Nibbana Nature

It can seem like our unskillful behavior is conditioned, but our skillful, dhamma activities—that’s pure, that the real thing, that’s laudable.

But what if that too is just conditioned? It’s not really” us” doing any of it.
There’s no "I" in either skillful or unskillful choices.

This brings another dimension of letting go; another plane of practice: practiceless practice. The whole train just rolls on at whatever pace.

You stop claiming. You start declaiming, and in the process, you gradually regain your innocence and capacity for life.


#dhamma

1 month ago | [YT] | 2

Nibbana Nature

Every difficulty is an aid to practice. So what’s the problem?




#Dhamma #Buddhism #Meditation #Mindfulness

11 months ago | [YT] | 0

Nibbana Nature

To the one who is sincere
the Buddha appears
- a poem

#buddha #buddhism #meditation #mindfulness

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

Nibbana Nature

Hamsters on a Wheel

Think and really look closely! The Buddha said that things of the world spin the world around. Following the world, the mind is entangled in the world, it defiles itself whether coming or going, never remaining content. Worldly people are those who are always looking for something - who can never find enough. Worldly knowledge is really ignorance; it isn't knowledge with clear understanding, therefore there is never an end to it. It revolves around the worldly goals of accumulating things, gaining status, seeking praise and pleasure; it's a mass of delusion which has us stuck fast.

— Ajahn chah

The Buddha points out that we’re mired in dukkha–continuously experiencing a state of never being 100% satisfied. The happiness of the world is really dukkha; it cannot satisfy us. It’s temporary; as soon as its spent you have to go looking for more. If you really examine your mind and all the things that bring you happiness, you’ll start to see this. When a party ends, you have to plan for the next one. Wanting good food makes you want more good food, and so on.
We’re like hamsters on a wheel. And we don’t like to hear things like this :).

But it's actually good news! Real happiness, real contentment, is much simpler, and doesn’t rely on anything external. It’s naturally present in a mind that is settled, that isn’t looking for anything.

You can taste this pristine happiness fairly easily. If you get a glimpse, you'll see how stupid the way of the hamster is. Then you can gradually develop your mind, to recognize this simple happiness more and more.

Then, little by little, you brighten your life. Every month becomes lighter. Your habits and anxieties shift. You become less entangled. The people around you get the gift of your sanity.

This is your privilege and obligation.


But, you have to lift yourself up out of your cyclical habits—sometimes pleased, sometimes in shambles—sometimes mindful, sometimes completely entangled—this is not going to get you anywhere. You’re not even on the path yet, just caught in another cycle. So, if you want real happiness, you have to really put forth effort in the beginning, really commit your energy towards your own wellbeing.

If you really want it, you will 100% without any doubt get it. Because you already have it. If you're really intent on peace, and armed with Dhamma, it's just a matter of time. If, however, you're content with the cycle of the hamster wheel, it will go on forever.

#ajahnchah #dhamma #dharma #buddhism #buddha #meditation #mindfulness

1 year ago | [YT] | 2

Nibbana Nature

For anyone having a rough time: It’s only because we’re hoping for safety from the world that we’re suffering.
But when we look for safety in qualities that the Buddha taught, we can find them here and now.
Qualities like mindfulness, independence, letting go…these are possible, in your heart, here and now.

#buddhism #mindfulness #dhamma #dharma #buddha

1 year ago | [YT] | 5

Nibbana Nature

Bhante Dhammajiva - (With regards to meditation) “Whether it's good or bad, do it regularly, then you will develop maturity. Otherwise you will be results oriented, and definitely desperate. But whenever it is distracted, still if you are doing there's a kind of a stamina, a kind of a strength…if you do in a regular way the personality develops...This is what happens, even most senior meditators, sometimes everything is bankrupt, but they never give up. That is why they become monks’ that is why they declare ‘we have nothing to do, this is the only thing’. So make up your mind, give a chance to the good meditation as well as the bad meditation equally, and that is not in books. You have to assimilate your own path, that we call Samma; that's a wider path. So please get encouraged and continue in a regular way.”

1 year ago | [YT] | 3

Nibbana Nature

"I had guards posted within and without the royal apartments, within and without the city, within and without the countryside. But even though I was thus guarded, thus protected, I dwelled in fear — agitated, distrustful, & afraid. But now, on going alone to the wilderness, to the root of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, I dwell without fear, unagitated, confident, & unafraid — unconcerned, unruffled, my wants satisfied, with my mind like a wild deer.'" - Venerable Bhaddiya
From Ud 2.10 Kāḷigodha Sutta - www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.2.10.tha…

1 year ago | [YT] | 1

Nibbana Nature

Everywhere, truly–
a man of Integrity, stands

apart1

The heedful one
aligns–
not with the world of peers
but rather, with the
One
without peer

Step by step, he
gains
richness in virtue2

When he looks inwards
he finds a lake
deep, clear & still3

His heart becomes
bright, clean & happy4
radiant, steady & fearless5

Surely now he swims
The current of his life
taking him to where

the sun and the moon
do not shine6,
to where there is neither
coming, nor going, nor staying6
to that which is
unestablished6, unconcocted
not propped up

Now, undefined,
no longer classified7,
he
is
forever
free

Note: this poem uses lines from the Pali Canon and Ajaan Lee:
1: Dhammapada verse 83 (Thanissaro)
2: Dhammapada verse 84 (Thanissaro)
3: Dhammapada verse 82 (Buddharakkhita)
4: Ajaan Lee
5: Ajaan Lee
6: Ud 8.1 Nibbāna Sutta: Unbinding (1)
7: Iti 63

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 4

Nibbana Nature

"The mind that isn’t still is the mind that doesn’t stay with the body. When this happens, you’ll meet with nothing but suffering and defilement. It’s like a house in which no one is living: It’s bound to get dusty and messy...If the mind doesn’t have concentration, isn’t developing skillful qualities, it’s like a filthy house...
When the mind is outside of the body, it’s the world. When it’s inside the body, it’s Dhamma. If it’s the world, it has to be as hot as fire. If it’s Dhamma, it’s as cooling as water." - Phra Ajaan Lee, from The Heightened Mind

1 year ago | [YT] | 3

Nibbana Nature

You can change the direction you are heading in. Here is one of my favorite lines from the Pali canon, said by Angulimala--a bandit and murderer who gained full awakening.

Who once was heedless,
but later is not,
brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

His evil-done deed
is replaced with skillfulness:
he brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

Whatever young monk
devotes himself
to the Buddha's bidding:
he brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

May even my enemies
hear talk of the Dhamma.
May even my enemies
devote themselves
to the Buddha's bidding.
May even my enemies
associate with those people
who — peaceful, good —
get others to accept the Dhamma.
May even my enemies
hear the Dhamma time & again
from those who advise endurance,
forbearance,
who praise non-opposition,
and may they follow it.

For surely he wouldn't harm me,
or anyone else;
he would attain the foremost peace,
would protect the feeble & firm.

Irrigators guide the water.
Fletchers shape the arrow shaft.
Carpenters shape the wood.
The wise control
themselves.


Read the full sutta here: www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.086.than.ht…
#buddhism #meditation

1 year ago | [YT] | 1