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Samedho 52
The Buddha pointed to the way of seeing things as they are; this is what we mean by enlightenment. Seeing the way it actually is, we are not doomed to living in a realm which there is no way out of. There is a clear way out of the realm of misery.
The Buddha said: I teach only two things –
suffering and the end of suffering.
Understanding dukkha: Suffering is something we create. Observe suffering to know the dukkha.
There are three insights into the First Noble Truth: there is dukkha, it should be understood, it has been understood. That is how insight works: we recognize it, we understand it, and we begin to know when we understand.
The Second Noble Truth is the origin of dukkha: there is an origin; it is due to the grasping of desire. The second insight of the Second Noble Truth is that this attachment to desire – this identification with desire being me and mine – this following of desire should be let go of, leaving it as it is. Then the third insight is: desire has been let go of – through practice dukkha has been let go of.
The Third Noble Truth is that there is the cessation of suffering. When you let go of something and you realize letting go, your habits become your teachers. When you let go of suffering, suffering ceases. There is cessation and it should be realized - this is the second insight into the Third Noble Truth. The feeling of suffering and of I am ceases. This is not to be believed, but to be realized – and then there is the third insight: cessation has been realized.
There is the first insight into each of the truths – pariyatti – an observing that there is suffering, its origin, its cessation.
Then there is the second insight – the patipatti – the insight into practice, what we do, how we practice.
The third insight is the pativedha – the wisdom. It has been understood, it has been let go of.
The Buddha refered to his teaching as a raft which you can make out of the things around you. The raft is to carry us across the sea of ignorance – avijja.
When we get to the other shore, we can let it go. This other shore can also be a delusion, because the other shore and this shore are really the same. The way of mindfulness is alwaysa appropriate to the time and place. Suffering is not dependent on the world being good or bad, but on how willing we are to use wisdom in this present moment. The way out of suffering is now.
Ajahn Sumedho
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