Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Working with the mind in a structured way

Working with the mind in a structured way

A talk given during Sravasti Abbey’s annual Exploring Monastic Life program in 2013.

  • Motivation to become free from cyclic existence as the first step for ordination
  • Watching our mind, showing compassion or being firm, applying suitable antidote
  • Taking a gradual approach to practicing Dharma
  • Freeing the mind from anxiety and sorrow

http://www.youtu.be/VT1qMdnhzgw

Do not lose control of the mind.
Diligently study the sacred Dharma.
Thus freed of anxiety and sorrow,
Concentrating the mind, one enters nirvana.

That is the vinaya of Tathagata Kanakamuni, the unattached one, the enlightened one.

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.