RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
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What is the cessation of
suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving
up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of craving. (MN 9)
When one knows and sees visual forms as they actually are, then one is
not attached to visual forms. When one abides unattached, one is not
infatuated, and one’s craving is abandoned. One’s bodily and mental
troubles are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental
well-being. (MN 149)
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The third noble
truth declares that once suffering has been identified (the first noble
truth) and its origin has been discovered (the second noble truth), it
is possible to bring that suffering to an end. This is the great promise
of the Buddhist path: that any time we are experiencing suffering, we
can reverse or neutralize it with insight and practices that loosen the
specific craving that causes the particular instance of suffering.
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Let's begin
with focusing on the sphere of visual experience. So many of the things
we see give rise to impulses of attachment, infatuation, and craving.
When we want what we see, that visual object becomes the trigger for a
brief episode of suffering. Notice, however, that this impulse to crave
what we see need not have irresistible power over us. Practice noting
the craving, then letting go of it. Notice the ensuing sense of
well-being.
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Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
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