There are many ways of talking about ... - Dhamma by Ajahn Jayasāro

There are many ways of talking about the functioning - or, more accurately, the misfunctioning - of the unenlightened mind. For example, we can say that as soon as the mind grasps onto mental states as ‘me’ or ‘mine’, the mind becomes ‘defiled’ or ‘stained’. Here, the emphasis is on a purity that becomes sullied. Or we can say that the mind becomes ‘afflicted’ by grasping. Here the emphasis is on the suffering that ensues. Whatever words we use, the vital thing is that through seeing the effect of grasping and attachment on the mind we develop a strong wish to be free of it. Inner liberation only becomes possible when we gain a profound sense of the ways in which we are unfree, and as a result feel a great cool sadness. That sadness leads to an unshakeable determination to find a way out of our self-created prison.

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Source:

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