The Quotable Thanissaro

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
dhammapal
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

Post by dhammapal »

Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
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 well. People can sense that: whether you wish them well or not. So, even in difficult situations you want to have goodwill for everyone.

That’s something you have to practice beforehand, because it doesn’t come naturally on the spot. So when you extend thoughts of goodwill, ask yourself, “Is there anybody out there who I find it hard to have goodwill for?” If there is, then ask yourself, “Why? What purpose is served by seeing them suffer? Or wishing them ill? How does this help you?”

And remember, we’re setting the intention that we ourselves can understand the causes for true happiness and be willing and able to act on them. Then we wish the same for others. So in cases where people are really misbehaving, that’s the wish you have: “May they learn how to stop this unskillful behavior, for their own good.” And when you come into that situation with the “for their own good” in your mind, it changes the equation. Even if it doesn’t change their behavior, it changes yours, it changes your attitude. And if you really are in physical danger in a situation like that, and you have to leave the body, you leave with a healthy mind. A protected mind.

From: Protective Meditations by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
You wander out into the world and all you see are the injustices of the world. Even when people try to be nice to one another, it’s just built into the world that there’s a lot of feeding going on — emotional feeding, physical feeding. The simple fact that we’re able to survive depends on our feeding, and somebody’s going to get harmed, one way or another, when acting as food. If you look for a place out there for the mind to settle down and feel at ease, you’re never going to find it. If you look inside at the very beginning, you look at your mind, and your mind is a mess; you try to focus on the breath, and the breath and the body seem to be a mess. You don’t know where to go. This is where you have to take it on the Buddha’s word, and the word of all the people who have practiced his teachings and gotten results, that it’s true: If you focus inside, eventually things will settle down.

Sometimes there’s a resistance, but that simply means you have to be very patient, very gentle, and very observant. If you push yourself too hard, it’s like pushing yourself on someone else. You want to be friends, but they’re not so sure yet, and the more you push, the more they step back. So you have to be more gentle, more indirect, with the idea in the back of your mind that eventually you will settle down here, just that it may take time.

The reason we want to settle down here is because we want to observe the mind. The Buddha said that before he got started on his practice, he looked at the world and saw that it was like fish in a stream that was drying up. The water was getting less and less and less, and the fish were struggling with one another to get that last little bit of water. Of course, all of them were going to die. He said he looked at the world and felt really dismayed. But then he turned around and looked, and saw that the real problem is here in the heart. The heart is always going out there looking for happiness, but no matter how much you gain out there, you’re going to lose it. At one point he said that even if it rained gold coins, we wouldn’t have enough to satisfy our sensual desires. It’s this arrow of craving in the heart: That’s what’s making us suffer. This was his real insight: that no matter how bad things were on the outside, it is possible to develop skill inside so that you don’t have to suffer from those things. If you’re not making yourself suffer, you’re placing less of a burden on others as well.

From: The Swinging Balance by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
As Ajaan Lee said, one of the big problems with meditators, especially who’ve read a lot of Dhamma, is that they mistake high-level Dhamma for low-level and low-level for high-level.

There are lessons to be learned from the simple process of untangling yourself from distraction and learning how to anticipate and head off distractions. Those are key for overcoming your clingings and cravings and becomings and birth.

From: Healthy Conceit by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Sometimes you read that in the stages of insight you get into weird psychophysical experiences. Those descriptions are designed by people who are trying to sell a particular kind of meditation. You’re going off to spend a week where you want to have something to show for it, something you can talk about when you return. It’s hard to tell your friends, “You know, I maintained my mind in a state of normalcy for the entire week.” It doesn’t impress anybody. But you’re not here to impress people; you’re not here to impress yourself. You’re here to see things clearly. The best way to see things clearly is to get the mind into a state of stillness.

We tend to think of the stages of jhana as very strong trance states, but actually they’re the mind in a state of genuine normalcy where it’s very perceptive, very clearly perceiving things as they are, as they come as they go, able to see distinctions. That’s what we’re working on, trying to keep the mind in a state of normalcy, as with all the elements of the path. The qualities of the path are things we’ve already experienced, things we’ve already tasted. It’s simply that we haven’t seen the strength they can develop if they’re made continuous, if they’re made all-around. This state of centered, clear normalcy in the mind, if you could really maintain it, would build up a lot of strength. To do this, you develop a sense of the observer in concentration where you’re able to just watch things come and go.

From: Normalcy by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
We look at the situation in the world right now and there’s a lot to be worried about. But we can be confident about one thing, that the best way to respond to whatever the situation is in the world is to practice the Dharma, to be generous, to be virtuous and to meditate to train the mind. Because whether the situation in the world is good or bad, there is always aging, illness and death. There is no point where the world is so totally free of insecurity that you can really trust that the situation is going to be good. Even if the economy is great and everybody agrees to lay down their arms, people are still going to get sick, still going to get old, and still going to die.

But the empowering thing in all this is that your actions do shape the world you experience: the world you’ve experienced, the world that you’re experiencing now, and on into the future. So no matter what anybody else does, you always want to practice the Dharma — to hold by your ideals, to hold by your principles — because you create your world through your actions, and you want that world to be a principled one.

One of the misunderstandings we pick up from the media is that the important decisions in our world are made by other people over whom we have no control. But it’s a fact that even though we’re sitting here in the same room, each of us lives in a different world. And the world of our experience is created by our own actions. We’re the ones who are creating it, and we continue to create it with our actions each moment.

So basically you’re in charge of your world. You’re not a monad totally independent from influences from outside, but the choices you make are the ones that shape your life. If you make wise choices, generous choices, you protect yourself and you protect other people. On the surface it may sound selfish. Here you are trying to make sure your little world is okay, but the only way you can make sure your little world is okay is to act in a way that you’re not harming anybody else. And influences spread around. If you act in a noble way even in the midst of danger and destruction, that’s a good example to other people. Other people want to join in.

Being a human being is not really worth much if it’s all just scrambling after wealth, scrambling after things that other people have to be deprived of. The Buddha saw this prior to going out practicing. He said the world was like a puddle that was drying up, and there are all these fish in the puddle fighting for that little last bit of water. He found it really dismaying. That kind of life is not a human life, it’s an animal life. Human life is one in which, regardless of what the situation is outside, you know you shape your world through your actions, and that the actions shaping a good world are ones that are honorable, compassionate, wise. And you can hold to that principle.

From: In Charge of Your World by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Reflection on other people’s mind states is also a good reflection for fairness. When you see other people acting on their unskillful mind states, it gives you a chance to see what you look like when you act on yours. It’s not a pretty sight. For example, we all have a tendency to want to straighten other people out. We want this person to be that way and that person to be this way. But when other people try to straighten you out, how do you feel? The Thais call this putting other people’s heart in your heart, and your heart in theirs: in other words, realizing that what you feel is what other people feel. If you ever want to straighten anything out, well, you’ve got your heart here that needs straightening out first. And so focus right here — because this is where you really can do the work.

From: Bodies & Minds Outside by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
We repeat so often, “There is no one in charge.” There’s no one to tell us that we have to sacrifice our happiness or our well-being for some larger purpose. But even though there’s no person in charge, still karma’s in charge. What you do to pursue your happiness is going to determine whether your happiness is long-term or short-term. If you’re wise, you’ll go for the long-term.

From: Happiness – Yours & Others’ by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Apparently there’s a new book out on the American positive thinking industry. It was reviewed recently by someone who came to the States from another country and said that this is one of the things she’d found strange about our country, the emphasis everybody put on how you have to think positively, you have to have an optimistic outlook. If you’re unhappy, it’s your fault, because you’re not thinking positively enough.

Both the book and the reviewer are pointing out how really inhumane this attitude is: placing the blame for people’s suffering on them. In fact, the author of the book was talking about how this is probably a top-down phenomenon. The people in charge want to tell everybody beneath them that “The reason you’re miserable is not because we’re taking advantage of you or because we’re ripping you off, but because you aren’t thinking positively enough.” And there may be some truth to that.

So where does the Dhamma come in all of this? There’s nothing in the Dhamma to force you to think positively. It doesn’t say you shouldn’t suffer, or that if you are suffering it’s all your own fault. But it does say that you have the choice as to whether you’re going to suffer from outside circumstances. The Buddha doesn’t say you have to accept the way things are outside, or that you’re not allowed to change things, but he is offering you the choice: If you don’t want to suffer, here are some tools. If you want to make change outside, it’s a lot better if you’re not making yourself suffer from the situation you find yourself in. That way, you can look at it more objectively and figure out what really does need to be changed, and where the most effective change would come.

From: Accepting the Way Out by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
You hear there are types of meditation where they allow the mind simply to wander around, and all you have to do is follow its wanderings. Sounds good, the mind is free to go wherever it wants, but it doesn’t develop any real strength. So you have to let go of its wanderings, resist its wanderings. There are things you’ve got to let go.

From: One Thing Clear Through by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
So this first skill you learn as a meditator: You direct your thoughts to the breath and you try to put aside any interest in wandering away. Of course, pretty soon the mind will be interested in wandering away, and you’ve fallen for it. When you notice that, you come back. You want to learn from that. You want to learn the right lessons from that.

Some people learn the lesson, “Well, the mind is totally out of control, it’s not self, and so much for that.” They never learn anything. What you can usefully learn is that the mind has lots of different intentions. And just the fact that you set up a really good intention doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay there. You’ve got to learn how to protect it. The Buddha talks about mindfulness as a governing principle. And the basic task of mindfulness as a governing principle is to look for areas where you could develop more skill, and work on developing those skills. In areas where you already have some skills and some good things in the mind have developed, you learn how to protect those. It’s interesting. He says to “protect them with discernment.” That’s what the text says.

So it’s not just a matter of watching things coming and going. You realize that there are some things that you want to make come, you want to make them arise. And you want to prevent them from passing away. Other things, unskillful qualities, you want to keep from arising, or — if they’ve arisen — you want to make them pass away. So you have to identify what’s really of value in the mind, in the heart. This is a training. It requires discernment.

From: How to Think about Death by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Some people listening to the brahmavihāras say that they sound like the serenity prayer: wanting the ability to accept what you can’t change, the courage to change what you can change, and the discernment or wisdom to know the difference. But life is a lot more complicated than that. There are a lot of things that you could change but wouldn’t be worth it. And that requires real discernment.

From: Equanimity in Action, Equanimity at Rest by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
The pleasures that come from taking into account mistakes you’ve made in the past and then you learn to do something right: Those pleasures are really satisfying. As the Buddha says, people who were heedless in the past but then change to become heedful, brighten the world like a moon at night when released from a cloud. So don’t be ashamed of the fact you’ve made mistakes, in the sense of not letting them get you down.

From: Learn from Your Mistakes by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
If you want everything to go the way you like, you’re in the wrong realm. You’d have to be in heaven. But here you’re in the human realm. Human history is filled with people doing disagreeable things. So drop the perception that you or your loved ones are being especially victimized. Mistreatment is a common thing, and anger is not going to help you deal with it effectively. You’ve got to clear your head if you want your response to injustice to have a good effect. So try to develop some equanimity around the fact that injustice is universal, and then see what you can do most effectively in response to this particular instance of it.

From: With Each & Every Breath: A Guide to Meditation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
As the Buddha said, when you have this sense of peace and stillness inside, that’s what genuine happiness is. In fact, he says there really is no other happiness other than peace.

We might think of a lot of ways where we’re happy that are not peaceful at all. But you think about it for a while: The reason we’re happy with those things is because the mind can stay with them for a while before it gets pushed off. So it’s in this quality of being able to stay: That’s where the true happiness of the mind lies.

So try to make the mind stable with each breath coming in, going out. That way it gets to find some of the peace that leads to genuine happiness.

From: Safe from Ups & Downs by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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Re: The Quotable Thanissaro

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Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote:
Many people have trouble staying with the breath or getting in touch with the breath energies in the body because their conception of how their body works is determined by what they’re told about how it works: what other people can observe; what a doctor says or what a machine can measure about their breath from the outside. But when you’re meditating, you’re not looking at the body from outside. You’re experiencing it from within, and that means throwing out a lot of your old outside preconceptions, particularly the assumptions that draw on materialism: the idea that you’re primarily matter, and only secondarily conscious. If you function totally in a materialistic universe, it’s going to make you suffer. And yet when we come to meditation, even though part of us realizes that materialism is a miserable way of thinking, we still carry a lot of materialistic assumptions into the mind. So turn things around. Awareness comes first, the material world later. You’re experiencing things from within, and it’s exclusively your territory. You’re the expert in here.

From: Focal Points by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
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