Search results for: "Nibbana"

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  2. The Solvent for Sticky Narratives
     … That changes the narrative and heads it toward the only point of genuine closure—nibbana—which no longer involves ill will, thoughts of getting back, or thoughts of settling scores. You get to a point where the scores don’t matter. And you realize that you really can’t tally up the scores, because how do you know when the period of the game … 
  3. The Value of Effort
     … Ajaan MahaBoowa has a fine passage where he says that if you could actually take nibbana out and show it to everybody, nobody would want anything else. That’s what everybody would go for. But it’s not something that can be shown that way. When we haven’t seen or tasted it for ourselves yet, it’s just news, a possibility. But when … 
  4. A Much Better Place
     … They talk about the experience of nibbana where there’s neither here nor there nor in-between, but how do you get from here to that place of no place at all? Partly it’s through the kind of contemplation of the world that these texts advise. You can look at the basic building blocks and see that there’s really nothing much there … 
  5. Secluded from Sensuality
     … Where is the appeal centered? You think about all the damage that can be done if you give in to these mind states—all the affliction that comes, and the fact that you’re cutting off the possibility of nibbāna—yet the appeal is such a little tiny thing. That particular mind state, that becoming that you develop around lust and sensuality, has to … 
  6. The Joy of the Battle
     … That’s the Buddha’s image for nibbāna. Totally refreshing. You’re headed there. So even though the progress may be slow, and it may seem you’re actually not progressing at times, again, it’s like learning a language. There’s a period when it seems to be going backwards, but it’s actually getting more grounded. You learn things and then you … 
  7. Discernment All Along
     … If we could simply get to nibbana through the force of our desire, as Ajaan Fuang said, we would have all gone there a long time ago. We have to be observant, and we have to use our ingenuity. The combination of being observant and being ingenious: That’s discernment—as you notice what you’re doing, and then you try to think of … 
  8. Bad Friends Inside
     … It’s what the word nibbana comes from: It’s the letting go of the fire that frees it and puts it out. In the same way, the mind is not trapped by its objects, it’s not trapped by greed, anger, and delusion. It’s trapped by the fact that it’s chosen to hold on to these things. They’re not attached … 
  9. The Four Frames of Reference
     … And when you see it clearly that they are just bricks, you say, “There must be something better than this.” That’s what opens you up to your true refuge, that can sense the Dhamma—here meaning nibbana, the deathless. The unconditioned. That’s the ultimate refuge. So the Buddha’s greeting when you begin to meditate is to stay with the four frames … 
  10. Your Desire to Practice
     … After all, if Buddhas could take all living beings to nibbana, if they could save all living beings, we would have been saved a long time ago. But actually, the Buddha came to teach the people who wanted to put an end to suffering. It seems like a very reasonable assumption that everybody would want to put an end to suffering, but a lot … 
  11. Bless Yourself
     … If this were a world where we could take everybody else to nibbana, the Buddha would have done that a long time ago. Actually, it’s something each of us has to do for him or herself alone. But it’s something each of us can *do *for him or herself. That’s the good news. And it was a sign of Buddha’s … 
  12. Resisting the Germs of Defilement
     … That’s what the Buddha called nibbana: health. But it’s a health that’s much more reliable and more resilient than the health of the body. And it’s a health that, once it comes, never leaves you. With the health of the body, certain times you’re okay, certain times you’re not okay. And the body’s heading to death. There … 
  13. Tough Goodwill for a Tough World
     … That’s one of his epithets for nibbana. So goodwill requires not only that you develop an attitude of goodwill, but also that you live your life in such a way that it gets easier and easier to maintain that attitude, and to express that attitude in whatever you do.
  14. Something to Stand On
     … But nibbana doesn’t stop just there at the borders of your self. It spreads around. It’s good in all directions.
  15. Judging Just Right
     … But with nibbana, where you haven’t seen it, there’s no way you can compare where you are with where that’s going to be. This is why the Buddha said that it’s only at stream-entry that a person becomes independent in the Dhamma and can see where it’s going. That puts your powers of judgment on a firm basis … 
  16. Opportunities Everywhere
    When you think about the Buddha’s last words, it’s striking that he didn’t talk about nibbana, didn’t talk about emptiness, not-self, dependent co-arising, any of the really famous teachings. He started with a warning, “Fabrications are inconstant, subject to arising and passing away. Achieve completion through heedfulness.” In other words, he was talking about an attitude, an attitude … 
  17. Right View as Tool
     … Someone once asked the Buddha, “Is everybody in the world eventually going to go to nibbana?” He wouldn’t answer, because people have the freedom of choice to follow the path or not. As Ven. Ananda told the man, the Buddha is like a gatekeeper in a royal fortress. He walks around the wall of the fortress and he sees that there’s only … 
  18. Nourishing & Interesting
     … Well, that’s just being equanimous, and, again, the Buddha didn’t say that equanimity on its own could take you to nibbāna. You want to see how you’re complicit in the things that are inconstant, stressful, and not-self. You’re not just observing them and deciding whether you want to continue watching the show or not. You’re the producer, you … 
  19. Delight in Concentration
     … If you see that there’s anything negative about nibbana – it doesn’t sound interesting enough, it doesn’t sound exciting enough – that’s wrong view. You’ve got to go back and check: “What is it about my imagination that doesn’t allow for the fact that total freedom from affliction, total freedom from conflict, would be a worthwhile goal?” When you learn … 
  20. Alone & Together
     … What kinds of action are skillful and which ones are not? You don’t go straight to the non-action of total nibbana. That’s a case where the perception of dukkha is not useful—it’s not the right time, not the right place. So you have to be careful as you get off on your own, because your inner conversation can go … 
  21. Stick with It
     … Learn how to inspire some desire, either through reflecting on the terrors of saṁsāra or the rewards of nibbāna, or just letting the process of learning about your mind capture your imagination. When I came back from Thailand, people would ask me, “What was the hardest thing to endure over there?” And I had to stop and think. Then I realized, “The fact that … 
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