Inner Strength - Access to Insight

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65will imbibe nothing but pleasure—and there’s no pleasure higher than that of themind at peace. Thus rapture is water for using, for bathing the body and mind;whereas pleasure is drinking water specifically for the mind.So whoever has the discernment to distill fresh water from salt water willexperience ease and wellbeing. This is our first distillery. The second distillery iswhere we take the water from the first and distill it to even greater purity. This isthe same as when they refine sugar: After the first stage it still contains somealcohol, so they have to refine it a second time. This stands for developing insightmeditation, something very refined—so refined that nobody else can see it. Youcan stand and practice insight meditation, sit and practice insight meditation, youcan lie down, you can even be giving a Dhamma talk and practice insightmeditation: The mouth speaks, the mind thinks of its topic—when you think ofsomething to say, or thoughts simply arise within the mind, there’s noattachment to bodily fabrication, i.e., the processes of the body; no attachment toverbal fabrication, i.e., the thoughts that fabricate words for other people to hear.There’s no attachment to your words, and your mind doesn’t run out after them.As for thoughts that arise from ignorance and craving, you know themimmediately for what they are. The mind in that state isn’t involved in bodilyfabrication, verbal fabrication, or mental fabrication. The mind is then releasedfrom all fabrications.All fabrications that arise simply change and then disband. This is true ofbodily fabrications, verbal fabrications, and mental fabrications. When you seethese things in terms of their common characteristics, when you see them asinconstant, constantly spinning around; stressful, hard to bear; and not-self,beyond your control, then whether you’re standing, sitting, lying down,performing physical work, or speaking—even when you’re just sitting andthinking alone by yourself—you’ll find all things good and noble flowing to youat all times. This is called practicing insight meditation.A person like this can then set up an enormous distillery, turning the water ofthe sea into clouds. When the water of the sea has been turned into clouds,they’ll float through the sky. Wherever people are suffering from hardships, thewater in the clouds will come raining down, watering the land where people liveso that they can grow food conveniently. In the same way, when people havereleased their hearts from the power of worldliness, their goodness is like clouds.When the clouds turn into rain, the rainwater will help good people live inhappiness and wellbeing. This is one of the benefits that comes from those whohave developed discernment.So I ask that all of you make a mental note of these three maxims:1) Caulk your boat.2) Set up a mast, unfurl your sails so that they catch the wind, and then stockyour boat with provisions by practicing generosity.3) Learn how to take salt water and distill it into fresh.Whoever can give rise to these skills within themselves will, at the very least,become good people. If they’re not heedless, and make a continual effort, theywill be able to take the mind beyond all becoming.
So, all of you who have gathered together to make merit on this occasion: Iask that you accept as a gift the Dhamma described here, take it with you, andput it into practice. You will experience happiness, flourish, and thrive in theBuddha’s teachings.66
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Inner Strength&Parting GiftsTalks b
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3InnerStrength
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5they reveal their true meanings on
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have a sense of our own good and ba
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9A Mind of Pure GoldJuly, 1958The m
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11sunk in worldly matters, are stil
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13not their owner will have you thr
Page 16: for instance, can’t jump up to cl
Page 20 and 21: say, or what our teachers tell us.
Page 22 and 23: 21II. Inner SkillThe ABC’s of the
Page 24 and 25: persons running: They’ll have a h
Page 27 and 28: 26warm the fires of digestion, just
Page 29 and 30: Stick with whichever way of breathi
Page 31 and 32: 30Observe & EvaluateJuly 24, 1956In
Page 33 and 34: 32the point where it flows evenly w
Page 35 and 36: air inside seems still, and yet the
Page 37 and 38: 36self-sufficient, the body is self
Page 39 and 40: 38When these five strengths appear
Page 41 and 42: 40This is called knowing the moment
Page 43 and 44: Once you can focus comfortably on t
Page 45 and 46: pervades every thread in the mantle
Page 47 and 48: whose minds are certain and sure, b
Page 49 and 50: people with only partial knowledge
Page 51 and 52: emedy it—keeping at it with our e
Page 53 and 54: 52Dhamma of study and practice with
Page 55 and 56: 54say. They can say ‘stress,’ b
Page 57 and 58: 56PartingGiftsIntroductionOnly in t
Page 59 and 60: as word of this gathering passed by
Page 61 and 62: We depend on our minds that are swi
Page 63 and 64: As for caulking the mind, that stan
Page 65: coarse breathing, you know. When it
Page 69 and 70: comes out of ignorance. Goodness co
Page 71 and 72: merit. Now suppose that those thoug
Page 73 and 74: we can use to develop goodness with
Page 75 and 76: All four of these types of defileme
Page 77 and 78: 76KnowledgeOctober 4, 1960Vijj›-c
Page 79 and 80: through not thinking. The first lev
Page 81 and 82: there’s too much evaluation, thou
Page 83 and 84: eally causing stress. These are nob
Page 85 and 86: 84Wherever we go, people will be gl
Page 87 and 88: are the ones made of skin. The inne
Page 89 and 90: 88ConsciousnessesIn all our activit
Page 91 and 92: Buddha tells us not to go joining i
Page 93 and 94: probably our enemies in past lives.
Page 95 and 96: consciousness is so slack and limp
Page 97 and 98: why we keep losing out to them. We
Page 99 and 100: 98as, “That’s the consciousness
Page 101 and 102: 100GlossaryI. TermsThe definitions
Page 103 and 104: 102m›ra: The personification of d
Page 105: 104sabbe satt› sad› hontuaver
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Inner Strength - Access to Insight

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