Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the Ultimate Goal

"Whatever attachments were causing suffering, whatever ignorance was causing the diseases of the mind — greed, anger, and delusion: That ignorance can be gone for good. That’s the good news of the Buddha’s teaching. Even though there are things in the world that change and are impermanent, the effect that the Dhamma can have on the mind when it’s used with precision is once and for all. The suffering can be gone for once and for all. So do your best to master this skill. Do your best to get the mind in position so that you can apply that skill with precision. When the Buddha talks about knowing for yourself, this is how he recommends you go about it. It’s not just a matter of sitting around and deciding that you like or dislike a particular teaching. It’s seeing where it’s properly applied. That’s when you really come to appreciate the power of the Dhamma." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Breath Meditation, Step by Step"

"Over time, you get a sense of what really works, what you’ve got to do and what will happen as a result, so that you’re not just sitting here with the desire or the wish not to suffer. You’re taking that desire, that wish, and putting it to good use. At the same time, you’re not playing a game of pretending you don’t have these desires in hopes that lack of desire will get you to the goal. If you didn’t really want to find peace of mind, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be off someplace else. And if you lie to yourself about not having that desire, how are you going to understand any of your desires? What’s needed is simply learning how to approach your desires and wishes in a mature way. That’s how we get what we truly want. The heart’s true desire is for a happiness that’s reliable, a well-being that’s reliable, something you can really depend on, something that’s harmless — something that doesn’t age, grow ill, or die. And, as the Buddha said, there is a path to just ...

"When we realize our captivity, we naturally search for a way out. And this is where it’s so important that the first noble truth not say that “Life is suffering.” If life were suffering, where would we look for an end to suffering? We’d be left with nothing but death and annihilation. But when the actual truth is that clinging is suffering, we simply have to look for the clinging and eliminate its causes." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Life Isn't Just Suffering"

"[The Buddha] talks about the goal just enough to make you understand that it’s worth pursuing: the ultimate happiness, the ultimate freedom, totally outside of any physical or mental location in space or time. As he says, if you hold to a perception that the goal might be accompanied by any kind of suffering or regret, drop that perception. Don’t listen to it. The deathless is totally satisfying and ends all your hungers. Once your hungers are satisfied, that solves all your other problems as well." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Uses of Right Concentration"

"This path does offer a way out. In the meantime, you’re not harming anybody and you’re providing yourself with definite wealth, definite strength, definite treasures — as we often say in Thailand — that last beyond death. In other words, you treat the world around you in full knowledge that it’s going to die, but you treat the quality of your mind as something that doesn’t die. That’s what gives honor to what you’re doing. It’s what makes this a noble path." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Living Honorably" (Meditations8)

"Some people like to think about nibbana as a total wiping out of any kind of consciousness of anything. If that were the case, though, the Buddha wouldn’t have described it the way he does: a path that cannot be traced. If it were a wipe-out, it would be very easy to describe. So it’s good to get your imagination stretched a little bit and to realize that going beyond this process of feeding, which has been our source of pleasure for who knows how long, would be a good thing. After all, feeding has not only been a source of pleasure, but also a source of pain. To be in a position where you have to feed is painful. It’s the Buddha’s definition of suffering. You have to comprehend it. Ultimately, the only way you’re going to fully comprehend it will be to go beyond it. And this is the only path that will take you there." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Feeding on Feeding"