Salvation

For the Dhamma/Truth to have any use at all, the teachings must rule the Mind and Transform it. Otherwise it is just a lot of talk and high sounding philosophy. To follow the "religion" or accept Truth means to accept the Dhamma for life, Not just when it is convenient to do so!

Acceptance means to allow Metta/unconditional love, Truth and logic to guide the Mind, and to remove Greed, Hatred, irrationality and Delusion.. and all the passions like anger, lust, selfishness that follow therefrom. The essence of, the foundation of a spiritual life is Morality/Sila and for the Buddha what He taught are 5 secular Precepts suitable for anyone who wishes to lead a life based on Love, Virtue and Compassion.

Renunciation is NOT only for Monks and Nuns, for it is NOT an Escape from the World but action without SELFish motives; arising from a realisation of the delusion of the SELF and the futility of leading life dictated at all times by the concept of "I", "My" and "Mine". Letting this go is True Renunciation, not merely the renunciation of clothes for a set of robes, fine china for an alms bowl or home for a monastery.

True Salvation is IMPORTANTLY not a post-mortem goal but a Liberation in the here and now from the bondage of selfish desires aimed only at the gratification of insatiable wants, and passions that fetters us when young and frustrates us when old. With True salvation is the liberation from all Greed, Hatred and Ignorance, Freedom from all that fetters us to more pain and suffering, living life freed from being a slave to an imagined Ego. True freedom realises the Emptiness of all boundaries of "I", "My" and "Mine", that which sees only Dependent Origination of all phenomena. That is the Ultimate Happiness the Buddha experienced, of Happiness here and now in every moment.

Contentment

"Some have too Much and yet do Crave,

I have Little and Seek NO more;

They are But Poor though much more they have,

And I am Rich with little store.

They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;

They lack, I have; they Pine, I Live!"

Empty it

A talk on emptiness given to medical students in 1961 by Ajahn Buddhadasa.

"We don't have to do anything very much to make ourselves happy, we don't have to go to any great trouble

All we have to do is to empty our minds of greed, aversion and delusion, or in other words to make it empty of grasping at and clinging to 'I' and 'mine'. When the mind is empty of greed, aversion and delusion then it's truly empty and all Dukkha comes to an end.

Even kamma will of itself come to an end."

Self

"SELF"

There is NO essential 'Self'. Self is ascertained in terms of the 5 Aggregates.

What we identify with as our "Self" is actually the interaction of the 5 Aggregates which forms a system.

Ignorance is when we identify with this as an individual entity rather than as a changing process. We foolishly impose a permanent, separate Self onto this ceaseless interaction of processes.

The experiencing of life from the deluded perspective of identification with this unchanging centre, this independent separate identity, is the Ignorant Premise that underlies life in Samsara.

Craving/Tanha, the cause of Suffering is fuelled by this erroneous perception which separates one who desires, the object of desire and the desire. All things are now seen as "I', "My" or "Mine".

When one no longer sees in this way, desires will cease since they are the result of thinking in terms of separateness or selfhood.

Learning

"In spite of my learning, if I am NOT able to put it into practise, I am NO better than an uneducated man".

We can take Refuge in the Wisdom of the Buddha; a Wisdom which is NOT TO BE found in the historical past,

BUT ONLY WHEN WE WALK WITH IT, LIVE WITH IT.

--
" Furthermore, a sage at peace is not born, does not age, does not die, is unagitated, and is free from longing. He has nothing whereby he would be born. Not being born, will he age? Not aging, will he die? Not dying, will he be agitated? Not being agitated, for what will he long? "

Optional

Physical suffering is Inevitable,

Mental Misery is Optional.

As we walk

• Just because we have chosen to walk a spiritual path we will not be free from the emotions and feelings that are part of being human.
• We will still get angry, be annoyed with people and get frustrated. All of these emotions are normal.
• What changes, as we move along the spiritual path, is how we process these emotions, what we do with them and how they affect our life.
• They will not have the same effect on us as they once did and we will learn to choose our emotional responses to situations and even, at times, choose not to respond at all. This is when our spiritual and emotional being is in balance.
• The belief that once we step onto the spiritual path we will no longer experience emotions such as anger is false. It is unreasonable to expect that of ourselves, just as it is unreasonable to expect that we will always respond to every situation within the context of our spiritual learning.
• We will still feel anger and even fear, but we will not feel it in the same way.
• The emotions that once had control over us will now be part of an experience that we will assess with calm detachment, just as we would consider on which side of the street we want to walk on.