Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the Ultimate Goal

"The Buddha started and ended his teaching with the issue of how to put an end to suffering, and it’s easy to agree with him that this is an important issue to address. Some people, though, wonder if that’s all he addresses. Just put an end to suffering? What else is there? Aren’t there bigger issues in life? Actually, it was a part of the Buddha’s genius to realize that if you put an end to suffering, you learn a lot of other things about the mind. If you focus on the issue of suffering, a lot of things are brought right there together. Because right where there’s feeling there’s also attention and intention, perception — particularly intention. And when these issues are solved, everything important gets solved as well." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Choice Not to Suffer"

"The more wealth you have inside, the less you’re worried about wealth outside. The less you worry about wealth outside, the more you can trust yourself to do the skillful thing, to say the skillful thing, to think the skillful thing in any situation. If you can train the mind to the point where it’s found something that can’t be touched by anything in space and time but can be touched through inner awareness — as the Buddha says, you touch it with the body, or you see it with the body; in other words, it’s a total experience; it’s not just a vision, it’s not just an idea, it’s visceral: Once you’ve had your first taste of that, you know you have a happiness you can depend on. This means you can depend on your mind as well. The other pleasures of the world become less important and are less likely to tempt you to do unskillful things to attain them and protect them because you realize you have something that doesn’t need protection." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Permission to P

"The Buddha never said nirvana is the ultimate equanimity. He said it’s the ultimate happiness. You don’t turn your mind into a resigned oatmeal [dull or plain] kind of state. You find that by letting go, things open up immensely. No limits of space or time. And no need to put in any effort." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "A Soiled, Oily Rag (Three Perceptions in Context)"

"So this is how completion is attained. It’s by focusing on each moment, giving importance to each moment, realizing, “I now have this one in-and-out breath. I’ve got an opportunity to practice. Let’s make the most of it.” Approach each moment as skillfully as you can. And as the moments pass and you’re still alive, you’ve got the opportunity to get more and more skilled. There will come a point where the skill does reach a point of completion. You can’t map it out ahead of time that it’s going to take x number of days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes. But you can be confident that this is where it’s found, this is how it’s done. It’s right here. The more importance you give to the present moment, the closer you get to the goal. That’s why you have to avoid thinking of the goal as something down the line, in terms of stepping back from the present moment and looking out across the calendar. It’s something to be found right here. So look right here. If you give complete