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 thoughts as they actually are, then one is not
attached to thoughts. 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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Since suffering
is caused by craving, the cessation of craving brings about the end of
suffering. We have seen how this works for each of the sense modalities,
and now we turn to the mind as the sixth pathway of experience. We are
attached to certain thoughts—usually the ones that feel good—and we
struggle against others, which results in a lot of mental troubles. We
gain well-being by letting go of both forms of craving.
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Right view can
be a practice in itself, a practice of gaining insight into the nature
of our experience. Seeing thoughts as they actually are, as arising and
passing conditioned events, helps us get free of attachment to them.
Thoughts are not wrong, but we suffer in direct proportion to our
infatuation with them. Craving can be relinquished, if only for a
moment. Abandon bodily and mental troubles and get free—if only for a
moment.
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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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