Interestingly, there is a Path to Nirvana. It can be drawn as a flowchart. It often is at Pa Auk Forest Monastery where we trained. The only problem is that this schematic irks some people, Wisdom Quarterly included, for the massive jump at the beginning.
But it works for others who do not find those initial steps to be stumbling blocks at all due to the natural ability to sit, settle, and reach samadhi. Variations of the chart run something like:
Meditations (Pa Auk Sayadaw)
(Bring store of paramis), sit, take up Breath Meditation (anapana-sati) OR Four Elements Meditation until nimitta (learning sign) appears, take it to attainment of jhana (first meditative absorption with the appearance of the Five Factors of Absorption that displace the Five Hindrances), perfect it;
Move through second, third, and fourth jhanas, hold fourth for a minimum of three-hour sits, pursue fifth through eighth jhanas OR go straight to the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to practice insight (vipassana), discern cittas (mind-moments) and kalapas (particles), which together are called "ultimate mentality and materiality," practiceDependent Origination, reach insight;
See anicca-dukkha-anatta (the Three Universal Marks of Existence, the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal nature of ALL conditioned existence) and let go so that the Eye of Wisdom (stream entry, the first stage of enlightenment that glimpses/touches Nirvana, which is the Deathless State, the Unconditioned Element, Ultimate Bliss, the summum bonum, the cessation of all suffering...) arises;
Pursue further by eliminating the samyojanas (fetters), kilesas (defilements), and asavas (taints/cankers) until breaking through the various kinds of stream entry (explained in the Path to Freedom) to once-returning (sakadagami), non-returning (anagami), and ordain to become an arahant (fully enlightened being) and live a good, long life, frequently seeing, touching, experiencing Nirvana until, with the passing of this body comes the end of all further suffering and rebirth (pari-nirvana).
Scholar-practitioner Master Pa Auk Sayadaw
Notice a big, possibly insurmountable, bump in the chart? How does one get to the first jhana? Persistence, slow and steady practice, contentment (santuthi) more than a sense of urgency (samvega), which can lead to too much "efforting," or muscling, when it's better to use saddha (faith, confidence, conviction) to rest the mind/heart and carry on even when it seems hopeless or pointless, too hard or too lofty, doubtful or impossible. It is possible!
This path, strangely, in this day and age, will be a little easier for women. Why should that be? It is because the way we have been conditioned. What arises in "meditation" (the nimitta,jhanas, absorptions, states of piti/bliss) are allowed not strived for, accepted not grasped at, experienced not done. And this receptivity to experience, rather than the "go getter" attitude we disproportionately train males to have, works better in the spiritual realm IF one can establish persistence, discipline, and steadiness of effort over what males are famous for, which is a tremendous amount of effort in bursts and then slacking off for a long time. What works in the world will not work very well here, and perhaps "spirituality" should be treated as "play"(lila) rather than "work" (kammatthana).
The Buddha's life is told as an allegory?
It bears saying that everyone misunderstands the allegory of the Buddha's life, because if we ask someone, "What was the key turning point for Siddhartha that finally enabled him to breakthrough and attain his goal of supreme enlightenment?" Simple question. Where's the volta? Almost universally people will pick the wrong event. Most people will say it was when the wandering ascetic said, "I will not get up from this tree even if my blood turns to dust and I wither away" or something like that. That is the sure way to failure and frustration. It might be better to point at an incident the Buddha credited as the turning point. Remember how he strived so hard that he collapsed? He accepted food from a woman's hand (Sujata), he stopped blaming the body for lust and "sin" and the troubles of the mind/heart.
How did Siddhartha become the Buddha?
He realized the futility of penances, tapas, extreme austerities and wondered what might be the path to awakening. Intuition suggested to him that it was jhana, "absorption," which for so long he feared because it was associated with pleasure. But he reasoned that this is not ordinarily worldly pleasure like the hedonistic pursuits of his youth in the palace in Saka Land/Scythia. In a sense, he surrendered, he let go, he stopped pushing. He recalled that at age 7 he had spontaneously entered absorption under the tree at the Planting Festival and wondered if that might be a better path to pursue. A knowing came over him that it was. He let go and let Nature take its course. "Meditation" is not something we do. What we "do" is perhaps prepare the soil and the circumstances for the plant to arise and send out a flower that blossoms. We didn't do it. It did it. We allowed it, tended it, gardened it, protected it, persisted in protecting it, pursued it, and in that sense "brought it into being," which is what bhavana means. It is about cultivation and development rather than doing and accomplishing.
If anyone needs more proof of this, consider the musician who did his darndest in striving -- even giving up music and becoming a Buddhist monk -- and failed. He slacked off and failed. He redoubled his efforts and tried even harder. And failed harder, so hard he gave up and went to the Buddha to tell him he was leaving. He was shocked when the Buddha did not protest and instead wished him well. "Really, I can just go?"
"Have a good life," the Buddha said, "and, oh, by the way, what are you going to do now?" "Go back to music, of course," he said. "Oh, you play music?" the Buddha asked. The man was a little indignant as he was the most famous musician in the realm, enchanting audiences with his lyre (vina, veena, harp, guitar). Didn't the Buddha know that?
"Yes, I play it very well." "So, tell me," the Buddha went on. Do you overtighten your strings?" "Of course not! That would produce a harsh and discordant and sound." "Oh, so you leave them very slack?" the Buddha went on. "Of course not! That would produce a dull and discordant sound." "Well, then, how is it?" the Buddha asked. "I tune it -- not too tight, not too loose -- balanced and just so, making sure it doesn't go out of tune..." and as he explained, insight dawned on him and he excused him, not having disrobed, still a monk. He withdrew into solitude and took up his meditation object but this time not too harshly, not with so much effort as before, and feeling himself slacking, he would straighten up a little and pursued his ends in a balanced way. And in no long time, he was successful. And he came back to thank the Buddha, who maybe smiled and winked at him, if the Buddha winked at anybody. It isn't hard, but we make it harder than it needs to be. It isn't easy, but if we apply no effort at all, we will never see it. Not this, not that, then what? Balance. (See the story of Ven. Sona).
Teachings of Pa Auk Sayadaw and accomplished students interpreted and reported by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Books do not get more complete than this. One can read a FREE and condensed version of this path in a book called Knowing and Seeing by Ven. Pa-Auk Sayadaw (amazon.com), who teaches the exact method based on the Path of Purification.
Find the free PDF link here.
If one wishes to know more about mindfulness-of-breathing (ana-pana-sati), Ven. Nyanamoli wrote a small book that contains information from both the Path of Purification and what some say is its predecessor thePath to Freedom(Vimuttimagga). It can be found free at urbandharma.org or in book form at this amazon.com link.
Basically, there are no secrets in Early Theravāda Buddhism because the historical Buddha proclaimed that he was not teaching a "secret" doctrine but one who offered his Dharma (his Doctrine and Discipline) openly to those wise enough to hear it.
There are, however, texts that are not well known (until now). We should never have to pay for such teachings because they are priceless and if people paid the price of it, no one would be able to afford it. Be wary if anyone asks for payment for these sacred Teachings.
All of the content inside Knowing and Seeing can be learned at Pa-Auk Meditation Centers. There is no charge at these centers, not for food, teachings, or lodging.
Best of luck, and please let me know how things go!
Bhikkhu Subhuti
Buddhaghosa compiling the texts in Sri Lanka
Wikipedia (edited by WQ): Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification), is the "great treatise" on Theravada Buddhist doctrine compiled by Ven. Buddhaghosa in approximately the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a comprehensive manual condensing and systematizing the theoretical and practical teachings (vada) of Gautama Buddha as they were understood by the "elders" (theras) of the Great Monastery in Anuradhapura, in ancient Sri Lanka. It is described as “the hub of a complete and coherent method of exegesis (explanation) of the Three Baskets (Tipitaka), using the Abhidhamma method as it is called. It sets out detailed practical instructions for the purification of mind. It is considered the most important [commentarial] Theravada text outside of the threefold canon of the scriptures.
Its structure is based on the Rathavinita Sutta (the “Relay Chariots Discourse,” MN 24), which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the final destination of nirvana in seven steps. Its contents strongly resemble the material found in brief in an earlier treatise called the Path to Freedom (Vimuttimagga). [This is because both are thought to be written by the same author, one as a draft or outline and the other with all of the details added.]
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Wiki edit
The Vimuttimagga ("Path of Freedom") is a classic Buddhist practice manual, traditionally attributed to the Arahant (fully enlightened) Upatissa (circa 1st or 2nd century [1]).
It was translated into Chinese in the 6th century as the Jietuo dao lun (解脫道論) by Sanghapala. The original text (possibly in Pali or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit) is no longer extant, but the work has survived in Chinese.
This precious text was probably written in India then later brought to Sri Lanka [1].
Some doctrines of The Path to Freedom have been associated with those attributed to Sri Lanka's Abhayagiri Monastery by Dhammapāla, but this has been disputed in recent scholarship [2, 3].
Contents
The Path to Freedom recommends various meditation practices such as
Relationship to the The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)
The Path of Freedom bears a striking similarity to The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) by Ven. Buddhaghosa, and it is highly probable that it had an influence on Ven. Buddhaghosa [5].
[EDITORIAL NOTE: It is likely both texts are by Ven. Buddhaghosa, the first an outline of a manual, the latter fleshed out and edited. Ven. Buddhaghosa was reputed to be an arahant (fully enlightened disciple), and he may have written The Path to Freedom under the monastic name Upatissa (Ven. Sariputta's name, the disciple declared by the Buddha "foremost in wisdom" among the monks, like Ven. Khema was declared among the nuns, before his ordination). "Buddha-ghosa," which means "Voice of the Buddha," is not a "name" so much as distinguished title or epigraph, just as "Buddha" is not a name, with nearly no one in Buddhism keeping a personal name and instead taking on what they were called for ease of remembering. Yasodhara, Anathapindika, and so many others are not names, though many now regard them as such, but rather as descriptions, whereas "Upatissa" is a name.]
While The Path of Purification is a much longer work, both texts differ on several points. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, the Chinese version of The Path to Freedom states that the 13 Ascetic Practices (dhutangas) can be unwholesome and wholesome, while the The Path of Purification denies that they can be unwholesome, although he notes that the Tibetan Vimuktimārga classifies ascetic practices as "wholesome" [6].
[Obviously, they can be unwholesome if motivated by one of the unwholesome roots. They are a means to an end, a way of overcoming particular defilements. If not practiced under a good teacher, they may be wrongly employed or wrongly undertaken and thereby be unwholesome. For example, if one does not lie down or wears only rag robes with the motivation that these rites and rituals could in and of themselves awaken one or impart psychic powers, that would be unwholesome. They should not be undertaken as DIY quick fixes for exactly this reason. They cannot all be followed at once, and following the wrong ones or any of them in the wrong way could indeed lead to more imbalance rather than serving their intended purpose of bringing one to balance.]
A similar difference can be seen with regards to "stillness" (samādhi, commonly and misleadingly defined in English as "concentration"), which The Path of Freedom states can be wholesome or unwholesome (micchā samādhi/邪定, "wrong concentration"), while The Path of Purification disagrees that it can be unwholesome [7].
[Similarly, misdirected samadhi can be unwholesome, or else it would not be able to be employed in the misuse of psychic powers (abhinnas, iddhis).]
Another major difference is in the scheme of the progress of insight, which The Path of Freedom based on the Four Noble (Ennobling) Truths and The Path of Purification arranges based on the Seven Purifications, which stem from the Rathavinīta Sutta [8].
Minor differences can also be seen in the particular schemes of practice. Ven. Upatissa gives four categories of virtue (sīla), while Ven. Buddhaghosa gives five.
Ven. Upatissa gives four ways of cultivating mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati), while Ven. Buddhagosa gives eight [5].
In addition, The Path of Purification identifies 40 subjects of meditation (kammatthana, themes or subjects of endeavor, of action, of effort, of karma), while The Path of Freedom identifies 38 [9].
Introduction to Shinzen Young: A Conversation on Paths of Awakening
(Deep Mindfulness, 12/23/21) Register for the "Progress of Shinsight" course here:
🌱 DeepMindfulness.io/pos.
In Part 1 of this wide-ranging discussion with American meditation master Shinzen Young, we discuss the relationship of his system and the Progress of Insight meditation map, The Mind Illuminated, and other views on awakening. We also discuss the philosophy behind the experiential path of awakening. Finally, we begin talking about the relationship between art and awakening.
Content: Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
1:01 - The Progress of Shinsight class:
3:36 - Shared Lineage, Shinzen, Bill Hamilton, Daniel Ingram, and Kenneth Folk
6:40 - From pre-Buddhism to modern mindfulness. Good News/ Bad News
9:03 - Polarities in Art History and in Buddhism
10:13 - The Mind Illuminated - How do “Attention and Awareness” fit into your system?
16:18 - How is the Unified Mindfulness (UM) is a skeleton key of meditation practices?
21:07 - UM is system for awakening in any meditation system.
26:53 - Comparing Attention/ Awareness and Nama/Rupa
30:00 - Visiting Teacher from Burma - Ven. Taungpulu Sayadaw
33:24 - “There is Nothing but Nama/Rupa”
36:37 - The problem communicating great teachings.
39:12 - How Conceptual Art and Meditation are talking about the same thing (intro - cut for technical difficulties)
If we have a look at ourselves, we’ll encounter certain experiences. There’s a Path to guide us and offer direction.
As we carry on, the situation changes, and we have to adjust our approach to remedy the problems that arise.
It can be a long time before we see a clear signpost. If others are going to walk the same Path as I did, the journey definitely has to take place in their own heart. If not, one will encounter numerous obstacles.
You stink of mental impurities! - I know, but I'm working on rooting them out. - That's great!
I should have kept my word about purifying.
In Buddhism the "impurities" (upakkilesas) or corruptions, imperfections, "defilements" (a word better reserved for translating the term kilesas) are 16 moral "impurities of the mind" mentioned and explained in MN 7 and MN 8. (See Wheel No. 61/62):
covetousness-greed (abhijjhā-visamalobha)
ill will (vyāpāda)
anger (kodha)
hostility (upanāha)
denigration (makkha)
domineering (palāsa)
envy (issā)
stinginess (macchariya)
hypocrisy (māyā)
fraud (sātheyya)
obstinacy (thambha)
presumption (sārambha)
conceit (māna)
arrogance (atimāna)
vanity (mada)
negligence(pamāda).
Some impurities pertain to meditation.
There are three groups ofimpurities pertaining to meditation:
273. Of all the paths the Noble Eightfold Path is the best; of all the truths the Four Noble Truths are the best; of all things passionlessness is the best: of humans the Seeing One (the Buddha) is the best.
274. This is the only path; no other results in the purification of insight. Tread this path, and you will bewilder Mara [Death].
275. Walking upon this path one will make an end of all suffering. Having discovered how to pull out the thorn of lust/craving, I make known the path.
Buddhas point the way to freedom.
276. You yourselves must strive; the buddhas [supremely enlightened teachers] only point the way. Those meditative ones who tread the path are released from the bonds of Mara.
277. "All conditioned things are impermanent" -- when one sees this with wisdom (insight), one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.
278. "All conditioned things are unsatisfactory" -- when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.
279. "All things are impersonal (not-self)" -- when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path to purification.
These are the Three Marks, which are also called the Three Characteristics of All Conditioned Existence. They are true of all phenomena, which arise, turn, and fall away and so are radically impermanent at every moment. They are utterly incapable for providing lasting satisfaction. And, most difficult to comprehend, they are utterly impersonal, without self, neither the parts or property or constituents of a self.
280. Idlers who do not exert themselves when they should, who though young and strong are full of sloth, with a mind full of vain thoughts -- such indolent one do not find the path to wisdom.
281. Let one be watchful of speech, well controlled in mind, and not commit unskillful deeds in bodily actions. Let one purify these three courses of action [body, speech, mind] and win the path made known by the Great Sage.
282. Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes. Having known these two paths of progress and decline, let one so conduct oneself that one's wisdom may increase.
283. Cut down the forest (lust), but not the tree; from the forest springs fear. Having cut down the forest and the underbrush (desire), be passionless, O meditators!
(V. 283) Meaning: "Cut down the forest of lust, but do not mortify the body."
284. For so long as the underbrush of desire, even the most subtle, of one partner towards another is not cut down, one's mind is in bondage, like the sucking calf to its mother.
285. Cut off your attachment in the manner of one who plucks with hand an autumn lotus. Cultivate only the path to peace, nirvana, as made known by the Exalted One.
286. "Here shall I live during the rains, there in winter and summer" -- thus thinks the fool. One does not realize the danger (that death will eventually intervene).
287. As a great flood carries away a sleeping village, so death seizes and carries away the person with mind/heart clinging, doting on children and wealth.
288. For one who is assailed by death there is no protection by kin. No one there are to save such a person -- neither children, nor parent, nor relatives.
289. Realizing this fact, let the wise person, restrained by virtue, hasten to clear the path leading to nirvana.
The question arises when reading, or trying to read, the incredibly dense Path of Purification. Who is its author, what does he know, and why should anyone listen to him? We have the sutras (canonical discourses), so presumably we have the word of the Buddha. What can Buddhaghosa possibly add to our understanding?
He can add a great deal, as it turns out. Most technical information on Buddhist meditation -- from working with the absorptions of serenity to the intricacies of insight meditation (particularly the causal links of Dependent Origination contemplated systematically after emerging from the jhanas to gain direct liberating insight) -- is learned from an ordained teacher.
That precious information has always been handed down through an oral tradition, not through books. Even today, though some of it is written, it will hardly make sense to the intrepid reader who will not have nearly enough knowledge or experience to approach it much less benefit from it. Of course, as Westerners, we do not want to give up our autonomy. Like Zen seems to teach us, we don't need no stinking teachers! The same way we don't need badges.
But first, who was he? Ven. Buddhaghosa Thera (the monk named Buddhaghosa the elder, of at least ten years in robes) was the greatest commentator on the Tripitaka, a collective name for the Buddhist texts ("The Threefold Basket").
The sacred texts can easily mislead one without the guidance and clarification the commentaries afford us. Commenting had a long and illustrious history before Buddhism, and it has continued ever since. A commentator is not giving an opinion the way we might today, but is clarifying points of controversy or sating thing Those who disparage it, as if we could access what the Buddha taught without it, are well-intentioned but misguided because they fail to see the tremendous value of the subsidiary and supporting texts that clarify and organized the Buddha's Teachings, the Dharma, even for the people to whom it was directly taught.
When, for example, the Buddha gave a teaching in brief and it was necessary for someone to flesh it out, if the monastics had questions, sometimes the Buddha assigned someone else to teach in full what he had stated in brief. and Ven. Sariputra were excellent at this.
The Indian scholar-monk and great commentator, Ven. Buddhaghosa, examining ola palm leaf Buddhist texts to collate them and explain them in a systematic study of the Dharma.
Buddhaghosa was born a Brahmin in India long after the time of the historical Buddha. And the Sās. (p.
29) says his father was a Brahmin priest (purohita) named Kesa, his mother Kesī.
Gv.66
says his father was the chaplain or spiritual counselor of King Sangāma. He was born in a village near
Bodh Gayā, in Bihar state, and became proficient in the Vedas (the Indus Valley Civilization knowledge book now considered the sacred texts of Hinduism) and allied branches of knowledge.
Buddhist cosmology: 31 Planes of Existence
One day he met a monk named Ven. Revata and, on being defeated by him in
debate, entered the Buddhist Monastic Order to learn the Buddha's teachings. Because his
speech was profound, like that of the Buddha, and because his words spread
throughout the world (like those of the Buddha), he came to be called
Buddha-ghosa.
While dwelling with Ven. Revata, he wrote the Ñānodaya and the
Atthasālinī, and he also began to write a
Parittatthakathā (a concise commentary) on the Tipitaka, the "Three Collections" of the Dharma.
But in order to complete this monumental task, he went to Sri Lanka at the suggestion of
Ven. Revata (Sās. p.29 says he was sent to Sri Lanka punishment for thinking himself
wiser than his teachers) and studied the commentaries preserved in the local Sinhalese language at the Great Temple, the
Mahāvihāra, under Ven. Sanghapāla. When his studies were ended he wrote The Path of Purification, the
Visuddhi-Magga.
Sensual Planes of Existence (kama loka)
And having thereby won the approval of the noble elders there, he rendered the Sinhalese commentaries into the ancient exclusively Buddhist language of Pāli. During this
period he lived in the Ganthākara Vihāra, and on accomplishing his task,
he returned to India (then referred to by its Buddhist name, Jambudīpa, "the Rose Apple Island" or "Continent" or this "Planet" surrounded by "seas of space" and great rings of "mountains," which may sound odd but makes the most sense).
(Burmese tradition says Buddhaghosa obtained his copy of the
Tipitaka and the commentaries from another storehouse monastery, one called Aloka Vihāra, but see P.L.C.83, n.1.4).
Besides these works of Buddhaghosa, we have also the
Samantapāsādikā and the Kankhāvitaranī on the Disciplinary Code basket (Vinaya Pitaka); the
Sumangalavilāsinī, the Papañcasūdanī, the Sāratthappakāsinī, and the
Manorathapūranī on the Sutra basket.
He is also said to have compiled commentaries on the Khuddakapātha and the
Sutta Nipāta (called the Paramatthajotikā) and on the Dhammapada, a grand collection of the Buddha's aphorisms and their back stories. Buddhaghosa also wrote
a series of commentaries on the Collection of Higher or Ultimate Teachings, the Abhidhamma Pitaka (the Atthasālinī, the
Sammohavinodanī, and the Pañcappakaranatthakathā).
Some ascribe to him the commentary on the Rebirth Tales, the Jātakatthakathā. For further particulars relating to
Buddhaghosa, see Law's Life and Work of Buddhaghosa" and P.L.C.79 ff. The
account of his life given here is taken from Cv.xxxvii.215ff. For a list of
works ascribed to Buddhaghosa, see Gv., pp.59 and 68.
The Couch, originally used for psychotherapy, Freud's office, England. Note Buddhist statuary.
Buddhist Character Analysis (Aukana)
Drawing from ancient Theravada Buddhist teachings, authors Robert Mann and Rose Youd present the three main human character types and their three counterparts.
This Abhidharmic "Buddhist Psychology" is preserved in The Path of Purification (Visuddhi Magga) by Buddhaghosa, All
individuals possess each of the three traits and their flipside, but some personality types may be dominant in one
or two.
These roots
of character condition everything we do:
Buddhist Character Analysis is the study of these psychological or "personality types." It gives greater insight into human behavior patterns, karmic habits, rebirth, and the nature
of reality.
Observing how these roots permeate
all aspects of our behavior -- mental, verbal, and physical -- we can begin to
appreciate the depth and subtlety of the Buddha's insight and formulation of the Teachings.
Attraction, aversion, and delusion (lobha, dosa, and moha) are personality features we are all born with. They linger in our hearts manifesting to greater or lesser degrees.
Enlightenment is the result of attenuating them long enough for wisdom to uproot them. They are harmful tendencies, in an ultimate sense, although conventionally we may assume we are unable to do without them.
They have conditioned our karma for countless aeons leading to all manner of upset -- craving, resentment, wrong views, culminating again and again in disappointment and distress (suffering). So have their direct opposite categories: non-greed, non-hate, non-delusion. The positive personality types -- faith, wisdom, speculation -- are the other side of the coin. They are not ultimately good in and of themselves but lead to that ultimate good: nirvana as non-clinging because things are seen as they are really are and always have been.
We will not magically see things just as they are. We have carried the burden of delusion and ignorance for inconceivable lengths of time (uncountable maha kalpas). The Dharma, or what may really be called "Buddhism" is not ultimately a set of beliefs; it is a set of instructions on how to see the liberating Truth for ourselves. That knowledge-and-vision liberates. Faith, belief, allegiance, words, and books do not.
Our understanding of
human nature is considerably enhanced and much of the distress entailed
in relating with people is smoothed out of our lives when we understand the types.
If we follow the "path of purification" laid out by the Buddha and gathered from wise scholar-monks by Buddhism's most famous commentator -- author not only of The Path of Purification but also the parallel work preserved in Chinese, The Path of Freedom (Vimutti Magga) -- we can utilize this increased sense of calm and ease as an
essential step on the road to the beyond-beyond.
We can restrain craving, anger, and confusion; we can cultivate confidence (faith), wisdom (intelligent discernment), and
speculation (clarity, non-confusion). And by developing understanding of the true nature of
reality, we can finally transcend them all. Long before that, we can rein them in. And by doing so we reduce our suffering and increase the happiness and security of any realm we are in.
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