The Buddha said the end of suffering is possible, doesn't change and is very much worth willing.

"What’s really worth doing? On the one hand there’s a lot of change: We’re subject to aging, illness, death, and separation from all that we love. The question is — what are you going to do about change?

Some people will tell you that the Buddha teaches you, “You simply have to accept it because that’s all there is: things that keep on changing, changing, and changing. If you resist change, or if you try to find something that doesn’t change, you’re going against the nature of reality.” But the Buddha did teach that there is something that doesn’t change, and it can be attained through our efforts.

So, what’s worth willing then? Simple acceptance? Well, no. What’s worthwhile willing is to act in ways that will lead to that changeless dimension. That’s why the contemplation ends with, “I am the owner of my actions.... whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.” Your actions will make a difference, so you want to make sure that you’re well motivated to act skillfully.

This is where the emotions come in. They’re not just a matter of how you feel about somebody doing something or someone saying something or events outside. They’re not just your passive reaction to things, they’re also your active sense of what can be done. There’s a certain amount of emotion that goes into that, too. You see this very clearly with people who are depressed: They have no desire to act. They feel that everything is hopeless, their actions will not make any difference, so they just give up.

That’s a very bad heart state to be in, just in terms of the feeling side. And it’s very strongly related to the fact that they don’t feel that anything is worth doing, nothing is worth willing. But as the Buddha said, the end of suffering is possible. It is possible to find something that doesn’t change. That’s very much worth willing."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Developing the Heart"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connectedness through karma can go either way — the connections can be good, or they can be bad. So you want to foster the good ones.

" “We’re related through our actions” The connections we have in life with different people are created by our actions: things that we’ve done together with other people or to other people or for other people. These create the connections that we have with the people around us. Interconnectedness is a very popular teaching in Buddhism, especially nowadays, but it’s funny that people like to talk about interconnectedness without the teaching on karma. They turn to dependent co-arising as a model for interconnectedness, this web of connections where one factor can’t exist without a whole lot of other factors, but they neglect to realize that dependent co-arising is a teaching on how ignorance is connected with suffering, how craving is connected with suffering. It’s the kind of connectedness you want to cut, not the kind you want to celebrate. Connectedness through karma can go either way — the connections can be good, or they can be bad. So you want to foster the good ...
Read more

The mind doesn’t operate totally on its understanding of things. Feelings of pleasure and pain do play a role in the way we act, the way we think. We try to give rise to feelings of well-being within ourselves through the meditation.

"The ability to talk to yourself skillfully can be strengthened by a different kind of feeling: not emotions, but feelings of pleasure. The mind doesn’t operate totally on its understanding of things. Feelings of pleasure and pain do play a role in the way we act, the way we think. This is one of the reasons why we try to give rise to feelings of well-being within ourselves, through the breath, through the meditation." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Feeling & Intention"
Read more

Gratitude is focused on actions: the actions you’ve benefited from and the actions you feel called on to make in response to repay your debt of gratitude and to try to continue this stream of goodness into the world, on into the future.

"This is what gratitude is all about: It’s a sense not only that you appreciate the choices that people made but also that you need to respond. The word patikaroti means to repay or to make amends, but it can also mean to imitate. In other words, you imitate the goodness that they did, the intention that they had. You try to carry that out. That’s the response that keeps their goodness alive. There’s that question that people would often ask Ajaan Fuang: “How can I repay you for having taught me?” and his response was, “Be really intent on the practice.” That’s the best repayment right there. So this is why the Buddha’s teachings on gratitude are all surrounded by words that deal with action. You appreciate someone’s good actions and then you realize there’s an action that’s called for from you, an appropriate response. That’s what makes it different from appreciation or contentment. As the Buddha said, it’s a characteristic of a good person to feel gratitude and to want to rep...
Read more