..續本文上一頁u any longer and it goes away. That”s the nature of suffering.

　　But it”s particularly important to know deeply that the five aggregates of themselves, even consciousness, are suffering. The less you are conscious of, the more peaceful you are. Jhanas are the highest happinesses you can experience until you let go completely and reach the attainment of cessation (nirodha samapatti) where there is no consciousness at all. The five aggregates just stop for a while. Once those five aggregates have stopped and you come out afterwards, you have to know - there”s no other way - that consciousness is suffering, perception is suffering, feeling is suffering, the body is suffering, mental formations are suffering, birth is suffering, and life is suffering. So when you suffer it just proves the Buddha was right. Also, you know that the more you can let go, the less suffering you have. That too just proves the Buddha was right again. If you can let go completely, you know the cause of all future suffering is finally overcome.

　　A Workman Waiting For His Wages

　　In the Anattalakkhana Sutta (Mv,I,6,38-47) the Lord Buddha says that from revulsion comes dispassion - when you get fed up with these five aggregates they start to fade. And from dispassion comes freedom (vimutti). You know from that freedom that you”re not building any more houses. You have completely abandoned everything. You know that birth is destroyed. You”ve just this life to live. You”re like a workman waiting for his wages (see Thag,1003). You”ve done your work, and you know there is no more existence in the future for you. That in itself is great happiness - to know that whatever suffering you have to experience between now and the dissolution of the aggregates (parinibbana) is just that much, and that”s the last of the suffering that you have to experience in samsara.

　　If you haven”t attained that or if you haven”t entered the stream, it means the suffering ahead of you in samsara is endless - life after life of going through the same old thing. But don”t blame anyone else for your suffering, and don”t blame yourself. It”s the very nature of existence. Just apply the Third Noble Truth of letting go or the Fourth Noble Truth of the practices of morality (sila), sustained attention (samadhi) and wisdom (pa񱡩. Keep precepts and you lessen suffering. Develop sustained attention, gentleness, persistence and stability of mind and you lessen suffering even more. Develop wisdom and you end suffering.

　　Joy at last!

　　Ajahn Brahmavamso

　　(taken from: "Dhamma Journal",

　　Buddhist Society of Western Australia, July 2001)

　　-ooOoo-

　　Notes:

　　[1] It is important to realise that although one speaks about the alternation of happiness and suffering in life, ultimately its all suffering. An experience you now perceive as happiness due to some previous suffering, may be perceived as suffering later on in comparison to an even greater happiness. Thus, in the broadest sense, all experience is suffering.

　　[2] "Mara" is the Buddhist ”tempter” - He appears in the texts both as a real person (ie. as a deity) and as the personification of evil and passions, of the totality of worldly existence and of death." See: Nyanatiloka Thera, Buddhist Dictionary (4th Rev. Ed.), (Kandy, Sri Lanka, Buddhist Publication Society, 1980), p.116.

　　The following abbreviation system is used for Sutta references in this discourse:

　　Maha Vagga (Vinaya): (Mv, Section#, Chapter#, Paragraph#);

　　Majjhima Nikaya: (MN, Sutta#);

　　Samyutta Nikaya: (SN, Samyutta#, Sutta#);

　　Anguttara Nikaya: (AN, Nipata#, Sutta#);

　　Dhammapada: (Dhp, Verse#);

　　Sutta Nipata: (Sn, Verse#);

　　Theragatha: (Thag, Verse#).

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