Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the Ultimate Goal

"Perhaps to counteract the common fear that the release of nibbana is a type of starvation, Khp 6 depicts it as a form of consumption in which one’s food is totally free — freely available, free from debt, and free from suffering: § 50. Those who, devoted, firm-minded, apply themselves to Gotama’s message, on attaining their goal, plunge into the deathless, freely eating the liberation they’ve gained." — Khp 6 ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Shape of Suffering: A Study of Dependent Co-arising"

"When the Buddha talks about his awakening, it’s interesting to notice that he never talks in terms of the three characteristics or the three perceptions. It’s always in terms of the four noble truths, which are truths about action and result: There are unskillful mental actions that lead to suffering, skillful actions that lead to the end of suffering. The awakening is to see that that’s actually true — and you see it’s true not by generalizing, but by actually following the path and putting an end to suffering. Some people describe awakening as giving assent to the three characteristics, saying, “Oh yeah, that really is true” — but what does that do, what does that change? The real change comes when you look in terms of the four noble truths. You actually do the path and it does lead you to something new — the end of suffering. That’s how you can be said to know the four noble truths — you’ve actually done the duties; you’ve seen the results." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Pa...

"The Buddha said that he taught just suffering and the end of suffering. Suffering is the problem he focused on and he proposed to solve it. First he was able to solve that problem inside himself. Then he taught other people to solve it within themselves. It seems fairly simple. You look at all the suffering in the world, and it’s obvious that it’d be really good that people not have to suffer. You see war, famine, induced war, induced famine. The things that happen in even just the human world are pretty bad, and there are realms where it gets a lot worse. So, any teaching that offers an end to suffering would seem to be something that would appeal to everyone. Yet when the Buddha talks about the implications of what it means to put an end to suffering, when he talks about nibbāna, a lot of people say it doesn’t sound all that appealing. Years back, when I gave my first study weekend here in California, the topic was the four noble truths. You get to the third truth before you ge...