The latest dharma talk is now available on the GBF website, podcast and YouTube channel:
Why Practice? Part 2: The Path from Samsara to Nibbāna – Ian Challis
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What if “liberation” isn’t an escape from the world’s pain, but the most grounded way to meet it?
In Part 2, Ian Challis continues his exploration of the journey from samsara (the spinning wheel of greed, hatred, and delusion) toward nibbāna—not as a far-off trophy, but as an orientation we can practice right here.
He frames refuge (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as a real-time source of strength rather than a hiding place: community, ethics, and wise effort become the “places we gather power” when life feels dystopian or overwhelming. He leans on the bodhisattva spirit—awakening that’s incomplete unless it includes others—and points out that freedom isn’t withdrawal; it’s relationship, mutuality, and shared responsibility.
Ian also makes liberation practical and strangely familiar: most people already know its taste. He calls these moments “free samples”—brief flashes when the mind isn’t clinging (maybe in nature, art, a quiet walk, or simply watching the breath). The practice is to study what’s present and absent in those moments, and to lean into the “via negativa” of the Dharma—freedom revealed by letting go. Along the way, he offers a handful of memorable handles for the path:
“Letting go” in degrees: let go a little → a little peace; a lot → a lot of peace; completely → complete freedom (Ajahn Chah).
A Marie Kondo test for the mind: if a thought, habit, or story doesn’t support the wholesome, can it be released? (Although it’s easier with closets than with resentment.)
Five grounding views for hard times: trust the path, trust one’s capacity, remember support/lineage, hold that all beings deserve compassion (including oneself), and remember that actions matter.
A deeper inquiry beneath “the heart wants what it wants”: through the five aggregates, Ian points to how the survival-driven “I-making” process can run the show—until practice begins to dissolve the hard sense of “me,” revealing a deeper heart that longs for connection and true freedom.
He closes by treating nibbāna with humility and faith—something the Buddha described beyond ordinary categories—and reminds listeners that the work is gradual: many small acts of integrity, mindfulness, and wisdom that keep turning the wheel toward stillness.
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