… The middle way, the truth of the path, was declared absolute winner, while the truth of the origin of stress was knocked out and carried off on a stretcher, with no way of reviving ever again.
I was utterly astounded and exclaimed, ‘Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing? Where has this Dhamma been hiding? How is it that the genuine Dhamma, this …
Summary
A Refuge in Skillful Action
Is human action real or illusory? If real, is it effective? If it is effective, does one have a choice in what one does? If one has a choice, can one choose to act in a way that will lead to genuine happiness? If so, what is that way? These are questions that lie at the heart of …
… middle of a field. If you look up at the sky without reference to anything on the ground, you can’t tell how fast the clouds are moving, or in which direction. But if you have a still point of reference—the top of a roof or a tall pole—you can clearly sense the clouds’ direction and speed. In the same way, when …
… Attend to things in this way, don’t attend to them in that. Let go of this, enter and remain in that.’ This, Kevaṭṭa, is called the marvel of instruction.
“Then there is the case where a Tathāgata appears in the world, worthy and rightly self-awakened. He teaches the Dhamma admirable in its beginning, admirable in its middle, admirable in its end. He …
… The Commentary notes, by way of reminder, that these offices were not created by the Buddha to encourage greed or lack of contentment among the officials, but as a way of helping the Community ensure that cloth is shared out fairly and properly to all.
Receiving & storing
The Commentary states that a robe-cloth receiver should ideally be endowed with good practices in terms …
… at the way consciousness interacted with the input of the senses, showing that the basic raw material of knowledge is composed not of sense data, but of judgments about sense data. In other words, what we perceive directly is not things-in-themselves in the world outside or the self inside, but the workings of reason in shaping experience in the middle ground. We …
… It’s not easy to keep your practice on the Middle Way. If you don’t use your powers of observation, it’s especially hard. The mind will keep falling for things, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, because it doesn’t observe what’s going on. This isn’t the path to letting go. It’s a path that’s stuck, caught up on things …
… What this means is that compassion is not only for people who are currently suffering, but also for those who are acting in ways that will lead to their future suffering. And in the same way, empathetic joy is not only for those who are already happy, but also for those who are acting in ways that will lead to future happiness.
The Canon …
… At the same time, his unpublished philosophical essays show that he worked out the religious implications of his worldview in many original ways, foreshadowing the thought of later thinkers, such as Carl Jung, who adopted and transmitted Romantic ideas on religion.
Hölderlin’s philosophical essays were not published until the middle of the 20th century, so it can’t be said that they were …
… They have encountered young hooligans on the way to or from a crime. They have been propositioned by women. Once I went for alms in the pitch black of night. A woman washing a pot saw me by a lightning flash and, on seeing me, screamed out: “I’m done for! A demon is after me!”
“‘When this was said, I said to her …
… The practice of moderation is so central to the path that the Buddha introduced the path to his first listeners as the “middle way.” In particular, the practice of right concentration requires balance in many areas: in your use of the physical requisites, in your ability to avoid excesses and deficiencies in the desire and effort you bring to your practice, and in emphasizing …
… Lady Vedehikā is violent.’
“In the same way, monks, a monk may be ever so gentle, ever so even-tempered, ever so calm, as long as he is not touched by disagreeable aspects of speech. But it is only when disagreeable aspects of speech touch him that he can truly be known as gentle, even-tempered, & calm. I don’t call a monk easy …
… His listeners had long assumed that the answer was a categorical Yes, so before teaching them the middle way the Buddha had to reframe the question by giving the analytical response that his own self cross-examination had shown to be most productive in leading to freedom.
As we will see in Chapter Four, many variations on the issue of how different livelihoods should …
… Others may address you in a timely way or an untimely way. They may address you with what is true or what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address you with a mind of good will or with inner hate. In any …
… The way you look is actually a type of kamma that, when done appropriately, shapes those experiences in a way that promotes the goal of the practice. In this way appropriate attention shades into the fourth factor for stream-entry.
Practice in accordance with the Dhamma
Once you have gained a sense of the Dhamma and the duties it entails through appropriate attention, the …
… Others may address you in a timely way or an untimely way. They may address you with what is true or what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address you with a mind of goodwill or with inner hate. In any event …
… the middle: From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications….” — SN 12:15
Right view, in seeing all things as events, is also in a position to see itself as an event. Thus, when it has done its job in cutting through attachment to views about one’s self or the world, it can turn back on itself as well. In this way, it …
… And the principle of the middle way in the pursuit of pleasure applies as much to lay people as it does to monks: When you use your wealth to obtain pleasure, make sure that the pleasures you obtain don’t involve unskillful actions or have a negative impact on the state of your mind.
Similarly, the reflections on food given in SN 12:63 …
… As you gain this sort of tactical discernment that goes beyond “right” to “just right,” detecting the middle way, you raise right view and right resolve to higher and higher levels as you cut away progressively more and more refined levels of ignorance in the mind.
Beyond transcendent right effort. SN 1:1 (§239) describes a level of right effort that occurs on the …
… Several of the classic Upaniṣads—such as the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, and Kāṭha Upaniṣads—accepted the possibility of life after death, although they differed among themselves as to how one’s actions might affect the way in which one was reborn. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad, for instance, taught that actions played a role in the post mortem fate of only middling and lower beings. Brahmans with …
An Heir to the Dhamma | Straight from the Heart : Thirteen Talks on the Practice of Meditation
… The middle way, the truth of the path, was declared absolute winner, while the truth of the origin of stress was knocked out and carried off on a stretcher, with no way of reviving ever again. I was utterly astounded and exclaimed, ‘Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing? Where has this Dhamma been hiding? How is it that the genuine Dhamma, this …
Introduction: The Authenticity of the Pāli Suttas
… The way you look is actually a type of kamma that, when done appropriately, shapes those experiences in a way that promotes the goal of the practice. In this way appropriate attention shades into the fourth factor for stream-entry. Practice in accordance with the Dhamma Once you have gained a sense of the Dhamma and the duties it entails through appropriate attention, the …
