Ethics

Basic Buddhist practice entails training ourselves in three areas. We can train in them in order to overcome our own problems and sufferings, because of concern for our own well-being. Or we can train in them with love and compassion in order to be of more benefit to others....

Introduction This weekend I’d like to speak about bodhichitta, specifically about the two bodhichittas – relative and deepest – and the necessity or importance of developing both of them, and how we work with the two of them together. First we need to understand the context...

Introduction The topic of karma is central to the Buddhist teachings and relates very closely to ethical self-discipline. We use ethical self-discipline to overcome and rid ourselves of karma. This fits nicely within the context of what are known as the “four noble truths,”...

Review The three trainings in ethical discipline, concentration and discriminating awareness are always focused on helping us to overcome our problems and any suffering we experience. The method is to identify the causes of our difficulties, and to apply the three in order to...

Review On the initial level of spiritual development, we exercise ethical self-discipline to refrain from destructive behavior. Our aim is to avoid things getting worse not just in this lifetime, but in future lives as well. We strive for better rebirths and the ordinary types...

We were discussing bodhichitta and what it means to be a bodhisattva, and we saw what role taking the bodhisattva vows has in the general progression of developing bodhichitta, and in the stages of developing bodhichitta. What’s really important is to understand the role of...

The second far-reaching attitude is ethical self-discipline. We’re not talking about discipline to play a musical instrument or kick a ball, but it has to do with our ethical behavior. And it’s not that we are the policeman trying to discipline somebody else, train the dog or...

Why Haven’t We Already Built Up Enough Positive Force to Develop Bodhichitta? We’ve seen that in order to strive for bodhichitta for the first time, we need to have heard about enlightenment and understand it a little bit and have confident belief that it exists and it’s...

Review We need to set the proper motivation; namely, that we wish to benefit all beings and to achieve a state of enlightenment in order to be able to do so. With this motivation, listen to these teachings on The Foundation for Good Qualities with the sincere wish to put them...

Peace of Mind and Its Causes What is a happy mind? It is a satisfied, relaxed state of mind that has a long-term, broad perspective and so is not much disturbed by anything. This leads to a more efficient state of mind, with the ability to discriminate how to deal with...