SEEING THE TRUE NATURE
OF CONDITIONS
Ajahn Sumedho
The Mind and the Way (Chapter 7)
That’s Samsara. All those screaming, possessive, frightened, greedy little
voices. When you’re attached to all that, it’s Samsara. Samsara is the realm of
suffering. Nibbana is the realm of freedom from suffering. Nibbana is the realm
of freedom from suffering through non-attachment. When we recognize whatever
happens in our minds, whether it’s negative or positive, critical or
affirmative, simply as conditions, this is the Buddha-mind, this is Nibbana.
The
Buddha’s teaching points to the fact that all conditions are impermanent
(P.sabbe sankhara anicca). By the word “condition” (P.sankhara), we mean a
formation of the mind, such as a thought or opinion.
Men
and women are conditions. Similarly, Jews and Gentiles, Buddhists and
Christians, Asians and Europeans, Africans, the working class, the middle
class, the upper class – all these are only formations that go through the
mind. They aren’t absolutes. They are merely conventions that are useful for
communication. We must use these conventions, but we must also realize that
they are only conventions – not absolutes. In this way, our minds are no longer
fixed in our views or opinions. Views and opinions are seen simply as
conditions that arise and cease in the mind, because that’s what they really
are. All conditions are impermanent; they arise and cease.
Samsara
is the state of being attached and suffering. In this state, we say things
like, “I wish those problems would go away. I don’t want this. I’m afraid of
that. I don’t like this. I shoundn’t be this way. You shoundn’t be that way.”
ooOoo
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