Sutra: How the Buddha's 'warriors' practice

Standing in the face of adversity

"Meditators, there are five types of warriors found existing in the world. What are these five?

"There is a warrior who, on seeing a cloud of dust [stirred up by an enemy army], falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the first type of warrior found existing in the world.

"There is also the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, but on seeing the top of the enemy's banner, falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the second type of warrior found existing in the world.

"There is also the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the enemy's banner, but on hearing the tumult [of approaching forces], falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the third type of warrior found existing in the world.

"There is also the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, and the tumult, but in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. This is the fourth type of warrior found existing in the world. 

"There is also the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. Winning the battle, victorious, one comes out ahead. This is the fifth type of warrior found existing in the world.

"These are these five types of warriors found existing in the world.

The Buddha's "warriors"

"In the same way, meditators, there are five warrior individuals found existing among monastics. What are these five? [1]

"There is the monastic who, seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high [pure] life. Declaring such weakness in regard to fulfilling the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life.

"What is the cloud of dust for that person? There is the monastic who hears, 'In that place over there, there is a [person] who is shapely, goodlooking, charming, endowed with a lotus-like complexion.'

"On hearing this, one falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high life. Declaring such weakness in regard to the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life. That is the cloud of dust. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who, on seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the first type of warrior-like individual found existing among monastics [2].

"There is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust, but on seeing the top of the enemy's banner, one falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high life. Declaring such weakness in regard to the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life.

"What is the top of the banner? The monastic who not only hears that, 'In that place over there, there is a [person] who is shapely, goodlooking, charming, endowed with a lotus-like complexion,' one sees it for oneself. On seeing [that person], one falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high life. Declaring such weakness in the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life. That is the top of the banner.

"This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, but on seeing the top of the enemy's banner, falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the second type of individual found existing among the monastics [3].

"There is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the enemy's banner, but on hearing the tumult [of approaching forces], falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high life. Declaring such weakness in the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life. What is the tumult?

"The monastic who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty building. A [beauty] approaches and giggles, calls out, laughs aloud, and teases [flirts]. On being giggled at, called out, laughed at, and teased by [a beauty], one falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot continue in the high life. Declaring such weakness in the training, one leaves and returns to the lower life. That is the tumult.

"This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the enemy's banner, but on hearing the tumult, falters, faints, does not steel oneself, cannot engage in battle. This is the third type of individual found existing among the monastics [4].

"There is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, and the tumult, but when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. What is hand-to-hand combat? The monastic who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty building is approached by [a beauty] who sits nearby, lies down nearby, throws [him or herself] all over the person.

"When doing so, one — without renouncing the training, without declaring one's weakness — engages in sexual intercourse. This is hand-to-hand combat. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, and the tumult, but when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. This is the fourth type of individual found existing among the monastics [5].

"There is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. Winning the battle, victorious, one comes out ahead. What is victory in the battle? The monastic who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling is approached by [a beauty] who sits nearby, lies down, throws [him or herself] all over the person.

"When doing so, one extricates oneself, frees oneself, and goes off. "One resorts to a secluded dwelling: the wilderness, the foot of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a forest grove, the open air, a haystack.

The warrior practice

Prayer flags: meditation ahead

"Having gone into the wilderness, the foot of a tree, or an empty building, one sits down, crosses one's legs, holds the body erect, and brings mindfulness to the fore.

"Abandoning covetousness (greed, lust, craving) with regard to the world, one dwells free of covetousness. One cleanses the mind/heart of covetousness. Abandoning ill will and anger, one dwells free of ill will, with sympathy for the welfare of all living beings. One cleanses the heart/mind of ill will and anger.

"Abandoning sloth-and-torpor (listlessness-and-drowsiness), one dwells free of sloth-and-torpor, mindful, alert (vigilant), perceiving [inner] light. One cleanses the mind of sloth-and-torpor. Abandoning restlessness-and-worry, one dwells undisturbed, the mind/heart inwardly stilled. One cleanses the heart/mind of restlessness-and-worry.

"Abandoning skeptical doubt (uncertainty), one dwells having crossed over doubt, free of perplexity with regard to skillful mental states. One cleanses the mind of doubt.

"Having [temporarily] abandoned these Five Hindrances, corruptions of mind that weaken insight, then — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful [mental] states — one enters and remains in the first meditative absorption (jhana) with rapture (piti) and pleasure (sukha, happiness) born of withdrawal [of the senses], accompanied by applied and sustained attention.

"With the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and remains in the second meditative absorption with rapture and pleasure born of stillness (concentration), unification of mind free of applied and sustained attention — self-assured.

"With the fading of rapture (piti), one remains equanimous, mindful, vigilant, and experiences pleasure (sukha) in the body. One enters and remains in the third meditative absorption, of which the noble ones declare, 'Equanimous and mindful, one experiences a pleasant abiding.'

"With the transcending of both pleasure and pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — one enters and remains in the fourth meditative absorption with purity of equanimity and mindfulness, free of pleasure and pain.

"With heart/mind thus stilled (concentrated), purified, and bright, free of blemishes, free of defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, one directs and inclines the mind to the knowledge of the ending of the mental defilements.

"One discerns just as it is that

1. 'This is disappointment (dukkha)...
2. This is the origin of disappointment...
3. This is the cessation of disappointment...
4. This is the way leading to the cessation of disappointment...

"These are mental defilements... This is the origin of the defilements... This is the cessation of defilements... This is the way leading to the cessation of the defilements.'

"One's heart/mind, directly knowing-and-seeing, is released from the snare of sensuality, the snare of becoming, the snare of ignorance.

"With release come knowledge of being released. One knows-and-sees that 'rebirth is ended, the high life has been fulfilled, the task is done. There is nothing more for this world.'

"This is victory in the battle. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the enemy's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. Winning the battle, victorious, one comes out ahead. This is the fifth type of individual found existing among the monastics.

"These are the five individuals found existing among the monastics."

• Dhr. Seven (ed.) based on original translation by Ven. Thanissaro, Yodhajiva Sutta: 'The Warrior' (1), Wisdom Quarterly

Let go, OK. But let go of SEX?

What do you mean don't think about sex? Mara wants us to. What's mind to do? (Teal Roberts)

Why does the Buddha say letting go of sex is the most skillful thing to do with sex?

Ego (Buddhism Podcast) April 13, 2025: Buddhism Explained. Ever wonder why the Buddha considered letting go of sex the most skillful action we can take [in the Sensual Sphere]?

Ugly faces of pretty girls (ebaumsworld.com)

In this poorly worded and mildly insightful talk by American (Thai Theravada Forest Tradition monk) Ven. Thanissaro, let's explore the Buddha's teachings on sensual desire, attachment (clinging), and the profound freedom gained through a sense of urgency (samvega) non-complacency and mindfulness.

Discover how the mind creates reality through constant choices and learn practical techniques to transform commonplace attachment into extraordinary liberation. Explore how mindfulness and concentration can help us understand and skillfully handle sexual desires and other sensual attachments.

• (Of course, the strongest attachment is to views, which is what insight and wisdom are for, helping us break free of ignorance manifesting as delusions, illusions, and wrong views).
• I'm not ugly if you think I'm pretty: 45 unbelievable before and after pics that show the same girls (DeMilked)

Find out why heedlessness can become our worst enemy, and how the Buddha’s path to freedom leads to a state of genuine liberation, peace, and happiness.

Let's take an enlightening journey towards mastering the minds and emotions we habitually identify with and fixate on until we're completely trapped in webs of delusion with no easy way out.

• More idiosyncratic wording: Meditations 3: Dhamma Talks

📍 #Buddhism #Mindfulness #LettingGo #Meditation #BuddhaTeaching #Spirituality #MindMastery

• Ven. Thanissaro via Ego (Buddhism Podcast), April 13, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I'd better sit while in the human world

Even Araka knew that much.

"Meditators, once upon a time there was a teacher named Araka [the Bodhisatta himself], a leader free of passion for sensual pleasures.

"He had hundreds, many hundreds, of students, and he taught them the dhamma (truth) in this way: 'Next to nothing, Brahmins, is the life of human beings -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as a dewdrop on the tip of a blade of grass quickly vanishes with the rising of the sun and does not remain, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a dewdrop -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as when the rain-gods (akasha-devas) send rain in fat drops that plop, leaving a bubble on the water that quickly vanishes and does not remain, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a water bubble -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just like a line drawn on water with a stick quickly vanishes and does not remain, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a line drawn on water with a stick -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as a river flowing down from the mountains, going far, swiftly carrying everything with it so that there is not a moment, not a second, not an instant when it stands still, but instead it goes, flows, and rushes, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a river flowing down from the mountains -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as a strongman forming a wad of spit on the tip of his tongue would spit it out with very little effort, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a wad of spit — limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as a sliver of meat dropped onto an iron skillet that has been heated all day quickly vanishes and does not remain, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a sliver of meat -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.

"'Just as a cow on its way to slaughter is led to the abattoir, with every step of its foot closer to slaughter, closer to death, in the same way, Brahmins, the life of human beings is like a cow being led to slaughter — limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.

"'One should touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.'

Reflection

"Now at that time, meditators, the human lifespan was 60,000 years, with girls marriageable at 500 [figuratively, a big number, not actually 500]. And at that time there were [only] six afflictions in this world:

1. cold,
2. heat,
3. hunger,
4. thirst,
5. defecation,
6. urination.

"Yet, even though people were so long-lived, long-lasting, with so few afflictions, that teacher Araka taught the dhamma to his disciples in this way:

"'Next to nothing, Brahmins, is the life of human beings -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering. One ought to touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.'

"At present, meditators, one speaking rightly could say, 'Next to nothing is the life of human beings -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering. One should touch this [truth] like a sage, do what is skillful, follow the pure life. For one who is born there is no freedom from death.'

"At present, meditators, one who lives a long time is 100 years old or a little older. Living 100 years, one lives for 300 seasons: 100 seasons of cold, 100 seasons of heat, 100 seasons of rain.

"Living for 300 seasons, one lives for 1,200 months: 400 months of cold, 400 months of heat, 400 months of rain.

"Living for 1,200 months, one lives for 2,400 fortnights [two-week periods]: 800 fortnights of cold, 800 fortnights of heat, 800 fortnights of rain.

"Living for 2,400 fortnights, one lives for 36,000 days: 12,000 days of cold, 12,000 days of heat, 12,000 days of rain.

"Living for 36,000 days, one eats 72,000 meals [or many more]: 24,000 meals in the cold, 24,000 meals in the heat, 24,000 meals in the rain -- counting the taking of mother's milk and any obstacles to eating.

"These are the obstacles to eating: when one does not eat while angered, when one does not eat while suffering or stressed, when one does not eat while sick, when one does not eat on the observance [1] day, when one does not eat while poor.

"Therefore, meditators, I have counted the life of a person living for 100 years: I have counted the lifespan, counted the seasons, counted the years [2], counted the months, counted the fortnights, counted the nights, counted the days, counted the meals, counted the obstacles to eating.

"Whatever a teacher should do -- seeking the welfare of students, out of sympathy for them -- that have I done for you.

"There are the roots of trees; there are places to withdraw [to practice]. Practice the absorptions (jhanas), meditators. Be vigilant (not negligent). Be happy, not full of regret. This is the message."

NOTES

1. 1. The weekly lunar observance of the Eight Precepts, Uposatha, Fasting Day, when one fasts after noon to intensively listen, read, study, and practice the Dhamma for a whole day and into the night.
2. The actual counting does not mention years between seasons and months; the number of years is implied in the lifespan.

• See also: MN 54; AN 6.19-20; Sn 4.6
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.), Arakenanusasani Sutta: "Araka's Teaching" (AN 7.70 PTS: A iv 136); edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Life isn't just suffering (Ven. Thanissaro)

American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chodron

Tan Geoff tells this story about the first noble truth: "He showed me the brightness of the world."

That's how my teacher, Ajahn Fuang, once characterized his gratitude to his teacher, Ajahn Lee [Dhammadaro, student of Ajahn Mun]. His words took me by surprise.

I had only recently come to study with him, still fresh from a school where I had learned that serious Buddhists took a negative, pessimistic view of the world.

Yet, here was a monk who had given his life over to the practice of the Buddha's Teachings speaking of the world's brightness.

Of course, by "brightness" he wasn't referring to the joys of the food, arts, travel, sports, family life, or any of the other sections of the Sunday paper.

The happiest couple in the world...and the most miserable. I want a divorce! - Oh yeah? 💩

.

He was talking about a better and deeper happiness that comes from within us. As I came to know him, I gained a sense of how deeply happy he was.

He may have been skeptical about human pretenses, but I'd never describe him as pessimistic or negative. "Realistic" would be closer to the truth.

Yet, for a long time I couldn't shake the sense of paradox I felt. How could the pessimism of translated Buddhist texts find embodiment in such a solidly happy person?

Only when I began to look directly at the early sutras did I realize that what I thought was paradox was actually irony.

Ironically, Buddhism, which gives such a positive view of a human being's potential for finding true happiness, could be branded in the West as "negative and pessimistic."

Ouch.  Ouch. Ouch.

There's a rumor that, "'Life is suffering' is Buddhism's first principle," the first noble truth, according to the Buddha. It's a rumor with good credentials. It is spread by well-intentioned and well-respected academics and Dharma teachers alike. But it is a rumor, nonetheless.

The truth about the Four Noble Truths is far more interesting.

The Buddha taught four ennobling (enlightening) truths — not one — about life:

1. There is suffering (disappointment, pain, stress)
2. There is a cause of suffering
3. There is an end of suffering
4. There is a path of practice that puts an end to suffering.

These truths, taken as a whole, are very optimistic. They're practical. It's a problem-solving approach — the way a doctor approaches an illness (pain), a mechanic a faltering engine. Identify the problem and look for its cause. Then put an end to the problem by eliminating its cause.

What's special about the Buddha's approach is that the problem he approaches is the whole of human (and deva) suffering. The solution he offers is something humans (and devas) can do for themselves.

Just as a physician with a surefire cure for measles is no longer afraid of measles, the Buddha isn't afraid of any aspect of suffering. Having experienced pleasure and happiness free of all conditions, he's intrepid.

He's not afraid to point out suffering and disappointment inherent in places where most of us would rather not see them — the conditioned pleasures we cling to.

He teaches beings not to deny suffering and disappointment, not to run away, but to stand still and face them, to examine them carefully. That way — by understanding them — we can discern a cause and put an end to it, a total end. How confident can one get? More

• Ajahn Geoff (aka Geoffrey DeGraff, Thanissaro Bhikkhu), "Life Isn't Just Suffering," accesstoinsight.org; edited by Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

A Verb for Nirvana

Hey, everybody, I have no respect for cultures!

In the days of the Buddha, nirvana (Pali nibbana) had a verb of its own: nibbuti. It meant to "go out" as a flame goes out.

Fire was thought to be in a state of being trapped (bound) as it burned — clinging to and bound by the fuel it was consuming (burning). To go out was seen as being unbound, released, freed.

To go out could, therefore, be called "unbinding," although that sounds very clumsy. Sometimes another verb was used, pari-nibbuti, using the intensifier pari- to mean "total" or "all-around," indicating that once unbound, unlike fire unbound, one would never again be attached or trapped.

• [Nirvana (nibbana) is experienced while alive by enlightened people, reexperiencing the bliss over and again many times, whereas pari-nibbana (pari-nirvana) is "final" or complete nirvana, gone out for good.]

The Buddha reclines into final nirvana (Burma)

Now that nirvana has become an English word, it should have its own English verb to convey the sense of "being unbound" (liberated, freed, emancipated) as well.

At present, we say that a person "reaches" nirvana or "enters" nirvana, implying that nirvana is a place where one goes.

Nirvana is not a place (not the Christian equivalent of heaven, seventh heaven or, worse yet, nothingness).

Nirvana is realized, touched, glimpsed when the mind stops defining itself in terms of place: here, there, or between here and there.

This may seem like a hairsplitter's problem, a hobby for word-choppers problem — but what can a verb do to our practice?

The idea of nirvana as a place has created severe misunderstandings in the past, and it could easily create misunderstandings in the future.

There was a time when sophists and philosophers in proto-India reasoned that if nirvana is one place and samsara (the "endless wandering" or "Wheel of Life and Death") is another, then entering into nirvana leaves one stuck: Our range of movement has been limited, for we cannot get back to this miserable (impermanent, unfulfilling, impersonal) samsara.

To solve this imaginary problem they invented what they thought was a NEW kind of nirvana: an unestablished one in which one could be in both places — nirvana and samsara — at once.

• [This is in a sense possible because when an arhat, a fully enlightened person, experiences nirvana, that person does so in the midst of samsara but now is no longer bound by samsara after it runs its course in this very life. When this revolving record comes to a stop, there will be no more revolving like before. This is bliss, this is peace, this is being unbound, but one might imagine that samsara is everything and, therefore, nirvana must be nothing. This is completely mistaken, as enlightened persons know directly. However, how can anyone explain to those still craving and clinging to sensual pursuit, to the idea (wrong view) of annihilation, or to the wrong view of eternal wandering on?

Simplified depiction of six (of 31) planes of rebirth

However, these sophisticated philosophers misunderstood two important points about the Buddha's teachings. The first was that neither samsara nor nirvana is a "place." Samsara is a process (revolving, cycling, and recycling) creating places, even whole worlds. This is called becoming (bhava). Then wandering through them, these places to experience the results of deeds, this is called rebirth.

Nirvana is the cessation of this miserable process. One may be able to be in two places at once — or even develop a sense of self so infinite that one can occupy all places at once — but we can't feed a process and experience its end at the same time. We are either feeding samsara or not. If one feels the need to course through both samsara and nirvana, we are simply engaging in more samsara-ing (wandering on, revolving) and keeping ourselves trapped.

The second point is that nirvana, from the very beginning, was realized through unestablished consciousness — one that neither comes nor goes nor stays in place.

There is no way that anything unestablished can get stuck anywhere at all, for it is not only non-localized but also undefined.

The idea of a spiritual ideal as resting beyond space and definition is not exclusive to the Buddha's Dharma (Teachings). Issues of locality and definition, in the Buddha's eyes, had a specific psychological meaning. This is why the non-locality of nirvana is important to understand.

Just as all phenomena (all things) are rooted in desire, consciousness localizes itself through passion (craving, clinging, attachment).

Passion is what creates the "there" on which consciousness lands or gets established, whether the "there" is a form, feeling, perception, mental formation (thought-construct), or a type of consciousness.

Golden Buddha deep in meditation, Sukhothai

Once consciousness becomes established on any of these Five Aggregates clung to as self, it becomes attached (stuck, trapped) then proliferates, feeding on everything around it and creating all sorts of havoc.

Wherever there is attachment (clinging, which is just habitual grasping), that is where one gets defined as a "being."

One creates an identity there, and in so doing one is limited there. Even if the "there" is an infinite sense of awareness grounding, surrounding, or permeating everything else, it is still limited. This is because "grounding" and so forth are aspects of place.

Wherever there is place, no matter how subtle, passion is latent, looking for more fuel to feed on.

If, however, the passion can be removed (let go of, abandoned, undone), there is no more "there" there.

One sutra illustrates this with a simile of the sun shining through the eastern wall of a house and landing on the western wall.

If the western wall, the ground beneath it, and the waters beneath that ground were all removed, the sunlight would not land. In the same way, if passion for form, feeling, perception, mental formation, or consciousness, could be removed, consciousness would have no "where" (no place, no there) to land, and so would become unestablished.

This does not mean that consciousness would be annihilated. It simply means that — like the sunlight — it would now have no locality. With no locality, it would no longer be defined.

The Buddha represented not as resting but reclining into complete nirvana (Sukhothai, Thailand)

.

This is why the consciousness of nirvana is said to be "without surface" (anidassanam), for it does not land. Because the consciousness-aggregate (vinnana-khandha) covers only consciousness that is near, far, past, present, or future — that is, connected with space and time — consciousness without surface is not included in the Five Aggregates clung to as self.

It is not "eternal" because eternity is a function of time. And because non-local also means undefined, the Buddha insisted that an enlightened/awakened person — unlike ordinary, uninstructed worldlings — cannot be located or defined in relation to the aggregates in this life.

Moreover, after passing away, one can neither be described as existing, nonexisting, neither existing nor nonexisting, nor both existing and nonexisting. Why? It is because descriptions can apply only to definable things.

The essential step toward this non-localized, undefined realization is to cut back on the proliferations of consciousness.

This first involves contemplating the severe dangers and drawbacks of keeping consciousness trapped in the process of feeding. This contemplation gives a strong sense of urgency to the next steps:

Bringing the mind to oneness in stillness (concentrating it on a single object, which temporarily purifies it), gradually refining that oneness (or coherence of mind), then dropping it to zero.

The drawbacks of feeding are most graphically described in SN 12.63, "The Discourse on a Son's Flesh." The process of gradually refining oneness is probably best described in MN 121, "The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness [the Impersonal]," while the drop to zero is best described in the Buddha's famous instructions to Bāhiya of the Barkcloth :

Meeting an independent sadhu

"Regarding the seen, there will be [to you] only the seen. Regarding the heard, only the heard. Regarding to the otherwise sensed, only the otherwise sensed. Regarding the cognized, only the cognized.' That is how to train yourself [Bahiya]. When for you there is only the seen in regard to the seen, only the heard in regard to the heard, only the otherwise sensed in regard to the otherwise sensed, only the cognized in regard to the cognized then, Bahiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor there [yonder, beyond] nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of dukkha."

• Dukkha is the Pali term for "stress, pain, suffering, unsatisfactoriness, disappointment," and refers to the inability of all things to fulfill. All things (conditioned amalgams, fabrications, dependently originated constructs) ultimately disappoint. Nirvana is not a "thing" (composite) but rather the unconditioned element free of all suffering.

With no here or there or between the two, you obviously can't use the verb "enter" or "reach" to describe this realization, even metaphorically.

Defilements ended, there is quenching/cooling.

The word nirvana should be made into a verb (cool, slake, quench) or in any case understood as such: "When it is understood that there is no you (self) in connection with that, you nirvana." (One nirvanas).

• [How is this not annihilation? If one understands that all that arises as "self" is dependently originated (conditioned), then it will be understood that all that "goes out" is ignorance. This is awakening.]

That way we can indicate that liberation, unbinding, release is an action unlike any other, and we can head off any mistaken notion about getting "stuck" in total freedom.

• Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff), Wat Metta, California (accesstoinsight.org); edited and expanded by Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

I want to be RICH but avoid wrong livelihood

Access to Insight; Dhr. Seven (trans.), Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Right livelihood, right livelihood, what is "right livelihood"?

Right livelihood is the fifth of the factors of the Noble (Ennobling) Eightfold Path. (Noble or aryan means "enlightened"). This factor belongs to the virtue division of the path.

The Buddha's definition

"What is right livelihood? A disciple of the noble ones (enlightened ones), having abandoned wrong livelihood, keeps life going by right livelihood. This is called 'right livelihood' (samma ajivo)" (SN 45.8).

"If one's outgo exceeds one's income,

one's upkeep will be one's downfall."

-Dhr. Seven, quoting wise business advisors

SUTRA: right livelihood

How rich? I want my own rocket.

"Here in this Dharma (Doctrine), Vyagghapajja, a householder knowing one's income and expenses leads a well-balanced life, neither of extravagance nor of miserliness, knowing that one's income will exceed expenses, and expenses will not one's income.

"Just as the goldsmith or apprentice knows, on holding up a balance, that by this much has it tilted down or by that much it has tilted up, even so a householder, knowing one's income and expenses, leads a well-balanced life, neither of extravagance nor of miserliness, assuring that one's income exceeds one's expenses, not one's expenses one's income" (AN 8.54).

Right livelihood's relation to the other factors of the path

Is it good to give our time? Yes, volunteer.

"How is right view the forerunner [of the path to enlightenment]? One discerns (knows and sees) wrong livelihood as wrong livelihood, right livelihood as right livelihood.

"What is wrong livelihood? Scheming, persuading, hinting, belittling, and pursuing gain with gain, this is wrong livelihood...

"One abandons wrong livelihood and enters upon right livelihood: This is one's right effort.

"One is mindful to abandon wrong livelihood to enter and remain in right livelihood: This is one's right mindfulness.

"Thus, these three factors — right view, right effort, and right mindfulness — revolve around right livelihood" (MN 117).

Wrong livelihood for lay Buddhists

Lie, cheat, steal!

"A lay follower abstains from five types of business. What are those five? One abstains from [trade, commerce, attempting to profit from]

1. business in weapons,
2. business in human beings (exploitation, buying and selling humans, prostitution),
3. business in flesh (meat),
4. business in intoxicants (alcohol and drugs of abuse), and
5. business in poison" (AN 5.177). More

Giant: The Dwarf Monk (sutra)

K. Nizamis and Ven. Thanissaro (trans.) via accesstoinsight.org, Apara Lakuntaka Bhaddiya Sutra: "Another Discourse About Bhaddiya the Dwarf" (Ud 7.5 PTS: Ud 76) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One [the Buddha] was dwelling in Sāvatthi, in Jeta Forest, in Anāthapiṇḍika's park.

At that time Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf approached walking close behind a large number of monks. The Blessed One saw him from afar, walking close behind many other monks -- of bad complexion, bad appearance, dwarfish, of a form that would be despised by most monks [1].

Seeing Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf, the Blessed One addressed the monks: "Meditators, do you see that monk from afar, walking close behind those many other monks, the one with the bad complexion, bad appearance, dwarfish, of a form that would be despised by most monks?"

"Yes, it is just so, venerable sir."

"Meditators, that monk is of great power, great eminence. There is no well-gained meditative attainment that has not already been attained by that monk. For the benefit for which persons of good lineage rightly go forth from home into the left-home life, the ultimate culmination of the supreme life [of a wandering ascetic], in this very life, he himself, having seen with his own eyes and realized the higher knowledge, having personally attained it, he abides."

Then, having understood the significance of this moment, the Blessed One breathed an inspired utterance:

Faultless, adorned in white,

the one-way chariot rolls on:

See it coming, undisturbed,

with oozing flow cut off, nirvanered [2].

NOTES

1. The Commentary (of Dhammapāla, post 5th Century CE) says yebhuyyena bhikkhūnaṃ paribhūtarūpan'ti puthujjanabhikkhūhi ohīḷitarūpaṃ (PTS Ud-A 369). "'For most of the monks, having a despised kind of form': having a kind of form scorned or viewed with disgust [ohīliṭa] by the monks who are just ordinary people [puthujjanas]." See also SN 21.6.

2. See also SN 41.5, in which Ven. Kāmabhū recites this stanza to a lay devotee named Citta, and asks him how its meaning should be understood. Citta then proceeds to offer his interpretation of its meaning.

The Dwarf
Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Lakuṇṭha Sutra: "The Dwarf" (Ud 7.5, PTS: Ud 76) edited by W.Q.

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. On that occasion Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf, following behind a large number of monks, was coming to see the Blessed One.

From afar the Blessed One saw Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf coming, following behind a large number of monks -- ugly, unsightly, stunted, treated with condescension [1] by many of the monks. Seeing him, the Blessed One addressed the monks:

"Meditators, do you see that monk coming from afar, following behind that large number of monks, the ugly, unsightly, stunted one treated with condescension by many of the monks?"

"Yes, venerable sir."

"That, meditators, is a monk of great power and great might. The attainment already attained by that monk is not of the sort easily attained by anyone. And by means of it he has reached and abides in the supreme goal of the supreme life for which persons of good lineage rightly go forth from home into the left-home life, directly knowing and seeing it for himself right in here  and now."

Then, realizing the significance of this, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

Faultless,

canopied in white,

the single-spoked chariot rolls along.

See him coming, untroubled:

one whose stream is cut,

free from all bonds [2].

NOTES
1. The Commentary notes that misbehaving monks liked to stroke his hands and catch hold of his ears.
2. In SN 41.5, Citta the householder explains this verse as follows:

Faultless stands for virtues.
Canopied in white stands for release.
Single-spoked stands for mindfulness.
Rolls along stands for coming and going.
Chariot stands for this body composed of the four elements...

Passion [greed] is a trouble; aversion [hatred] is a trouble; delusion [ignorance, confusion, wrong view] is a trouble. These have been abandoned by a meditator whose defilements (asavas, kilesas, samyojanas) have been cut off — their roots destroyed, made [barren] like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for any future rebirth. That's why the meditator whose defilements have ended is said to be untroubled.

Him coming stands for the arahant.

Stream stands for craving. That has been abandoned by a meditator whose defilements have been cut off — its roots destroyed, made [barren] like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for any future rebirth. That's why a meditator whose defilements have been cut off is said to be one whose stream is cut.

Passion is a bond; aversion is a bond; delusion is a bond. These have been abandoned by a meditator whose defilements have been cut off — their roots destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for any future rebirth. That is why a meditator whose defilements have been cut off is said to be free of bonds.

Demonic possession: The Blade Sutra (video)

ABC News; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Satti Sutra: "The Blade or Spear Discourse" based on Ven. Thanissaro translation (SN 20.5, PTS: S ii 265, CDB i 707), Wisdom Quarterly

(ABC News) Possessed: The Modern Exorcism, Jan. 2011. We go behind the scenes as a Catholic priest casts "demons" out of creepy, possessed American woman Becky Parker (Paulist Productions, Inc.)

I will bend this sharp spear by hand.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in Savatthi.

There he said, "Meditators, suppose there were a sharp blade (spear), and a person were to say, 'Using only my hand I will bend back this sharp blade, fold it in two, and roll it up.'

"What do you think, Would that person be able to bend it, fold it, and roll it up by hand?"

"No, venerable sir. Sharp blades are difficult to bend, fold, and roll up. That person would reap only weariness and vexation."

I will infest, possess your mind. Mwah ha ha.

"In the same way, meditators, when a meditator's liberation through loving-kindness (metta) is cultivated, pursued, developed, handed the reins, made a basis, grounded, steadied, consolidated, and skillfully undertaken, if any nonhuman beings were to think of possessing that meditator's mind, they would only reap weariness and vexation.

"So train yourselves, 'Our [heart's] liberation through loving-kindness will be cultivated, pursued, developed, handed the reins, made a basis, grounded, steadied, consolidated, and skillfully undertaken. Train yourselves in this way."

• See also the Metta Sutra (AN 11.16)
• "Demon" yakkhas and rakshasas
• "Fallen angels" (devas) are asuras
• Buddhist cosmology of the Theravada school