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by dhammapal
Tue Apr 09, 2024 12:06 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

So it’s always a question of what you’re doing, not a question of who you are. There’s that one sutta [ SN 12:15 ], where the Buddha says, when you really focus on things as they are arising and passing away, you get to the point where the seeing how things pass away, the notion of their existence ...
by dhammapal
Mon Apr 08, 2024 12:52 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

Awakening doesn’t just happen. You have to have the desire for it. We hear stories of spontaneous awakening, but the question is, is it really awakening? Psychologists talk about what are called “neurotic breakthroughs,” where people have been struggling through a really dark period in their lives ...
by dhammapal
Sun Apr 07, 2024 1:05 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

We come here because we make mistakes. We’re attached to wrong ways of doing things. When they talk about attachment, it’s not so much that you’re attached to things. You’re usually attached to what you can *do* with the things. You’re attached to actions. After all, the mind doesn’t have a hand th...
by dhammapal
Sat Apr 06, 2024 1:14 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

If there’s suffering, the cause is not outside. Just turn around and look in your mind. This is not for the purpose of laying the blame on you. It’s for the purpose of offering you a path out of the suffering. What people do outside often is totally outrageous. Sometimes people don’t even behave li...
by dhammapal
Fri Apr 05, 2024 12:05 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

When I was teaching a retreat in Canada last year, one of the retreatants mentioned that she had been told that we can’t change our perceptions, which is probably one of the most un-Buddhist teachings imaginable. It’s because we *can* change our perceptions — learning how to identify the world in a...
by dhammapal
Thu Apr 04, 2024 6:06 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

Question 22: But can’t kamma be used to justify social injustices? Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Only by people who don’t really understand or believe in kamma. If someone has the kamma that tends to poverty or a painful death, there are plenty of natural causes or accidents that will provide an opportunity ...
by dhammapal
Tue Apr 02, 2024 11:19 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

So as you’re trying to keep the Buddha in mind, your question should always be that old question, “What would the Buddha do? What would the Buddha say?” Well, one of the things he would say is to ask you a question: “What’s the most skillful thing to do right now?” Make that your determination, tha...
by dhammapal
Tue Apr 02, 2024 2:37 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

The Buddha talks about having goodwill [mettā] as solid and large as the earth, or as large and as cool as the River Ganges. In other words, you have to think of your goodwill as being too big to fail — i.e., too big to be affected by irritation — and that goodwill and kindness are not weaknesses. ...
by dhammapal
Sun Mar 31, 2024 10:33 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

There have been many cases where people talk about how their attitude of goodwill [mettā], when going into a difficult situation with lots of danger, has protected them, changed the energy of the situation. Again, it’s not trying to be tender or gentle toward other beings, it’s simply wishing them ...
by dhammapal
Sat Mar 30, 2024 11:59 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

There is a true happiness that can be obtained through human effort. It’s not in a lot of the activities that most people assume will lead to happiness, and that’s something you do have to accept. But, [the Buddha] says, your desire for true happiness is something you should honor. That’s what he h...
by dhammapal
Sat Mar 30, 2024 9:26 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

We’re always worried about our relationships to people outside, but our relationship to ourself is very unskillful and that’s a lot more basic, and a much bigger problem. How do you relate to your own thoughts? How do you relate to your perceptions? Learn how to relate in more skillful ways. From: ...
by dhammapal
Fri Mar 29, 2024 5:45 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

Question: The fact that I, the self, am sending thoughts of goodwill [mettā] to others: Does this not risk developing an even bigger ego? Thanissaro Bhikkhu: There is such a thing as a healthy and an unhealthy ego. An unhealthy ego doesn’t care about the happiness of others. A healthy ego does care...
by dhammapal
Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:01 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

So remember, your actions are important, and you can make skillful choices now. Now, as you live in this human life, we can’t guarantee that once you’ve started on the path everything will be a path of roses. We all have our past kamma, the things that come at us in life from our past actions. But ...
by dhammapal
Wed Mar 27, 2024 8:52 am
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
When things don't go well [in the meditation], just drop whatever it is that's not going well. Move back to a level where you're pretty sure you can do things properly.

From: Good Humor by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
by dhammapal
Mon Mar 25, 2024 3:49 pm
Forum: General Theravāda discussion
Topic: The Quotable Thanissaro
Replies: 2284
Views: 427979

Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

The question came up: Isn’t the purpose of all this practice to find the ultimate truth about things? And the answer is No. We’re trying to find a particular truth that’s useful for a higher purpose, the purpose of true happiness. It’s truth with a purpose. After all, there are many truths of the w...