Thanissaro Bhikkhu on the Ultimate Goal

"A question that ultimately comes up is: “Is there an alternative where you don’t have to fabricate it at all?” That’s the question you pursue. And when you find the answer, that’s when things open up to something else entirely. There’s not even a sense of present moment at that point. It’s a different dimension. But as the Buddha said, it’s touched here in the body — it’s going to be experienced right where you’re experiencing the body right now. So keep working right here, because right here is where things open up. That ultimate freedom is right near the spot where in the present moment you’re making your choices, or your intentions are deciding to do this or do that. You begin to realize, as you get more skillful in these various processes that you’re bringing up to the fore, that you do have a lot of freedom of choice here in the present moment. And right next to that freedom of choice, which is conditioned freedom, there is the ultimate freedom. It’s going to be found right...

Question: I’ve come to meditation to help me bear the atrocities of the world. What is awakening? Is it a moment of conscience when one embraces all the sorrows of the world, and in that case means hello to all sorrows or is it on the contrary a state of total forgetfulness and egotism, in that case it would be hello to guilt? So, which is it? Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Neither. Remember the image of feeding. Ordinarily, we feed on the world, both physically and mentally, in order to gain happiness and maintain our identity as beings. But when you gain full awakening, the mind no longer needs to feed because it already has enough in terms of its own happiness. When you’ve reached that state, you can engage in the world without having to feed on it. You can help those whom you can help, and you don’t have to suffer in cases where you can’t help. In this way, you’re neither embracing the sorrows of the world nor are you running away from them. Instead you have a different relationship to the ...

"Total freedom. Indescribable and undefined. That’s what this practice is all about. If the idea of total freedom captures your imagination, then the difficulties get smaller and smaller. Even though they may be large in your mind right now, they start looming smaller and smaller as you stick with the path. The Buddha once said that if you could make a deal that every day for 100 years you’d be speared with 100 spears in the morning, 100 spears at noon, 100 spears in the evening — 300 spear-wounds every day — but with a guarantee that in 100 years you’d gain full Awakening, that would be a deal worth taking. When the Awakening came, you wouldn’t consider that it had been gained with difficulty. It’s up to you to decide whether you find that passage intriguing. Then again, you can look at the alternative: what life is like if you don’t." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Freedom Undefined" (Meditations3)

"All too often, there’s the idea that awakening comes by stringing yourself out until you reach the end of your rope, and then, in desperation, you go for awakening. Well, that’s not the pattern the Buddha set forth. You bring the mind to balance with a sense of well-being, a sense of completeness. That’s one of his words to describe awakening: completion. Everything comes to the culmination of its potential. In fact, that was his actual last word: achieve completion — in which the factors of the path are all fully developed and they all support one another." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Mindfulness & Effort"

"We remember [the Buddha] because he left behind his excellent example, one full of hope. He was able to take his human nature and develop to the perfection of awakening. And we’ve got that potential within us as well. So don’t see that as one more burden being placed on you, one more impossible measuring stick against which you’re supposed to measure yourself. Think of it as an opening to total satisfaction, an opportunity for total satisfaction. Those two Himalayan ranges of gold will never satisfy you, but nibbana is more than satisfying. That’s what the Buddha and all the great arahants have said. It’s up to us to decide whether we’re interested in what they say or not, whether we’re tantalized by what they say or not. But only a fool wouldn’t be interested in a possibility that good." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Perfection in an Imperfect World"

"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 attention ...

"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 ...