Discipline

 A quote by Henepola Gunaratana, from his book Mindfulness in Plain English,  as included in Everyday Mind, a Tricycle book edited by Jean Smith
 

“Discipline” is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you’re wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there.

There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won’t do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don’t get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience.

Noble Strategies

From the introduction to “Noble Strategy”, a compilation of essays by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. 

Any correct statement about the path is a part of right view. And yet the goal of the path—total freedom—includes freedom from attachment to all views. This means that right views don’t stand at the end of the path. In other words, we don’t practice the path simply to arrive at right view. And yet we can’t follow the path without making use of right views. So right views are tools—strategies—to a higher end, They are unique in that their approach to reality leads ultimately to their own transcendence. They are meant to spark the sort of inquiry that takes the mind beyond them. Their efficacy is what proves their truth. Their integrity in action, combined with the worthiness of their outcome, is what makes them—as strategies—noble.

Two Wolves

Laura Taylor forwarded this inspirational to us:

 One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all..

One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”The grand son thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

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On the Eightfold Path, this is the factor of Right Effort. It is traditionally phrased in terms of the four right strivings: 

Striving to abandon arisen unwholesome states;

Striving to prevent unarisen unwholesome states from arising;

Striving to maintain arisen wholesome states;

Striving to arouse unarisen wholesome states.

Of course, “striving” has become a dirty word in many forms of Buddhism. Much emphasis is placed on mindfulness and concentration, but very seldom is Right Effort even mentioned. The wolf of “ease” is becoming well fed.

Two Qualities

A quote from What the Buddha Taught

by Walpola Rahula :

According to Buddhism, to be perfect there are two qualities that should be developed equally: compassion on one side, and wisdom on the other. Here compassion represents love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, or qualities of the heart, while wisdom would stand for the intellectual side or the qualities of the mind. If one develops only the emotional neglecting the intellectual, one may become a good-hearted fool; while to develop only the intellectual side neglecting the emotional may turn one into a hardhearted intellect without feelings for others. Therefore, to be perfect one has to develop both equally. That is the aim of the Buddhist way of life: in it wisdom and compassion are inseparably linked together.