Chapter 24 - The Five Powers Flashcards
1
Q
enumerate:
Five Powers
A
- Faith
- Diligence
- Mindfulness
- Concentration
- Insight
2
Q
explain:
Faith
1st Power
6
A
- releases great energy
- faith in false/unreliable things makes doubt and suspicion, whereas faith from insight/understanding makes us touch beauty and reliability
- can be confidence in transformation of the practice and the teachings
- like farmers who have faith in their crops
- not blind faith
- not some belief in a set of ideas or dogmas
3
Q
Diligence
2nd Power
3
A
- energy that brings joy into our practice
- animated with it we become truly alive
- our eyes shine, our steps become solid with it
4
Q
Mindfulness
3rd Power
5
A
- meditation is its power plant
- gives energy to concentration and insight
- can be sitting, walking, dish-washing
- mindfulness is the plough, the hoe and the irrigation source that waters insight, we are the gardener ploughing, sowing and watering our beneficial seeds
- helps us regain the paradise we thought we had lost
5
Q
Concentration
4th Power
3
A
- needed to look deeply and see clearly
- developed by mindfully sitting, walking, working etc
- mindfulness —>concentration —> insight and faith
6
Q
Insight (or Wisdom)
5th Power
2
A
- ability to look deeply and see clearly
- seeing clearly we can abandon what is false —> faith —> Right Faith
7
Q
What is the bonus (6th) power re: 5 Powers
?
A
- Capacity (or Inclusiveness)
kshanti
8
Q
Five Faculties (or Bases)
A
- capacity to produce the Five Powers
NB: difference between producing something and having the power it generates
9
Q
enumerate:
Three Kinds of Pride
A
- thinking I am better than the others
- …worse than the others
- …just as good as the others
10
Q
How can we follow the example of the Buddha watering Ananda’s seeds?
2
A
- by pointing out the beautiful things in life to friends i.e. sunset, flowers etc
- all done with the energy of mindfulness
11
Q
Kshitigarba
2
A
- goes to places of deepest suffering to bring light and laughter to others
- each sangha needs a kshitigarba :)
12
Q
Boddhisattva Never-Despising
3
A
- could not dislike anyone knowing each of us has the capacity to become a Buddha
- “I do not dare to underestimate you. You are a future Buddha.”
- believes the seed of happiness, capacity for love and happiness is in everyone’s store consciousness
13
Q
How can we help someone who feels she cannot love herself?
2
A
- by looking deeply into own consciousness and others’
- by helping to cultivate their seed of love
14
Q
What did the Buddha say every time Mara appeared?
A
- “I know you my old friend”
- and every time Mara fled
15
Q
What do we need to understand when we enter a well-tended garden and want to pick a fresh, beautiful rose?
2
A
- we have to touch some thorns
- we don’t say because there are thorns that happiness is impossible
