..續本文上一頁e mind simply loosens its grip, it”s had enough, it”s empty, it”s sobered up. There”s no love, no hatred, no fixating on anything. If you have things, okay. If you don”t, it”s still okay. You”re at ease. At peace.

　　Nibbanam paramam sukham Nibbanam paramam suññam.

　　Nibbana is the ultimate happiness. Nibbana is the ultimate peace, emptiness. Listen carefully. Worldly happiness isn”t the ultimate happiness. Worldly emptiness isn”t the ultimate emptiness. The ultimate emptiness is empty of clinging. The ultimate happiness is peace. There”s peace and then there”s emptiness, the ultimate emptiness. At the moment, though, the mind is at peace but it”s not ultimate. It”s happy, but it”s not ultimate.

　　This is why the Buddha described nibbana as the ultimate emptiness, its happiness as the ultimate happiness. It changes the nature of happiness to be peace. It”s happy but not fixated on any object. Pains still exist, but you see the pains and pleasures that arise as equal to each other. They have the same price. The objects we like and don”t like are equal to each other.

　　But as for us right now, these things aren”t equal. The objects we like are really pleasing. The objects we don”t like, we want to smash. That means they”re not equal. But their reality is that they”re equal. So think in a way that makes them equal. They”re not stable. They”re not constant — like the food I mentioned just now. "This is good. That”s wonderful." But when they”re all brought together, they”re equal. Nobody says, "Give me a little more. I didn”t get enough." It”s all been brought together to the way it is.

　　If we don”t drop the principles of inconstancy, stress, and not-self, we”re on the path. We see with every moment. We see the eye, we see the mind, we see the body.

　　Like when you sit in meditation. After a moment the mind goes off in a flash, so you pull it back. No matter what you do, it won”t stay. Try holding your breath. Will it go away then

　　 Yyb! It goes, but not far. It”s not going to go now. It circles around right here — because your mind feels like it”s about to die.

　　The same with sounds. I once stuffed my ears with beeswax. Noises bothered me, so I stuffed my ears. Things were totally quiet, with just the sound from within my ears themselves. Why did I do it

　　 I contemplated what I was doing; I didn”t torment myself just out of stupidity. I thought about the matter. "Oh. If people could become noble ones from not hearing anything, then every deaf person would be a noble one. Every blind person would be a noble one. They”d all be arahants." So I listened to my thoughts, and — Oh! — discernment arose.

　　"Is there any use in stuffing your ears

　　 In closing your eyes

　　 It”s self-torment." But I did learn from it. I learned and then stopped doing it. I stopped trying to close things off.

　　Don”t go wrestling and attacking, don”t go cutting down the trunks of trees that have already died. It gets you nowhere. You end up tired and stand there looking like a fool.

　　They were such a waste, such a real waste, my early years as a meditator. When I think about them, I see that I was really deluded. The Buddha taught us to meditate to gain release from suffering, but I simply scooped up more suffering for myself. I couldn”t sit in peace, couldn”t lie down in peace.

　　The reason we live in physical seclusion (kaya-viveka)is to get the mind in mental seclusion (citta-viveka) from the objects that stir up its moods. These things are synonyms that follow one after the other. Upadhi-viveka refers to seclusion from our defilements: When we know what”s what, we can pull out of them; we pull out from whatever the state the mind is in. This is the only purpose of physical seclusion. If you don”t have any discernment, you can create difficulties for yourself …

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