“ The empty mind is an abiding in ease, where there is no self, no
fear or desire to be deluded with. And yet there is the ability to
respond out of compassion and kindness to the present situation in a
suitable way. It is strange isn’t it? Compare the goal of Nibbana, of
non-existence, with that of becoming the best person in the whole world,
the strongest or the most beautiful. Worldly values are about having
power, beauty, wealth – but they all have their opposites, don’t they?
Success is always attached to failure, happiness is always attached to
unhappiness, praise is always attached to blame. Good fortune to bad
fortune. So if you choose the worldly values of wealth, power, success
and praise, you are going to get the others along with them because they
are like two sides of the same coin. You can’t separate the one from
the other. Worldly values are never really going to allow you to feel at
ease.
The world is an unsafe place, it’s not peaceful. And it’s not
where we really belong. You only begin to understand and realise peace
through emptiness, non-existence, non-self. And this is not
annihilation, but enlightenment, freedom, true peace, true knowledge. ”
THE WAY IT IS, Chapter : Stillness and Response;
by AJAHN SUMEDHO.
Reality is Dharma 