The Paramita of Ethics or Discipline, the necessary psychological parameters by which to produce any profound spiritual change.
Lecture quote:
“The discipline to come out of the cage cannot be imposed upon us by an external source. No person can come to us and say, “Follow all these rules and you will be free.” It doesn’t work like that. If someone comes to us and says, “The teachings say you must renounce anger, so never be angry.” And so then we take this attitude, a discipline upon ourselves, “I will not be angry,” so we begin to resist anger. What will happen? What will happen is that we will modify our external behavior, we will act sweet, we will act patient, we will behave as if anger has been vanished, and we may even convince ourselves of it. But at a certain moment, circumstances and Karma will conspire against us, something will happen to make us angry, and then we will explode. This is because the more we reject something, the more we push away, the more we resist it, the less is our understanding.”
Read the lecture transcription.
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