Release

Release

§ “Our practice is to go against the stream, against the flow. And where are we going? To the source of the stream. That’s the ‘cause’ side of the practice. The ‘result’ side is that we can let go and be completely at ease.”

§ “The stages of the practice… Actually the different stages don’t say what they are. We simply make up names for them. As long as you stay stuck on these made-up names, you’ll never get free.”

§ “When teaching people, you have to teach them in line with their temperaments and aptitudes, but eventually they all come to the same point: letting go.”

§ “Nibbana is subtle and takes a lot of discernment. It’s not something that the force of desire can reach. If we could get there through the force of desire, everyone in the world would have gotten there by now.”

§ “Some people talk about, ‘temporary nibbana, temporary nibbana,’ but how can nibbana be temporary? If it’s nibbana, it has to be constant. If it’s not constant, it’s not nibbana.”

§ “When they say that nibbana is empty, they mean that it’s empty of defilement.”

§ “Right where there’s no one to be pained, no one to die. Right there. It’s in each and every person. It’s as if your hand were palm-down, and you turn it palm-up — but only people of discernment will be able to do it. If you’re dense, you won’t see it, you won’t catch on to it, you won’t go beyond birth and death.”

§ “The heart when it’s released is like the fire element in the air. When fire goes out, it isn’t annihilated anywhere. It still permeates space, simply that it doesn’t latch onto any kindling, so it doesn’t appear.

“When the mind ‘goes out’ from defilement, it’s still there, but when new kindling comes, it doesn’t catch fire, doesn’t latch on — not even to itself.

“That’s what’s called release.”