who are calm in body,
in speech and in mind,
and who are thoroughly purged
of all worldly obsessions.
Dhammapada v. 378
When religions teach us to dismiss the material world they are not being helpful. The Buddha taught us to understand the material world, not dismiss it. To the degree we understand the world we need not be obsessed by it. If we see the world clearly, we can recognise both its potential for increasing the happiness of living beings as well as the risk of increasing suffering. Without this clear seeing, the pleasure that arises with gratification of desire, for example, looks like the path to peace and contentment. But it is not. Such gratification is merely a momentary relief from the irritation of wanting. The peace and contentment that we seek are the companions of clear seeing. All things of the world, the agreeable and the disagreeable, are changing. Truly seeing this is seeing changelessness.
With Metta,
Bhikkhu Munindo
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