If you want to get rid of your enemy, the true way is to realize that your enemy is delusion.

Kegon Sutra

GRASPING

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying -- Sogyal Rinpoche

Let's try an experiment. Pick up a coin. Imagine that it represents the object at which you are grasping. Hold it tightly clutched in your fist and extend your arm, with the palm of your hand facing the ground. Now if you let go or relax your grip, you will lose what you are clinging onto. That's why you hold on.

But there's another possibility: You can let go and yet keep hold of it. With your palm still outstretched, turn your palm over so that it faces the sky. Release your hand and the coin still rests on your open palm. You let go. And the coin is still yours, even with all this space around it.

So there is a way in which we can accept impermanence and still relish life, at one and the same time, without grasping.

THE "NO-BEGINNING"

The source of all individual will is the universal benevolent will. The first work to realization of the benevolent will is non-clinging awareness. From this you will come to see that all is empty, all is Sunyata. Most beings have a concept of beginning and end, but you must develop the spacious attitude. In the texts they speak of, from the very 'no-beginning'. Learn to empty yourself of all views of time and space, for the concept of time-space comes from ego referencing, not from total seeing.

Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche "The Path of Victory" - Discourses on the Paramita

(In a conversation [a friend of mine had] with Rinpoche, he pointed at the cat and asked, "Do you think that cat has a sense of time? It's a human invention.")

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

What the Buddha Taught -- Walpola Rahula

With regard to the Four Noble Truths we have four functions to perform:

The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality. With regard to this, our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely.

The Second Noble Truth is the Origin of Dukkha, which is desire, 'thirst', accompanied by all other passions, defilements and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy and eradicate it.

The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvana, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the realization of Nirvana. A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it.

"Buddhism does not advocate the suppression of all desires, but rather offers the means to gain freedom from afflictive emotions. The desire for food when one is hungry, the aspiration to work for peace in the world, the thirst for knowledge, the wish to share one’s life with dear ones, or the yearning for freedom from suffering: all of these can contribute to lasting happiness as long as they are not tainted by craving and grasping. Like the other emotions, desire can be experienced either in a constructive or in an afflictive way. It can be the catalyst for a meaningful life or the maelstrom that wrecks it.

Usually, when a desire arises, we either satisfy or repress it. In the first case, we surrender our self-control; in the second case, a painful conflict builds up. The problem with merely satisfying a desire is that we set into motion a self perpetuating mechanism: the more salty water we drink, the thirstier we feel. This is how we become addicted to the causes of suffering. But once we know how to have a dialogue with our emotions, the intensity and frequency of the mental images that trigger desire will diminish, and we will become less influenced by desire, without having to repress it in any way. The few images that still arise will be like fleeting sparks in the vast expanse of the mind.

If we lack inner freedom, any intense sensory experience can generate strong attachments that entangle us. On the other hand, if we know how to perfectly maintain our inner freedom, we can experience all sensations within the pristine simplicity of the present moment, in a state of well-being that is free from grasping and expectation."

--Matthieu Ricard, Working With Desire

On Gaining Wisdom

By merely listening to others, their wisdom cannot be gained, it can merely be listened to. Buddha showed us the path to liberation, and then said we must not sit there gazing at it, but rather we must get up and walk it. Ideas must be acted upon, not merely reflected upon.

I can't build muscles by watching someone else exercise, no matter how thorough my observations might be. And our spiritual condition can only unfold through our own conduct, contemplation, compassion and meditation, as opposed to intellectually understanding the wisdom of the teachings.

In Buddha's words: "Do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea that ‘this is our teacher'. But when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong and bad, then give them up. . . And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them and follow them."

--from the dharma the cat web site

"Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.

Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don't have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don't have to leave our city or even our neighbourhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy.

We can smile, breath, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment.

...Peace and happiness are available in every moment. Peace is every step. ..."

--Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step - The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Bantam Books, New York, 1991