New York Insight
"Right View & Right Resolve"
-the path.....
-the Buddha's path leads to a goal: true happiness....
-the noble path has eight elements....
-right view
-right resolve....
-right speech....
-right action.....
-right livelihood....
-right effort....
-right mindfulness....
-right concentration.....
-right view.....
-right view informs the steps we take as we make our way along the path....
-right view inspires the actions we take.....
-right view provides us with guiding principles.....
-two levels to right view: mundane right view and transcendent right view.....
-we practice in accord with mundane right view ... transcendent right view leads us to being able to practice mundane right view with greater efficiency....
-right view: the law of karma....
-right view is found in the law of karma.....
-there are two aspects to the law of karma:
1- our actions determine what are lives are....
-our actions, in the moment, determine whether we know suffering or happiness in the moment....
-our actions, in the moment, condition future moments.....
2-the quality of the mind/intention is what determines whether our actions will lead to suffering or happiness....
-if actions are informed by desire/aversion ... this will lead to suffering....
-if actions are informed by compassion/lovingkindness ... this will lead to true happiness....
-right resolve.....
-we can think of right resolve as a plan of action.....
-right resolve is driven by right view.....
-when we have right resolve, we resolve to act in accord with right view: we resolve to take skillful action.....
-skillful action.....
-in having right resolve, we resolve to take action in support of.....
-lovingkindness....
-in support of our wish for true happiness ... and our wish for others.....
-compassion.....
-in support of our wish to be free from suffering ... and our with for others.....
-renunciation....
-in support of moderating our intake of sensual pleasures ... replacing these with more skillful pleasures and the qualities of the heart....
-meditation....
-in support of cultivating the qualities of concentration & discernment....
-action to action.....
-we develop right resolve from action to action by asking....
-what am I doing....?
-are my actions skillful....?
-how am I doing what I'm doing....?
-am I taking action skillfully ... with an attitude of lovingkindness/compassion....?
-the Buddha's primary teaching for skillful action is found in "The Instructions to Rahula" (MN 61)......
-five steps for taking skillful action.....
1-seeing what the mind is like….
-before we take action, we look at the quality of the mind….
-what is the quality of our intention….?
-is our mind/intention imbued with unskillful qualities…?
-is our mind/intention imbued wth skillful qualities…?
2- setting skillful intention….
-before we act, we set a skillful intention….
-skillful intention is imbued with lovingkindness/compassion….
-the process for setting skillful intention includes….
a)fabrication….
-stating the intention, internally….
b)felt sense…..
3- acting….
-as we act, we continue to monitor the quality of our intention/action….
-if our intention has veered off into an unskillful state … we re-set the intention….
4-seeing the benefits…..
5-taking Joy…..
-after we act skillfully, we take joy in our skillful actions….
-transcendent right view......
-right view indicates that our happiness is dependent on our actions ... if our actions are skillful, we will know happiness....
-in order to take skillful action, we practice in accord with the four noble truths....
-four noble truths....
-the four noble truths provide us with transcendent right view....
1- there is suffering ... there is that which blocks the heart ... this suffering, the blocking of the heart, comes from our clinging, our holding on to desire & aversion.....
2-to purify our actions, we have to abandon clinging to desire & aversion ... if we abandon this clinging, we abandon suffering....
3-when we abandon desire & aversion, the heart is open ... we are able to act skillfully, wholeheartedly, with compassion & lovingkindness.....
4-the development of the path ... including the development of right concentration (jhana), is what enables us to abandon clinging to desire & aversion.....
-transcendent right resolve......
-transcendent right resolve includes the resolve to:
-develop concentration....
-specifically right concentration: jhana....
-abandon desire & aversion....
-by developing wisdom....
-right view: the perception of impermanence & not-self....
-right view: the objects of clinging are impermanent & not-self.....
-to develop wisdom and thereby abandon suffering/clinging/desire & aversion, we learn to develop the perception of impermanence & not-self in investigating these objects....
-right view: the qualities of desire & aversion are impermanent/inconstant/subject to change....
-right view: the objects are conditioned, ownerless, not-self....
-right resolve: the resolve to develop the perception of impermanence & not-self....
-in looking at desire & aversion.....
-deepening in right view & right resolve.....
-two important reflections help us to deepen in right resolve....
-the reflection on suffering....
-we reflect on the truth of our own suffering ... the degree to which our heart is blocked....
-we reflect on our wish to be free from suffering ... compassion for ourselves....
-the reflection on death....
-the reflection on death helps us develop a sense of urgency....
-in realizing the truth of death, we become more resolved to take skillful action and practice in accord with the four noble truths.........
-reading......
-"No-self or Not-self?" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Life Is Short" from The Skill of Living.....
"Right View & Right Resolve"
-the path.....
-the Buddha's path leads to a goal: true happiness....
-the noble path has eight elements....
-right view
-right resolve....
-right speech....
-right action.....
-right livelihood....
-right effort....
-right mindfulness....
-right concentration.....
-right view.....
-right view informs the steps we take as we make our way along the path....
-right view inspires the actions we take.....
-right view provides us with guiding principles.....
-two levels to right view: mundane right view and transcendent right view.....
-we practice in accord with mundane right view ... transcendent right view leads us to being able to practice mundane right view with greater efficiency....
-right view: the law of karma....
-right view is found in the law of karma.....
-there are two aspects to the law of karma:
1- our actions determine what are lives are....
-our actions, in the moment, determine whether we know suffering or happiness in the moment....
-our actions, in the moment, condition future moments.....
2-the quality of the mind/intention is what determines whether our actions will lead to suffering or happiness....
-if actions are informed by desire/aversion ... this will lead to suffering....
-if actions are informed by compassion/lovingkindness ... this will lead to true happiness....
-right resolve.....
-we can think of right resolve as a plan of action.....
-right resolve is driven by right view.....
-when we have right resolve, we resolve to act in accord with right view: we resolve to take skillful action.....
-skillful action.....
-in having right resolve, we resolve to take action in support of.....
-lovingkindness....
-in support of our wish for true happiness ... and our wish for others.....
-compassion.....
-in support of our wish to be free from suffering ... and our with for others.....
-renunciation....
-in support of moderating our intake of sensual pleasures ... replacing these with more skillful pleasures and the qualities of the heart....
-meditation....
-in support of cultivating the qualities of concentration & discernment....
-action to action.....
-we develop right resolve from action to action by asking....
-what am I doing....?
-are my actions skillful....?
-how am I doing what I'm doing....?
-am I taking action skillfully ... with an attitude of lovingkindness/compassion....?
-the Buddha's primary teaching for skillful action is found in "The Instructions to Rahula" (MN 61)......
-five steps for taking skillful action.....
1-seeing what the mind is like….
-before we take action, we look at the quality of the mind….
-what is the quality of our intention….?
-is our mind/intention imbued with unskillful qualities…?
-is our mind/intention imbued wth skillful qualities…?
2- setting skillful intention….
-before we act, we set a skillful intention….
-skillful intention is imbued with lovingkindness/compassion….
-the process for setting skillful intention includes….
a)fabrication….
-stating the intention, internally….
b)felt sense…..
3- acting….
-as we act, we continue to monitor the quality of our intention/action….
-if our intention has veered off into an unskillful state … we re-set the intention….
4-seeing the benefits…..
5-taking Joy…..
-after we act skillfully, we take joy in our skillful actions….
-transcendent right view......
-right view indicates that our happiness is dependent on our actions ... if our actions are skillful, we will know happiness....
-in order to take skillful action, we practice in accord with the four noble truths....
-four noble truths....
-the four noble truths provide us with transcendent right view....
1- there is suffering ... there is that which blocks the heart ... this suffering, the blocking of the heart, comes from our clinging, our holding on to desire & aversion.....
2-to purify our actions, we have to abandon clinging to desire & aversion ... if we abandon this clinging, we abandon suffering....
3-when we abandon desire & aversion, the heart is open ... we are able to act skillfully, wholeheartedly, with compassion & lovingkindness.....
4-the development of the path ... including the development of right concentration (jhana), is what enables us to abandon clinging to desire & aversion.....
-transcendent right resolve......
-transcendent right resolve includes the resolve to:
-develop concentration....
-specifically right concentration: jhana....
-abandon desire & aversion....
-by developing wisdom....
-right view: the perception of impermanence & not-self....
-right view: the objects of clinging are impermanent & not-self.....
-to develop wisdom and thereby abandon suffering/clinging/desire & aversion, we learn to develop the perception of impermanence & not-self in investigating these objects....
-right view: the qualities of desire & aversion are impermanent/inconstant/subject to change....
-right view: the objects are conditioned, ownerless, not-self....
-right resolve: the resolve to develop the perception of impermanence & not-self....
-in looking at desire & aversion.....
-deepening in right view & right resolve.....
-two important reflections help us to deepen in right resolve....
-the reflection on suffering....
-we reflect on the truth of our own suffering ... the degree to which our heart is blocked....
-we reflect on our wish to be free from suffering ... compassion for ourselves....
-the reflection on death....
-the reflection on death helps us develop a sense of urgency....
-in realizing the truth of death, we become more resolved to take skillful action and practice in accord with the four noble truths.........
-reading......
-"No-self or Not-self?" (Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
-"Life Is Short" from The Skill of Living.....
| life_is_short_skill_of_living_pdf.pdf |
-"Wisdom" from Skillful Pleasure.....
| skillful_pleasure_wisdom_pdf.pdf |
-“Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion” (SN 56.11)
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two... five, ten... fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes & details.
"This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech & mind, who reviled the Noble Ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile the Noble Ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.
"This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute."
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. I discerned, as it had come to be, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress... These are fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations.' My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the fermentation of sensuality, released from the fermentation of becoming, released from the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there was the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'
"This was the third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
(MN 19)
“From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. What do you think, monks? Which is greater, the tears you have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time—crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing—or the water in the four great oceans?”
“As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the tears we have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time—crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing—not the water in the four great oceans.”
“Excellent, monks. Excellent. It is excellent that you thus understand the Dhamma taught by me.
“This is the greater: the tears you have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time—crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing—not the water in the four great oceans."
(SN 15.3)
April Eight-Day Retreat (2022)
April 7 - 15
Powell House
Old Chatham, NY
For more information see the Retreats page.
