Episode 185 - How to Transform through Buddha's Teachings
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Learning how to listen to teachings and having respect for the teacher create the right conditions for your mind to change. In this episode, we explore Je Tsongkhapa’s instructions on “How to listen to the teachings by relying on the Six Ideas. Your mind opens when you feel the teaching is medicine that can cure your specific suffering or difficulty. Buddhist Teacher JoAnn Fox explains how to put these instructions into practice with some struggle you're currently experiencing. When you receive Buddhist teachings in a formal setting and see the teacher being prostrated before or...
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Episode 184: The Art of Ethical Living
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
This episode explores the art of ethical living, guided by the practice of restraint. Restraint involves intentionally moderating and controlling one's actions, speech, and thoughts. We cultivate restraint to minimize the harm we cause and to build the foundation for spiritual development. A good guide for our practice of restraint is the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts were given to his lay (not ordained) followers as ethical guidelines that include the vow to abstain from killing, stealing, engaging in sexual misconduct, lying, and becoming intoxicated. How to practice the ethical...
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Episode 183 - How to prevent anger
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
This episode explores the question “Where does anger come from?” Buddhist teacher, JoAnn Fox, also provides several practical ways to prevent anger from arising (when it typically would)! Anger doesn’t come from another person or a situation. Anger comes from our thoughts. Specifically, when we pay inappropriate attention to an unpleasant object and dwell on its faults, we work ourselves up until anger arises. That point at which anger is manifest is when the mind is unpeaceful and uncontrolled. A very sad aspect of anger is that this mental state has the wish to harm. The...
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Episode 181 - Radiating Compassion
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
The primary motivation behind wanting to become a Buddha for the sake of all living beings is boundless compassion. This unconditional love and concern for the well-being and liberation of all sentient beings, without exception, takes effort to cultivate. A bodhisattva is someone who, out of compassion, vows to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. The wish itself is called "bodhicitta." What marks becoming a bodhisattva is that their intention to become a Buddha is unmovable (meaning they've developed bodhicitta). While the Bodhisattva Vow is central to the Mahayana...
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Episode 180 - Practicing Kindness Toward Ourselves
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
Metta meditation, also known as loving-kindness meditation, is a fundamental practice in Buddhism that cultivates feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill towards oneself and others. The word "Metta" is a Pali term that translates to "loving-kindness" or "benevolence." In this meditation, practitioners typically sit in a comfortable position and focus on generating feelings of love and kindness. The practice involves silently repeating phrases or affirmations that express well-wishes, such as "May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you live with ease." The...
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Episode 179 - Work with your greatest afflictions first
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
The Lojong slogan "Work with your greatest defilements first" emphasizes the importance of addressing the negative habit that is most deeply disturbing our inner peace and happiness. Lojong, which means "mind training" in Tibetan, is a set of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism aimed at developing compassion, wisdom, and the ability to transform adverse circumstances into opportunities for spiritual growth. Central to Lojong are short, pithy instructions called "slogans," like "Work with your greatest defilements first." By working with the habit that causes us the most problems first, we can make...
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Episode 178 - Seeking The True Nature of Reality
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
In this episode we look at the practice of wisdom. In particular, this refers to wisdom realizing the true nature of reality. Little by little we touch reality as we gain wisdom. We come to understand why we suffer, where our problems truly come from, and how to solve our problems inwardly. Buddha's guidance remains as practical for his followers today as it was when he first shared it. This is a journey of finding peace and understanding, accessible to all who seek it. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths to provide a clear framework for understanding the nature of our suffering and...
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Episode 177 - Thirst
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
"The rain could turn to gold and still your thirst would not be slaked' the Buddha said. In this episode we explore the connection between the Buddhist teachings of emptiness and craving. Understanding this connection is fundamental to understanding the nature of suffering and the path to liberation. Emptiness (Shunyata) Emptiness refers to the fundamental nature of reality, which is devoid of inherent, fixed, or independent existence. The empty nature of all things is the opposite of how we normally perceive reality. If we see something as beautiful, we do not think our mind has anything to...
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Episode 176 - Light up this world like a moon set free
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
The Buddha said that an earnest practitioner, even when just beginning the path to enlightenment, "lights up this world like the moon set free from a cloud." This episode explores how to relate to being this light in our world, specifically through the practice of metta, or loving-kindness. Metta practice involves cultivating a heartfelt attitude of unconditional love, benevolence, and goodwill towards oneself and all sentient beings. Metta meditation is a practical way to strengthen these qualities. It can be done in formal meditation or "off the cushion" with the simple recitation of a...
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Episode 175 - Make Your Own Destiny
Buddhism for Everyone with JoAnn Fox
The mind is the creator of everything—all happiness and suffering. Thus, gaining control over the mind is the only real and reliable way to live a happy, peaceful life. Buddha said that "we make our destiny, “therefore, control yourself.” To tame the mind, a practitioner relies on mindfulness. Although "mindfulness" is a broadly used term, its original meaning in Buddhist texts means remembering the right actions and avoiding the wrong ones. During meditation, this involves remembering and remaining on the meditation objective you’ve chosen. For example, when doing a...
info_outlineThe practice of restraint is a crucial part of the Buddhist path to enlightenment. It involves abstaining from harmful thoughts, speech, and actions that lead to suffering for oneself and others. In this episode, we look at the practice of restraint to protect and help ourselves. The Buddha speaks so much about the wisdom of guarding the sense doors and practicing restraint. For if we don't practice restraint at all, we have no control over where our life is headed. We are like a wheel spinning out of control.
Guarding the sense doors:
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eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind
Restraint is part of the practice of ethical discipline, one of the three pillars of Buddhist training, along with universal compassion and wisdom. Restraint is essential for cultivating virtue and good karma and developing a calm and focused mind. By restraining from harmful actions, we purify our minds and develop a sense of self-control and discipline.
In Buddhism, the practice of restraint is guided by the Five Precepts, which are basic ethical guidelines that many lay followers vow to live by.
These Five Precepts are:
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Refrain from taking the life of any living being
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Refrain from taking what is not given
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Refrain from engaging in sexual misconduct
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Refrain from false speech
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Refrain from taking intoxicants that cloud the mind
In addition to the Five Precepts, there are other guidelines for restraint, such as refraining from harsh speech, divisive speech, and gossip. The practice of restraint is not just about avoiding negative actions, but also about cultivating positive qualities such as kindness, generosity, and compassion, which we will look at in the next episode.
The Week's Mindfulness Practice of Restraint
In your life as it is now, is there Anything you should practice restraint with? Is there Anything you're doing that feeds non-virtue? Are there habits that are harmful to yourself or others?
Examples of guarding the sense doors:
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The ear: Is there some way you should practice restraint in listening? For example, someone may have a bad effect on you; when you talk at length, it encourages you to be angry at others.
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Nose and tongue: restraint regarding food
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Body: restraint in body, sex, stealing, killing, hurting
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Mind: restraint of mind, refrain from thinking and dwelling on something that causes delusion
JoAnn suggests choosing one way to practice restraint in the coming week. Specifically, select the practice of restraint that will bring you the most benefit and peace. You may find that restraint looks like moderation, or it could mean restraining completely from something.
In daily practice, watch for the moment when restraint is called for. Then, with mindfulness, practice restraint as you've planned. But don't be hard on yourself when you slip up! Progress is progress; perfection is enlightenment (and we aren't there yet).
The Story of Five Monks
“While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (360) and (361) of this book, with reference to five bhikkhus [monks].
Once there were five bhikkhus in Savatthi. Each of them practised restraint of just one out of the five senses and each of them claimed that what he was practising was the most difficult. There were some heated arguments over this and they could not come to an agreement. Finally, they went to the Buddha to ask for his decision. The Buddha said to them, "Each of the senses is just as difficult to control as the other; but all bhikkhus must control all the five senses and not just one. Only those who control all the senses would escape from the round of rebirths."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
Restraint in the eye is good, good is restraint in the ear; restraint in the nose is good, good is restraint in the tongue. (Verse 360)
Verse 361: Restraint in body is good, good is restraint in speech; restraint in mind is good, good is restraint in all the senses. A bhikkhu [monk] restrained in all the senses is freed from all ills. (Verse 360)
References and Links
Buddha (1986).The Dhammapada: Verses and Stories. Translated by Daw Mya Tin, M.A. (Website). Edited by Editorial Committee, Burma Tipitaka Association Rangoon. Courtesy of Nibbana.com. For free distribution only, as a gift of dhamma.
https://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=360
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