Discernment (paññā)
Skillful qualities / Five Faculties / Discernment 
details...
Part of tag cluster Discernment in key topic Skillful Qualities
Subsumes: Investigation (vīmaṃsā, Inquiry)
Alternative translations: Wisdom
Also a subtag of Treasures and Perfections
See also: Investigation of states, Appropriate attention
174 excerpts, 13:02:47 total duration



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Perspectives on Buddhist Practice from Ajahn Chah, Session 2 – Aug. 25, 2024

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5. “Can you give some context to the story of Ajahn Chah getting angry and yelling at a monk and then regretting it, practicing with it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Aversion] // [Unwholesome Roots] [Fierce/direct teaching] [Protocols]

Recollection: Ajahn Chah said that it wasn’t until he took on the responsibility of teaching others that he really gained wisdom. [Teaching Dhamma] [Discernment]

Reference: “Toilets on the Path,” Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah, p. 723.


Questions and Answers at Wat Pah Nanachat – Jan. 2, 2025

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7. “How do you respond to claims that religion and Buddhism specifically is escapist?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Theravāda] [Saṃsāra] [Escape] // [Discernment] [Questions] [Liberation] [Compassion]

Quote: “What is the mind of an enlightened being like?” – “Only compassion.” — Ajahn Mahā Boowa. [Ajahn Mahā Boowa] [Arahant]


Readings from The Island, Session 1 – Jan. 5, 2025

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4. “Thinking about sensuality and thinking about noticing and cognizing all this stuff. So is noticing just a pure mental exercise or does bodily sensation also have a place?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Insight meditation] [Mindfulness of body] // [Discernment] [Personality] [Ajahn Sucitto] [Ajahn Amaro]

Follow-up: “So do we try to find our own way or do we try to balance our attitudes?” [Attitude]

Reference: Meditation: A Way of Awakening by Ajahn Sucitto.


Readings from The Island, Session 7 – Jan. 17, 2025

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6. “If I heard correctly, you said the four traits that the Buddha mentioned were the Four Bases of Success and chanda was the first one.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Sense bases] [Desire] // [Energy] [Heart/mind] [Discernment] [Truth]


Readings from The Island, Session 18 – Feb. 3, 2025

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2. “I’ve been noticing during meditation that my mind goes a lot into planning. Can you consider this bhavataṇha?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Becoming] [Proliferation] // [Volition] [Discernment] [Ajahn Amaro] [Habits] [Amaravati] [Building projects] [Suffering]


Readings from The Island, Session 19 – Feb. 4, 2025

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2. “You could have a reasonable intention to stop a habit or stop seeing someone. By telling yourself, ‘I want to stop,’ you identify with the object. But you can go round and round and round thinking about it....” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Spiritual friendship] [Volition] [Self-identity view] [Proliferation] // [Right Effort] [Mindfulness] [Discernment] [Attitude] [Becoming]

Sutta: Snp 2.4: Maṅgala Sutta.

Simile: Stinging nettles and dead nettles together in the same hedgerow. [Similes]

Quote: “I am an unenlightened person who has to do something now to become enlightened in the future.” — a paradigm based on self-view pointed out by Ajahn Sumedho. [Ajahn Sumedho] [Liberation]

Follow-up: “The only arbiter [of whether intention is based on self-view or wisdom] is your own experience....” [Self-reliance]

Response. [Teaching Dhamma]

Sutta: AN 9.3 Meghiya Sutta.

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Skillful qualities] [Unskillful qualities]


Q&A with the Chithurst Community – Aug. 30, 2025

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11. “Insights give a lot of confidence in the practice, a lot of trust. So when insights come, is it important to nourish them?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Insight meditation] [Faith] // [Bases of Success] [Desire] [Discernment] [Craving] [Self-identity view] [The New Yorker] [Calvin and Hobbes]


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