Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the Ultimate Goal

"So when you see dispassion as a good thing, that’s when you’re really on the path. As the Buddha said, if you think that nibbana is something dull, or that it would have any bad qualities at all, then you’ve got wrong view and it’s going to hamper your practice. So learn to look on dispassion favorably — as freedom, as being unfettered — and that’ll give your practice a real boost." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Dispassion is Freedom"

"There’s something that’s deathless. Only it doesn’t lie in the “midst” of things. It’s a different dimension. It’s out of space and time. But it’s contacted right here. The Buddha doesn’t talk much about it. He says it’s something you realize by doing the practice. We were talking today about trying to get our heads around the idea of what this deathlessness might be like. But it’s not something you get your head around. You try to get your head around suffering so you can comprehend it to the point where you can develop dispassion for the things that make you cling to it. As for the cause of suffering, you try to get your head around it enough to abandon it. But the end of suffering, the cessation of suffering, is not something to comprehend. You discover it. It’s there. And regardless of how wonderful your theories are about it or how accurate your ideas may be about it, there’s no way they can touch the actual reality of this potential, this dimension." ~ Thanissaro Bhikk...

"You develop a sense of dispassion. Notice, dispassion’s not saying we’re going to kiss and make up and pretend that everything is okay. Things are not okay. That’s the underlying condition of samsara: It’s not okay . And if you want closure, samsara’s not going to provide it. Part of the mind doesn’t like the idea that there are all these dangling ends that are not tied up. But our lives are nothing but dangling ends. How many dangling ends are left over from your previous lives, you have no idea. We’ve been going through samsara with lots of ends dangling. The only closure is to admit that the whole business is not okay and it’s time to get out. It’s only when you get out that you’re really free." So when hurtful memories come up like this, remind yourself that as a meditator you now have new tools and a new identity: the person who’s mastered those tools. That changes the narrative and heads it toward the only point of genuine closure — nibbana — which no lo...

"There was a piece recently about how Buddhists ought to get off of their cushion and get out there in the world and deal with the real causes of suffering, which are rooted in society. But the author was totally missing the point. The real causes are in here. The Buddha himself saw that you could change the world, but it would never be enough for people. As he said, even if it rained gold coins, it wouldn’t be enough for one person’s sensual desires. So the pursuit of an ideal or a perfect world out there is never-ending. And a lot of people, in creating a perfect world, can create a lot of messes and harm for other people. The word for perfection that they use in the Canon applies to qualities you develop in the mind. That’s where perfection can be found. The world is always going to be imperfect, but there is such a thing as perfect happiness. And it doesn’t harm anyone. It doesn’t place any burdens on anyone at all. The Buddha gives us that test for what counts as Dhamma. Fir...

"You develop a sense of dispassion. Notice, dispassion’s not saying we’re going to kiss and make up and pretend that everything is okay. Things are not okay. That’s the underlying condition of samsara: It’s not okay . And if you want closure, samsara’s not going to provide it. Part of the mind doesn’t like the idea that there are all these dangling ends that are not tied up. But our lives are nothing but dangling ends. How many dangling ends are left over from your previous lives, you have no idea. We’ve been going through samsara with lots of ends dangling. The only closure is to admit that the whole business is not okay and it’s time to get out. It’s only when you get out that you’re really free. So when hurtful memories come up like this, remind yourself that as a meditator you now have new tools and a new identity: the person who’s mastered those tools. That changes the narrative and heads it toward the only point of genuine closure — nibbana — which no longer involves ill wi...

"One of the important things to understand as you come to practice the Dhamma is that you’re not running away from anything. If you want to run away from the human race: You come out here and what have you got? You’re sitting here under a tree, you’re sitting with a member of the human race. You want to run away from your body: You’re sitting there with your body. You want to run away from the issues of the mind: You find that when things are quiet, the issues have more space to come and confront you. So once you realize there’s no place to run away, what do you do? You have to turn around and learn how to deal with these things. If it’s something unskillful in the mind, you have to learn how to reason with it. You can’t just push it away and pretend it’s not there. You have to enter into a dialogue. As for the body, before you drop attachment to the body, you’re got to learn that the body has its good side. We were discussing today: We sit with the body, sit with the breath and t...