind in and of itself.” Then …
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