..續本文上一頁o you want in the world anyway

　　 What do you really want

　　 What you are asking for is just more suffering. Let go!

　　Renunciation Leads To Peace

　　When you”ve been meditating, you find that the most happy times, the times when you”ve come closest to real happiness, are when you”ve been content. You find in your life that you can be happy with such a small amount. In fact, the less you have, the happier you can be. That”s why the path of renunciation and letting go overcomes craving. It”s the path of the Third Noble Truth - renunciation leads to peace.

　　Practise that principle in your life. Every time there is some suffering, that is where you have to renounce. What are you hanging onto anyway

　　 Give up something, let go of something, be content. As soon as you are content the problem is solved. You don”t need to think about it, just be at peace with whatever happens. Who knows, maybe the mob has been hired to come and beat me up tonight. O.K., I can handle that. Whatever happens to you, if you know contentment, then you know the path to freedom from suffering.

　　This is the Third Noble Truth. Don”t just think about it, practise it - let go of craving. If ever there is a problem in your meditation or in your life, instead of trying other solutions to overcome suffering, try ”The Third Noble Truth Solution” - let go of something, let go of craving. Again, you”re craving for something, and that is causing suffering, so abandon it. Find out what you want, what you really want, and you”ll know what”s causing you to suffer. Give it up!

　　"I want to be healthy", - give it up! Just be content being sick. "O.K. I”m sick. Let”s see how sick I can be!" That sort of attitude really gets Mara [2] worried. When you do things like that, the reply comes back, "Come on, don”t be stupid, you”ll get even more sick and it will hurt even more." See how sick you can be. That”s the sort of contentment which goes in the opposite direction of craving. This is what release is.

　　Don”t Make Any Future Houses

　　"Blinded by illusion, fettered by craving", we actually take up and create our ”houses” for the future (see Dhp,153-154). That creating a house for the future is bhava (literally ”existence”). Its like when we are building huts here in the monastery; we have to build the hut before someone can move into it. We build our next existence in this life through illusion and craving. We are making the kamma (volitional actions) and creating the bhava for the next life. We”re just creating a house for the future.

　　That”s why you”ve heard - and it comes straight from the Buddha”s teachings - that for people who make great merit there is a heavenly mansion (vimana) already waiting for them in a heavenly realm. For those who are creating bad kamma the pots of boiling liquid are already being heated up for them, waiting for them to fall down into hell. You are already creating your house for the future.

　　If you really are a homeless one, an anagarika, you should not just sell your existing house in this world but make sure you”re not making any future houses for your fantasies, dreams, and hopes for some sort of happiness at some time in the future. Again, with those dreams and fantasies you”re actually creating the conditions, you”re building the house, building the state of existence where you”ll find rebirth. Don”t underestimate the power of the mind to create realms of existence. "Mind is the forerunner and mind is the chief" (Dhp,1-2). Mind is the main thing. The world exists in the mind. The mind can create whole worlds, whole universes, whole states of existence through illusion and craving.

　　The Lord Buddha kept on saying that because you”ve been fed up, because you”ve been depressed until you”ve gone crazy, because this thing has happened to you and because that …

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