“By making an effort to notice our intentions with honesty and clarity, we gain a great deal of freedom. If we take the time to pay quiet attention, perhaps through meditation or contemplation, we may develop a completely different understanding of why we do the things we do and a new perspective on how to trust that we’ve done the best we can.” – Sharon Salzberg
This is my fourth sharing from this article. I highly recommend it: “The Power of Intention” by Sharon Salzberg. Please find more on Intention below:
“Intention is not just about will—or about resolutions we make on New Year’s Eve with shaky hope in our hearts—but about our overall everyday vision, what we long for, what we believe is possible for us. If we want to know the spirit of our activities, the emotional tone of our efforts, we have to look at our intentions.”– Sharon Salzberg
“Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.” — Anguttara Nikaya 6.63
“‘I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir’…
“[This is a fact that] one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained…” — Anguttara Nikaya 5.57
“One of the Buddha’s most penetrating discoveries is that our intentions are the main factors shaping our lives and that they can be mastered as a skill. If we subject them to the same qualities of mindfulness, persistence, and discernment involved in developing any skill, we can perfect them to the point where they will lead to no regrets or damaging results in any given situation; ultimately, they can lead us to the truest possible happiness. To train our intentions in this way, though, requires a deep level of self-awareness.” — Thanissaro Bhikkhu
To continue reading from Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Intentions read this “The Road to Nirvana Is Paved with Skillful Intentions.”