Taking Refuge in Altruism

Taking Refuge in Altruism
By
Choumphol Bounthinh
Jun 2018 – Jun 2024

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CONTENTS
PREFACE 3
INTRODUCTION 4
1-THE BUDDHIST FIRST NOBLE TRUTH 5
2-THE BUDDHIST SECOND NOBLE TRUTH 6
3-THE BUDDHIST THIRD NOBLE TRUTH 20
4-THE BUDDHIST FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH 28
5-THE REALMS OF KNOWLEDGE 34
6-THE BUDDHIST SATIPATTHANA 36
7-THE BUDDHIST SKILLFUL EFFORT 38
8-ANATTA is ALTRUISM 40
9-THE PYRAMIDS 46
10-PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT 47
11-THE BUDDHIST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 48
12- THE WAY OF THE ABSOLUTE AND UNVERSAL TRUTH 49
13- THE RELIGION WITHOUT GOD 59
14- THE BUDDHIST RIGHT BATTLE FIELD 62
15-AVIJJA 64
16-THE BUDDHIST VIPASSANA 71
17- SUMMARY 72
18-Q&A 74
GLOSSARY 96
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PREFACE
This book came into being as my first collection after spending several months in writing it on my free
times. I have tried to provide some senses of wisdom to reflect the core aspects of the Buddha’s
teachings in my writings. I hope this book could serve as a source to resolve some of the
misunderstandings many people have about Buddhism, as well as to open a door for some who are
interested in knowing more about Buddhism.
I have been inspired by one of the Buddha’s top principal disciples during his time. His name was Pra
Maha Katyayana. He was appointed by the Buddha to be foremost in explaining the Buddha’s teachings
in the most extraordinaire and awakening way, whether in brief or in detail, especially in brief.
Therefore, let me write each topic in brief in this book.
I have written this book as a free gift to all who are interested in learning about the arts of spiritual
awakening. I want to thank everyone who was a part of this book. And, please forgive me if you see
any mistake in my writings. This book is available online for free distributions at these web links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtsBPa_xVmWOd9ObthflpTBuABiJuqNW/view?usp=sharing
https://www.scribd.com/document/461157821/Taking-Refuge-in-Altruism
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INTRODUCTION
In our societies, we often hear these complements: you are nothing; you are nobody; you need to be
somebody important and special; everything is so empty and boring. Many people seem to perceive and
take “nothing”, “nobody”, or “emptiness” in a negative way. Some people even see these statements as
insults to their self-esteems.
But in Buddhism, they are the best words to say to anyone. In this book, it’s all about nobody, nothing,
and emptiness. And, there is so much to learn about them as well.
There is ONENESS in Buddhism. Zen masters talk about it a lot. However, this ONENESS is not the
same as the rests of mainstream, like in Vedanta, since Vedanta only goes as far as the pure cosmic
consciousness. The Buddha said that Nirvana was ONE. The Buddha also explained the nature of the
ultimate spiritual purity by saying that there couldn't be two or more distinguished marks in that state of
purity at all. Otherwise, how could one say that it was pure, right? When one reaches this same
spiritual state of purity, he is in one with the Buddha-nature. What is it that must disappear for us to be
spiritually pure? Our distinguished marks of "self-identities" must disappear completely in a nutshell.
Therefore, for one to be considered as having the Buddhist right view, he must first realize “Anatta” or
“Altruism” in all things. Moreover, if one understands the Middle Way, he also understands what it
means to see and treat things equally the same, which stands for the "indifference". This alone points to
ONENESS as well.
Freedom = the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved by somebody.
Liberation = the act of attaining freedom from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression imposed
by somebody.
We can see that the key word of the two definitions above is the word "somebody". When there is
somebody with a sense of self-identity somewhere, there also exists “selfishness” to exert control over
something there. And, as long as there is an exertion of the mind to control and to manipulate beings
and things to fulfill one’s desires, there cannot be any real freedom and liberation there at the same time.
Now, if the word "somebody" is removed totally from the two definitions above, then, there is nobody
there anymore to exert control over anything at all.
This is how the spiritual freedom and liberation are achieved in Buddhism. In another words, it is
simply the same as the perfect spiritual state of altruism in a nutshell! Therefore, whichever strategy to
make oneself disappearing, by lessening his own selfishness to become completely selfless or altruistic,
is also the same strategy to make him become completely free and liberated spiritually as well.
At his end, there’s simply nobody there at all but the perfect altruism alone. It’s simply free, pure,
undefiled, unconditioned, and unconventional that can be realized by all at all times, but not at one’s will
to control it.
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====================1-THE BUDDHIST FIRST NOBLE TRUTH====================

According to the Buddha’s teachings, one of the three common characteristics of all conditioned
phenomena is Dukkha (intolerability). By nature, a conditioned phenomenon only behaves itself in a
bidirectional mode which consists of two interfaces to receive and respond to any triggering event upon
its dependencies with other influential factor(s) that coexist(s) relatively as parts of their collective
environment(s). In another words, what all the conditioned things do is to simply enforce the rules of
conditioning upon each other through the links of their relationships and communications. The rules of
conditioning are made up of some inherent conflicting forces to pressure/squeeze/pull/push against the
interrelated object(s) or component(s) through their interfaces, similar to a mechanical car engine or the
ocean waves that fluctuate constantly. Friction and change are their two obvious properties. All natural
events which arise and cease in series are the end results of complex systematic causes and effects which
are backed by nothing by the rules of conditioning alone. Therefore, all conditioned phenomena are
transitory by design and subject to the same universal life cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and decline.
Nonetheless, Dukkha is not seen to distribute itself equally in all directions at all times. There may be
fewer sufferings on some areas and more on the others. Even on one area, there may be fewer sufferings on
some days and more on some other days. But the fact is that there is simply no room for any happiness
period. Where there is less suffering, it is experienced to be more pleasant there; yet, it’s still a form of
subtler suffering. Therefore, true or pure happiness does not really exist in a world of conditioning.
However, there are two major types of sufferings. The first type is referred to as the obvious sufferings,
such as these physical/mental pains, illnesses, agonies, torments, tortures, miseries, disappointments,
grieves, and sorrows; whereas, the second type is referred to as the obscure sufferings, such as some aspects
in human realm, the 8 jhana states of meditations, 6 heavenly realms, and 20 brahma realms. This second
type of sufferings can only be realized through the Buddhist Samatha and Vipassana meditations.
Although these realms seem to be very pleasant to experience, but they’re still impermanent. Anything that
has to do with the erosion, decomposition, and disintegration is obviously an intolerable thing, isn’t it?
Because one does not see sufferings through his pleasant experiences, he inclines to gratify and cling on to
them. Then, he is marked and conditioned by his mind of delusions, by perceiving that there is happiness.
Therefore, when the sufferings are obscure, he is conditioned by the cravings to be united with the pleasant
experiences. On the other hand, when the sufferings are obvious, he is conditioned by the cravings to reject
the unpleasant experiences. The struggles between these two types of cravings can easily trap him into
greed on one hand and aversion on the other hand. Why should he continue to struggle in trying to fix a
conditioned thing to make it right or perfect via his cravings? This is clearly not the way for the wise, isn’t
it?
Because of delusions, he is misled to perceive that there is happiness out there as another distinction to
strive for, besides suffering. Then, he starts to see and treat things differently according to his biased
feelings, perceptions, and views. This leads to the suppositions of conditioned duality (good/bad,
right/wrong, happy/sad, beautiful/ugly), despite the ultimate reality of non-duality (purity). Whatever
that gives him a pleasant feeling, he classifies that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful.
Otherwise, he classifies it to be bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Therefore, whoever transcends his feelings
and perceptions, also transcends the conventional reality and Dukkha.
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Because of clinging, he has involved himself with another “desire to grasp” or “desire for existence” to
accumulate a bunch of conditioned names and forms to become somebody important and special, supported
by his strong ego, without even realizing that there are several hidden burdens and dangers which come
together along with the process of becoming. As the Buddha once said: “because of birth, there are
sickness, old-age, death, and the whole masses of suffering to follow.” It is this obscure type of sufferings
that makes people blind and trapped in the cycle of rebirths.
By realizing the first noble truth, taught by the Buddha, he can now see sufferings permeated in both of
his pleasant and unpleasant experiences undoubtedly. There is no real happiness to be seen at all! The
suppositions of happiness, based on the obscure sufferings, are all fake and illusive. By accepting the
truth and embracing all sufferings as they really are, it’s simply useless for him to have the two
distinguished cravings any longer, since both sufferings have now become equally undesirable and
uncontrollable. There is nothing he can do to change sufferings into happiness either, except his view
and attitude alone. Then, what is left for him to desire for? Nothing is what he really desires for now!
Therefore, the time has come for him to simply let go of the two distinguished cravings automatically.
By neither being swayed to take delight in his pleasant experiences nor being driven to deny his
unpleasant experiences, he simply takes The Middle Way firmly at each present moment. This is how
one transcends Dukkha. Now, with the cessation of cravings, it also comes the cessation of clinging.
This is how the automatic mental detachments are achieved! As he is also cleared from his mental
delusions, greed and aversion do not arise either. This is how the spiritual state of peace, freedom,
independence, calm, and restfulness is achieved! By following his new skillful view and attitude, the
remedy for his illnesses does not lie within a controlled procedure to cure anymore, but rather lies within
his unconditional intention to care for the sick, including himself instead. The noble path is not to
concentrate on curing the impossible, but to concentrate on caring for the sick instead! Thus, one who
sees sufferings also sees kindness, compassion, and virtue! As the Buddha once said: “one who sees
Dukkha also sees the Dharma. And by realizing any single one of the Four Noble Truths, the other 3
would reveal themselves automatically as one package.”
===================2-THE BUDDHIST SECOND NOBLE TRUTH===================
The current Buddha once said: “regardless of whether a Buddha appears in this world to teach the
Dharma or not, the Truth is still the Truth, and things are still the same ways as they have always been
according to their true natures.” The Dharma is not a hypothesis or a philosophy; but instead, the
Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination is the real representation of the conventional reality which
can be unfolded to reveal the entire life cycle of causes, conditions, and effects of all beings. It is
actually based on the actual facts and reality that everyone can see in beings/things as they really are,
according to their true natures, via the Buddhist methods of eliminating his mental delusions. Therefore,
the Buddhist enlightenment is all about the matter of switching from having the abnormal perceptions to
having the normal perceptions, from having the wrong view to having the right view, from being
spiritually unskillful to being spiritually skillful, from being spiritually unawake to being spiritually
awake, from being spiritually impure to being spiritually pure, or from being selfish to being altruistic.
So, it’s clearly not about being somewhere, being nobody, or being somebody special/unique/important
at all. That’s why when the Buddha was asked who he was, he simply answered: “I am awake”, instead
of saying that he was nobody or somebody special/unique/important.
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Why is it so important to realize beings/things as they really are first? This is because the attitude of a
truth-winner is simply to accept things the ways they really are willingly and completely to conform to
the definition of the word “spiritual purity”, which stands in contrast with these words: alteration,
modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty. And, it is this acceptance that will set
every being free spiritually. When one sees things as they really are clearly with his pure wisdom, he
knows how to treat things/beings right accordingly. When he sees and treats things/beings right
accordingly, any conflicts/resistances/injustices do not arise at all, neither from within nor from without.
What do you think where a conflict/resistance/injustice comes from, if not from how one mistreats
himself or mistreats another person or a thing? On the other hand, if conflicts/resistances/injustices do
not arise, especially from within at all, peace and tranquility are simply there to be acquired at any time.
This is how the ultimate bliss of one’s heart is realized and achieved! Therefore, there is nothing more
important than to see and treat all things and beings right or skillfully. The angle of acceptance without
any controls/manipulations is referred to as the Middle Way, whereas the angle of the right or the
skillful treatments is referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. In another words, by
adjusting one’s view, thought, intention, effort, concentration, speech, action, and livelihood to be in
congruence with the most skillful way to treat things and beings properly without a practice of
control/manipulation over anything, then, he simply upholds the Noble Eightfold Path in a nutshell! In
so doing, conflicts and resistances do not arise from his mental aspects, speeches, and deeds. What a
peaceful and perfect life he has!
The Buddha did not just make up the Four Noble Truths from nowhere; instead, he extracted them from
the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination after his full enlightenment. According to the
Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination, the universal and ceaseless life cycle of causes and
conditions is considered to be impersonal by nature. A conditioned phenomenon arises in dependence
upon some other influential factors that coexist relatively by the way of enforcing the rules of
conditioning against each other to always cause something to arise and cease. There is no permanent
and unchanging agent to be found within all conditioned things at all, except these three common
characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. In another words, what all the
conditioned things do is to simply enforce the rules of conditioning upon each other through the links of
their relationships and communications. The rules of conditioning are made up of some inherent
conflicting forces to pressure/squeeze/pull/push against the interrelated object(s) or component(s)
through their interfaces, similar to a mechanical car engine or the ocean waves that fluctuate constantly.
Friction and change are their two obvious inherent properties. All natural events which arise and cease
in series are the end results of complex systematic causes and effects which are backed by nothing but
the rules of conditioning alone. Therefore, all conditioned things are subject to this same universal life
cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and decline. The mental aggregates of each being which are parts
of the five aggregates are also called the “conditioned mind” as well. Therefore, if an individual being
desires to seek for a certainty, reliability, personality/control, or any extreme permanent representation
of fact/reality in such a phenomenon, he desires to seek for something else that does not really exist,
except for a disappointment or the emptiness in return, right? Then, all types of desires are simply based
on a bunch of false hopes and mental delusions, and any fabricated conditions to fulfil the
aforementioned desires are nothing other than a bunch of illusions all together. Did you see that we
just shot 4 birds with one arrow here? The first bird represents things as they really are as mentioned
above (intolerability or the Buddhist First Noble Truth). The second bird represents the flaws within all
types of desires. Therefore, it is very reasonable to say that “desires/cravings” are the causes of Dukkha
and any unskillful actions, speeches, and intentions (the Buddhist Second Noble Truth). The third bird
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represents the freedom from desires as the Buddhist Third Noble Truth or Nirvana. As the result, the end
of suffering must be about something that stands in contrast to “change” or “conditioned things”,
correct? As the Buddha once said: “the stream-winner (Sotapanna), once-returner (Sakadagami), and
non-returner (Anagami) would primarily realize the true natures of changeable things, whereas the
Arahant would realize both, especially the unborn and unchangeable nature.” The fourth bird represents
the ignorance of clinging to any extreme view. Therefore, the Buddha said that any extreme view was to
be avoided (the Buddhist Middle Way or the Buddhist Fourth Noble Truth). Now, don’t you just witness
how the Buddhist Four Noble Truths reveal the entire reality here?
According to the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination as described above, things as they really
are according to their true natures are simply these three common characteristics of impermanence,
intolerability, and impersonality. They are the ultimate goal of the Buddhist Vipassana (Pure Wisdom).
On contrary, the Buddhist Vipassana also reveals that attachment or control, found within
desires/cravings, is the opposing factor to the way of the three common characteristics, which is to be
eradicated to attain the Buddhist Enlightenment. Therefore, the true purpose or the meaning of life is to
answer these two parts of the Buddhist enlightenment: the first part is to answer the question of what to
let go of (desires/cravings), and the second part is to answer the question of how to let go of (the Middle
Way/Noble Eightfold Path).
According to the stream of the world, people are conditioned to give in to fulfil these THREE types of
desires by the ways of external dependencies and fabrications: sensual desires, desires for existence,
and desires for non-existence. Sensual desires are for those who seek outward to indulge in any
supposed pleasant experiences given by any fabricated material or immaterial realms; desires for
existence are for those who seek outward to become somebodies important and special via any
acquisitions of fabricated wealth, prides, statuses, fames, or personalities; desires for non-existence are
for those who seek outward to be without any unpleasant experiences or any desires via any fabricated
forms of rejection/refusal/denial. Then, it’s quite clear that all desires have only this ONE purpose in
common: “satisfaction” or “happiness” via external dependencies.
The extrinsic paradigm contains this basic assumption that satisfactions are directly tied to our
experiences given by any material or immaterial realms. However, each satisfaction is dependent upon
each individual degree of his positive experience with his sensory contact(s), emotion(s), or thought(s).
Because it is the paradigm that relies on our six sense faculties which are related to any external
conditions, its framework contains the following components: a current unsatisfactory state, an ideal
state to be (goal), and a desire/plan/methodology to achieve the ideal state. Therefore, people who adopt
this paradigm always concentrate on just these two areas to make improvements—the plan/methodology
and the external conditions—to measure and compare their successes. This paradigm has been widely
adopted by most of us since time immemorial. We have pursued and enhanced this freedom of desires,
simply because our common habitual tendency is superficial by default. In other words, it’s a type of
happiness for those who see a beauty of a book by judging on its external appearance or its cover only.
The critique of this extrinsic paradigm is the intrinsic paradigm, which outlines several flaws of the
extrinsic paradigm as the following: first, happiness is primarily depicted to be out of reach (goal);
second, the areas of improvement do not allow people to see any flaws within their physical and mental
states at all; third, the dependencies upon any external conditions are another flaws within themselves,
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since any external conditions are impermanent and uncontrollable. Because of their natures of
impermanence, any recently reached goals would soon change and put people back to their unhappy
states again. Therefore, happiness is often out of reach; and, any engagements to this extrinsic paradigm
would only result to restlessness. And fourth, by always measuring and comparing our current
experiences/outcomes with the past/future or with those of other people, how can we really enjoy our
current experiences at the moments?
Moreover, the THREE types of desires are the pressures to condition those who are trapped in them to
control, fabricate, and manipulate their situations or external conditions to fulfill the desires, which are the
acts of impurity and selfishness. Therefore, a desire produces nothing other than a trouble to disturb one’s
mind from peace, calm, and restfulness. By yielding himself to a pressure, he is allowing himself to
become a connector to spread wider the pressure in his interactions with others. With his troubled mind, he
then seeks nothing other than a world of better conditions to minimize his trouble(s). Being in his world of
better conditions, he contributes his times for nothing other than to indulge in any acquired sensual
pleasures. If his world of better conditions is taken away, he is back to the same mind of trouble(s) again.
He has not accomplished anything spiritually. Because he has not sought, rather, to transcend the pressure
from the desire, he simply transfers the pressure to hurt other people through the links of social
communications, by the way of lifting himself up while pressing other people down. Because of desires,
clinging arises. Because he clings on to things and perceives them to be permanent, he then has difficulty
letting them go. Because clings on to things and perceives them to be satisfactory, he then allows himself to
follow his sensual desires and desires for existences. And, because he clings on to things and perceive them
to be in his possessions, he then manages to exert control to manipulate situations and external conditions to
fulfill his desires. His living activities are then no better than the battles to manipulate and control his
surroundings to achieve the unachievable goals. Why should he continue to struggle in trying to fix or
control a conditioned thing to make it right or perfect via his cravings? This is clearly not the way for the
wise, isn’t it? These are the reasons for conflicts and disappointments to exist in his life. What a
worthless and restless life he has! One after another has produced himself this way to be no better than a
debtor or a loser countlessly and endlessly in this world; consequently, all we see in societies are the rises of
more and more people putting any abusive pressures on one another. If getting what he wants is going to
cause troubles, it is simply better to be with his original mind of not wanting it at first! It may be important
in getting what he wants, but there is nothing more important than to maintain his mind from all troubles.
The minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and sufferings in this world. Ultimately, it is best to be
with his mind of not having to maintain it from all troubles at all, which is transcendent in nature.
Because one is not happy yet or not happy enough yet, he thus still desires to be happy or happier.
Therefore, to have “desire” is the same as to have suffering! They coexist together and support each
other as an inseparable pair! If you are with one, you are with both of them at the same time by default.
Therefore, as long as you still have desires, you are still suffering. Now, for what does one desire to be
without suffering then? What he really desires for is simply nothing at all to be without suffering,
doesn’t he? Now we just realize that “nothing” is what we really want. In other words, true happiness
must represent the freedom from desires, as supposed to the freedom of desires in a nutshell! There
may be a path which leads to the cessation of suffering. But, that path has always been trodden, since
there is nothing to be extinguished at all. Simply awake from one’s own mental delusions and realize
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that all conditioned phenomena are empty of any essential values to desire for. Then, what is clearly
revealed right in front of him is the ultimate reality at last.
Because life is the journey of a restless process to reach its final goal of transcending the absolute Truth, it
never sits still in one place. Moreover, it is always full of needs/desires/cravings/expectations to move from
one place to another to seek better happiness. Thus, it is seen to be discontent and restless. As you already
know that nobody wants to be in a prison. Then, it’s compatible to say that any places where one does not
want to be, are considered to be his prisons. Moreover, when talking about desires, the more he has, the
less this world becomes perfect for him. The more desires he has, the more he becomes dependent on his
external conditions/factors, which are constantly uncertain and changing. The more he becomes dependent
on his external conditions/factors, the more he allows them to control his happiness. The more he allows
them or other people to control his happiness, the more he will lose his happiness and freedom. Now, when
talking about losing his freedom, it is just the same as talking about him being in a prison or being a slave,
isn’t it? Therefore, the real purpose of life is more about being spiritually free or liberated than being
satisfied, isn’t it?
Then, for something to be the best form of happiness, it must be an intrinsic value rather than an
extrinsic one, mustn’t it? What do you think is the better option between the two? Therefore, in the
Second Noble Truth, our responsibility is to eradicate “desires”, because they are the causes of Dukkha.
The purpose of desires is to have something else that you don’t already have intrinsically. The Truth,
that will set you free, is things as they really are according to their true natures, not according to what
you think or believe things are or should be. To see things as they are, it’s the same as to see your true
natures as you already have right in you or in front of you at all times (intrinsic value). Therefore, it’s
not the path to depend on desires to search for something else externally. Instead of looking outward for
something that you don’t already have to infinity, simply look inward and realize that you already have
the unborn and unchangeable root in you as well as in everyone. The reason the detachment is the path
in Buddhism is because we have been looking outward via desires and have accumulated a bunch of
fabricated conditions on top to cover up our original root throughout our countless rebirths. Those
fabricated conditions block and cloud us from seeing the common unborn and unchangeable root within.
By removing them one by one all the way (via detachments), you can return yourself back to the
ultimate reality at last. Looking inward is not considered a desire, because you already have that in you.
Why desire for something that you already have, right? It’s the process of letting go rather than taking
something new in.
What do we need to have to realize the truths/Truth, if not by the way of wisdom? This makes Buddhism
the only religion of the ultimate wisdom by default. In a world of causality, there are four major phases
to address a problem. First is to know what the problem is; second is to discover its cause(s); third is to
identify the best alternative approach/solution or to identify the end result(s)/deliverable(s); and fourth is
to implement the selected approach/solution. This 4-truth strategy is the universal scientific
methodology that relies on “wisdom” throughout all the phases. The Buddhist Four Noble Truths
directly conform to and reflect this universal 4-truth strategy. Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that
Buddhism is the only religion of the ultimate wisdom and solution of life.
According to the Buddhas, there is no other way out of Samsara/suffering without The Four Noble
Truths. So far, I have not seen any other religions out there that taught/teach The Four Noble Truths yet,
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besides Buddhism. Nonetheless, they claimed to have some enlightened beings in their religions
though. That’s not all, the majorities of people seem to be more attracted to those false enlightenments
than the true one. The Buddha once said: “Avijja (mental delusion) stands for the ignorance of not
realizing the Four Noble Truths.”
In Buddhism, whatever strategy which reflects the way of the absolute and universal Truth, it is
obligated to work for everyone without a doubt, per the Middle Way and the Noble Eightfold Path. The
Middle Way or the Noble Eightfold Path is the way of the absolute and universal Truth found in natures by
the Buddhas. Therefore, by following the path, one is certain to be re-united with the absolute Truth at last.
According to the Buddhas, there is no second other way besides this.
Where is the middle way in natures? For example: if a river is going to flood an area full of houses, it
does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a king or a peasant; if a forest fire is going to burn
an area full of houses, it also does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a rich and elite person
or a poor forgotten man. If a candle fire is going to burn a piece of paper, it does not care or
discriminate whether that piece of paper is expensive, cheap, filthy, or clean. For the ground on which
we stand, it remains completely at peace and silence whether one pours a cup of clean or filthy water
onto it. The same ground does neither show signs of being pleased when a noble man walks over it, nor
displeased when a serial killer walks over it. The same is true for the rain, the sunshine, the wind, the
earthquake, and the list goes on endlessly. Now you can see that everything treats everything else in full
and in alignment with the Middle Way completely and flawlessly. Whoever understands The Middle
Way thoroughly, that person can derive himself to realize the ultimate reality of ONENESS and
PURITY successively and quickly. The basic definition of The Middle Way encompasses the following
words: moderation, embracement, non-bias, non-preference, non-prejudice, non-discrimination,
nonalignment, non-condition, equality, purity, neutrality, detachment, fairness, firmness, disinterest,
restfulness, calmness, equanimity, tranquility, peace, stillness, silence, dispassion, independence,
freedom, liberation, emptiness, selflessness, compassion, kindness, generosity, enlightenment, and
indifference.
Because of contacts, feelings arise; because of feelings, cravings arise; because of cravings, clinging
arises. It is a delight in a good feeling that leads a sentient being to have a sensual desire or desire for
existence; it is an aversion in a bad feeling that leads a sentient being to have a desire for non-existence.
Both the delight and aversion are the products of the mental delusions. Without the mental delusions,
both the delight and aversion do not arise; without both the delight and aversion, cravings do not arise.
Thus, by neither being swayed toward delight on one extreme nor being driven into aversion on the
other extreme, one simply takes The Middle Way firmly. The MIDDLE WAY is about being neutral by
transcending one’s own sensory contacts or feelings. Therefore, the Middle Way is the way for one to be
no longer troubled by objects and notions. The minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and
sufferings in this world! Without a mind of troubles, one is certain to cause no more troubles and
destructions regardless of space and time, which therefore, spiritually transforms himself to become a
respected noble and altruistic Arahant! When he can’t no longer do no wrong, he is simply seen to be
perfect in a nutshell. Therefore, it’s a false statement to say that a human being cannot be perfect. There
are such persons in Buddhism, namely the Arahants.
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We are here not to be different or to be more special based on a material wealth, fame, pride, or status.
The spiritual qualities of worthiness are rather based on virtue, compassion, generosity, morality,
renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, kindness, and equanimity. An Arahant no
longer lives for the fulfillment of his desires, but rather for the benefits and welfares of all beings
(himself included), determined rather by the orders of what is more or most important. Yet, there is
nothing more important than to treat things and beings skillfully/wholesomely with one’s unconditional
compassion, kindness, generosity, and truthfulness. The attitude of a wise man is not to seek outward to
control/fix what is perceived to be wrong to make it right, but rather, to seek inward to stop practicing
what is unwholesome or abusive instead. Now when the unwholesomeness is not to be seen from his
actions, speeches, and intentions; then, he is simply righteous and wholesome in a nutshell. The
Buddhist way of perfection is not to be expressed through a physical or psychological dimension, but
rather to be expressed through the ultimate spiritual dimension instead! In Buddhism, one does not have
to wait until he dies to see the perfect peace and happiness from within. He can use his common sense of
reasoning to judge on his own to see if this solution offered by Buddhism is undisputed.
Where is the Noble Eightfold Path in natures? According to the periodic table of elements, there are two
major types of the basic elements: one is the conditioned elements and the other type is the
unconditioned noble gases. The conditioned elements appear to have some assumed missing electrons
in their outermost energy levels originally. They need to have 8 electrons in their outermost energy
levels in order to be stable as the unconditioned noble gases. Each conditioned atom is defined by its
disposition to attract and capture one another at its last level of supposed missing electrons wherefrom
the acquired balance may settle as the fulfillment found within an unconditioned noble gas. In
chemistry, the octet rule refers to the tendency of atoms to have eight electrons in the outermost shells.
When atoms have fewer than eight electrons in their outermost shells, they tend to react and form
compounds. An ideal arrangement is attended when the atom is surrounded by eight electrons. This
octet can be made up by own electrons and some electrons which are shared. Thus, an atom continues
to form bonds until an octet of electrons is made. In another words, the noble gases naturally do not
form compounds. They have the most stable configuration (full octet, no charge); so, they have no
reason to react and change their configuration. All other elements attempt to gain, lose, or share
electrons to achieve a noble gas configuration.
Unlike the conditioned elements, the noble gases appear to already have the perfect 8 electrons at their
outermost energy levels by default as their original roots, except helium which has just 2 electrons. But
helium also has a full outer energy level, because its only energy level (energy level 1) can hold a
maximum of 2 electrons. The noble gases represent the perfect state of calm and restfulness, without
being subject to change/conditioning at all (freedom from desires). Now, we can see that there are two
kinds of freedom in nature: the freedom of desires and the freedom from desires. In another words, the
freedom of desires represents the extrinsic paradigm, whereas the freedom from desires represents the
intrinsic paradigm.
However, their settlements via forming the aforementioned compounds are not characterized as firm and
stable as the noble gases, but rather with the aberration marked by these three aggregated signs of
continuous violence, destruction, and reconstruction. The instability of their compound existences
indicates the inherent open systems of individuals on which their combined totality has not redeemed the
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oneness of all yet. They appear to exchange as just trading partners via fusing together through the
gravitational media of linking, instead of the process of blending all to become as one. Even after a
perfect match is found between two or more elements to share their electrons with one another to form a
compound, the conditioned compound is still seen to be unsatisfied/unstable, and is still subject to
change and restlessness (freedom of desires still). Therefore, this first option of following the desires
to take from the other(s) by depending itself upon its external conditions (the extrinsic paradigm), in
order to satisfy the desires, is not the right solution; nonetheless, it is the solution that has been taken by
the stream of the world anyway. The second option is to become like the stable noble gases not at a
physical dimension, but at a spiritual unconditioned dimension instead (the intrinsic paradigm). This is
the ultimate reality where/when all conditioned phenomena cease to exist, namely NIRVANA (freedom
from desires). As the result, the ultimate reality is considered to be supra-mundane in nature.
Buddhism is the only religion that successfully takes this second option all the way to Nirvana, via the
Noble Eightfold Path.
It is really a striking coincidence to see the number 8 used to describe both the stable noble gases and the
Noble Eightfold Path. They happen to pick the same number 8 and represent the same kind of freedom,
which is the freedom from desires thereof. But, the former represents the freedom from desires at the
physical dimension, whereas the latter represents the freedom from desires at the spiritual dimension.
Moreover, the Noble Eightfold Path can be further condensed from 8 to 3 (morality, Samadhi, wisdom),
from 3 to 2 (Samatha and Vipassana), and from 2 to 1 (the Middle Way). Since one of the stable noble
gases, namely helium, has only 2 electrons, it is considered to match with the condensed version of the
Noble Eightfold Path , namely Samatha and Vipassana.
Because of the Noble Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha, one can become completely and
permanently restful like the stable noble gases (freedom from desires). Then, true happiness, according
to Buddhism, must be about peace, freedom, and independence, without any remainders of conditioned
things period. In another words, it must not depend on any external conditions or factors for its own
freedom and happiness. If you still need to depend on something else or someone else other than
yourself to be happy, that happiness is very questionable! Would you rather let something else or
someone else control your happiness? Then, what kind of freedom is the right form of freedom, if not
the freedom from desires? Aren’t the desires that make you depend on something else or someone else
as their conditions? For something to be the best form of happiness, it must be an intrinsic value rather
than an extrinsic one, mustn’t it? What do you think is the better option between the two? Then, it must
be self-sufficient, self-comforting, and self-sustaining instead. Without desires, one is simply calm,
peaceful, restful, free, and independent. This is the true happiness according to the Buddha and the Four
Noble Truths! That’s why the Buddha taught the aforementioned Noble Eightfold Path for us to let go of
the Khandhas or the 5 aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and
consciousness), because they are among the conditioned fabrications to depend on external conditions.
The conditioned fabrications block or cloud the unconditioned Dharma from being realized. Once the
Khandhas are spiritually detached, the unconditioned Dharma is finally revealed.
The Way of the absolute and universal Truth always reveals itself completely in natures and it belongs
to the public domain, and so does the ultimate reality. Then, it must be marked with these signs of
purity, inclusion, union, and embracement thereof. All are equal to acquire it at all times, but not at
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one’s conditioned desires to control it. That’s why the Buddha said that our duty toward the Buddhist
Second Noble Truth was to eradicate all types of conditioned cravings/desires, because they were all
about “control”. Moreover, exclusion and discrimination are the signs of selfishness to exert control and
to discriminate, where only the few are allowed to gain access, while the rests are left out. If there are
two worlds, for example, where in one world, all are allowed to become equally and inclusively happy,
while in the other world, only the few are allowed to be happy apart from many. Which world is a better
world for all to live in? That is one of the reasons why there is no room for God in Buddhism, because
we prefer to be in the former type of the better world, instead of the latter. Therefore, the Truth cannot
be any exclusive and external entity or agent to search for or to depend on, such as God, at all. Instead,
the Truth is beings/things as they really are according to their true common intrinsic and fundamental
nature, not according to what one thinks or believes they are or should be. The common intrinsic and
fundamental nature must be the absolute, unborn, unchangeable, still, and ONE stationary center of the
universe where all beings/things are to revolve around. The common course of such revolution is clearly
seen to encircle, which has the same meaning as “to encompass”, “to embrace”, or “to accept
willingly”. However, before the absolute Truth can be accepted willingly, it must be disclosed by the
way of “wisdom” first. Therefore, because of one’s wisdom of realizing the absolute Truth, his mind is
awakened. Because the absolute Truth is 100% correct, it is therefore unchangeable or undisputable or
unquestionable, right? Because it is the unchangeable Truth, therefore, there is no other way for us to
escape the Truth either, but to simply accept it as it is, don’t we? This is the reason why natures created
the law of Karmas for those who are not willing to accept and follow the way of the absolute and
universal Truth.
According to a law of nature, if you hold up a rubber band within your two fingers in front of you on its
one end, let’s say its top end, and twist it around at its other end, let’s say its bottom end, with another
two fingers without letting it go as much as you can; you will see and feel that the rubber band is storing
up a resistant energy/force to restore itself back to its original form. The more you continue to twist it
around in the same direction, the more resistant energy/force it will accumulate. Once you let go of the
deviation of the rubber band at its bottom end, it will simply spin itself in the opposite direction to return
itself back to its original form fast, depending on the amount of its stored energy.
According to the aforementioned analogy above, we can simply see that the rubber band, in its original
form, represents things as they really are (the Truth); the act of twisting the rubber band represents the
unskillful practice of bending the unchangeable Truth; the stored resistant energy/force represents one’s
karmic debts that he needs to pay back; and, the act of letting go represents the detachment taught by the
Buddha to return his heart back to its original state of purity, which stands in contrast with these words:
alteration, modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty. Then, the attitude of a truth-
winner is simply to accept things the ways they really are willingly and completely. This is the true
definition of the word “spiritual purity”, which stands in contrast with these words: alteration,
modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty.
On the other hand, because of desires, we are conditioned/pressured to bend any facts/evidences/realities
to fit our desires via controls and manipulations, which are the acts of “selfishness” or “ego”. Because
of our mental delusions, we are conditioned to give in to our desires. This conventional reality of
existences is rather based on the collective consciousness of individuals that is driven by the model of
self-identity. These notions of self-identity are the root causes of all self-destructive energy modes
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inherited within all sentient beings and all eco/social systems. The Buddha said that it was this “self-
identity” or “egoism” or “selfishness” or “self-delusion” that conditioned and motivated one to have
self-interests/self-empire to serve. When he is selfish, he sees himself to be more important and more
special than the rests or the others; consequently, he becomes capable of abusing or bending the truths as
well as mistreating others to serve his self-interests. That’s why it’s very common for us to see these
three types of mental defilement or impurity within all sentient beings: greed, aversion, and mental
delusion. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for us to become liberated from our mental delusions to
set us free from our desires, so that we can become spiritually pure, in order to stand in contrast with
these words: alteration, modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty
According to a perfect common sense, if we are going to remove a giant tree with a deep root properly
and safely in a crowded neighborhood, we first have to start from its top and work its way down toward
the root. All of the small branches have to be cut off first, before we can start to cut off the bigger
branches. Then, its trunk can be cut off into chunks later. Finally, its root can be removed entirely
afterward. The same is true for our mental defilements/delusions. Any unskillful actions, speeches, and
livelihoods are those small branches, whereas any unskillful mental activities are those bigger branches.
The giant truck is made up of greed and aversion, which are rooted in “defilements/delusions”.
First, the enemy of dishonesty is morality. Therefore, morality is the first line of defense to prevent us
from being involved in any abusive speeches, actions, and livelihoods. But, morality alone does not stop
our minds from being conditioned and troubled by our desires. Then, more measures are needed to
weaken, suppress, and finally dispel any troubled minds. This is when Samadhi and Wisdom were added
to make up the rests of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Second, the enemy of our mental delusions is wisdom. But, the culmination of wisdom can only be
derived from the Buddhist mindfulness meditation, which allows a mind to settle down into a firm,
independent, and unbiased anchor (the pure knower). In the mind, there are several nested layers of
mental aggregates, similar to the lotus flowers. That’s why the symbol of the Buddhist religion is the
lotus flowers. Like in a lotus flower, we can see more refined beauty in it as it opens itself up to reveal
its inner layers to the world. By practicing the mindfulness meditation listed in the Right/Skillful
Meditation Section of the Noble Eightfold Path, the mind can exercise its mindfulness to become aware
of its mental activities in order to sort out any skillful or unskillful mental activities to be investigated
further. To be aware of any mental activities, the knowing mind has to become a stationary and
independent observer. This will allow the awareness to move deeper into the innermost layer at the
stationary center, so that it can observe any mental activities at the outer layers. Then, the mind can let
go of the outer layer(s) incrementally. The sorting, investigating, and letting go parts are done by the
wisdom (Vipassana). The same practice continues until the mind reaches the observer at the stationary
center itself. The final task is to observe and investigate itself, until it is let go of as well. The last layer
of consciousness is called: the pure knower or the bright consciousness. When all are let go of, there is
nothing left but the revelation of this pure knowing essence, which is pure, selfless, unconditional and
extremely luminous. This pure original mental essence is the unborn and unchangeable knowing essence
that can experience Nirvana directly, because they are purely compatible. It is the all-embracing and
non-fabricated essence, which encompasses everything but retains nothing (detachment). This pure
knowing nature permeates everything like the emptiness (Maha Sunyata) which has no boundary. Yet, it
is one vital reality (non-dual). It fills up the whole universe as being oneness with the entire universe.
The Mahayana Buddhist called this pure knowing essence: “the Buddha-Nature.” This is how each
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private mind of each conscious and experiencing being attains the final Buddhist enlightenment or the
absolute spiritual purity. It is each private mind with the perfection of wisdom, not a self, which attains
enlightenment by itself via the Noble Eightfold Path.
Since all conditioned things cease to exist spiritually there at the Buddha-Nature, then nothing arises. In
another words, there is not even a slice of activity or movement to be detected there period. Thus, there
is nothing for one to become aware of at all. It’s just the perfect spiritual state of oneness and
transcendence by nature. Since nothing arises, one cannot speak of its origin. Therefore, it is considered
to be the unborn and unchangeable fundamental nature for all. Since nothing arises, it is completely still,
restful, calm, and unconditional, which can be acquired by all at all times, but not at one’s conditioned
desire to control it. Then, to be with the absolute Truth face-to-face, it is the same as to be completely
restful, calm, and peaceful, isn’t it? This complete restfulness in itself is the ultimate bliss and freedom!
Therefore, the attitude of a wise man consists of no longer thinking of anything, as supposed to the
conditioned mental thoughts of outgoing exuberances: that’s the secret of peace, tranquility, and
equanimity!!! Because of the cessation of all conditioned things there, we therefore cannot use our
conditioned sensations, emotions, and feelings to experience the absolute Truth directly. Because of the
cessation of all conditioned things, we cannot use our conditioned perceptions and consciousness to
validate it directly. This is the reason why we don’t see and experience Nirvana, though it is just right in
front of us at all times. The five aggregates of conditioned fabrications (physical body, sensations,
perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness) are meant to be spiritually detached so that the pure
original mental essence is uncovered to appear visibly.
Third, what which precede actions are mental activities! Then, one must have his view corrected first in
order to have the subsequent right/skillful understanding, thought, intention, effort, speech, action, and
livelihood to follow. What is the corrected view, if not the altruistic view in the Noble Eightfold Path
only?
If all conditioned phenomena were assumed to be correct and perfect for all, there would not be a need
or a reason for them to change or be changed, right? Because they are not correct, they are thus marked
by these intolerability, uncertainty, changeability, and unreliability at all times. And, because suffering is
the symbol of what is incorrect or unskillful, one thus doesn’t want and seeks to transcend suffering at
all costs. As the result, in order for him to transcend suffering, he must avoid doing all the unskillful
things; by instead, do all the skillful things in life, if life is meant to do something. Moreover, if doing
the skillful things is benevolent and noble, he then should incorporate all the skillful things in everything
he does, which includes his intentions/thoughts, speeches, and actions. The Buddhist call this: “the
skillful means of liberation.”
To ask anyone of what he ultimately seeks in his life, his honest answer would simply be the perfect
peace. However, if the perfect peace is the wholesome thing, everything he does should then mean to
bring about the perfect peace only and nothing else, right? Nonetheless, what are those skillful things to
bring about the perfect peace anyway? They are simply morality, Samadhi, and wisdom or the Noble
Eightfold Path in a nutshell!
 Morality:
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o Skillful Speech: essentially refraining from improper speech consisting of engaging in

falsehood, malicious talk, or harsh and/or frivolous speech.
o Skillful Action: three primary actions to be avoided: killing, stealing, and general
misconducts.
o Skillful Livelihood: refraining from earning a living by such means as doing something
unlawful, unethical, corrupt, and other improper careers.
 Samadhi:
o Skillful Effort: making an effort to cleanse one's mind of all existing unskillful thoughts,
preventing new unskillful thoughts from arising; and on the positive side, maintaining
and increasing skillful thoughts.
o Skillful Mindfulness: maintaining mindfulness of one's body, feelings, mind, and the
Dharma.
o Skillful Samadhi: essentially practicing meditation to attain deeper states of jhana to
suppress the five hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness
and worry, and doubt), so that one can use his clear wisdom to see beings and things as
they really are without a distortion.
 Wisdom:
o Altruistic View: view to realize that there is nobody in the five aggregates (physical form,
sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness), and view to realize that
all conditioned phenomena are equal at the angle of having the same three common
characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality.
o Skillful Thought/Intention/Resolve: thought/intention/resolve that is pure and free from
greed, aversion, and delusion.
In Buddhism, there are four levels of enlightenment for the disciple path: stream-winner (Sotapanna),
once-returner (Sakadagami), non-returner (Anagami), and finally the Arahant. The Buddha also
mentioned that whichever religion that might be, as long as they practiced the Noble Eightfold Path,
there would always be these four kinds of the enlightened beings in that religion without a doubt. These
four kinds of enlightenment are supramundance in nature, known as “Ariya”. Without the Noble
Eightfold Path, there cannot be a discovery of an Ariya period. They are the proprietary products of
Buddhism!!!
According to the Buddha, the absolute Truth is found within one’s spiritual state of altruism. Because of
one’s ignorance of not realizing this spirituality, his mental constituents that manifest “self-identity”
arise to fabricate some conditioned mental layers to cover the original pure mental essence. Because
they exist mental constituents, conditioned consciousness arises to deceive himself into believing that
his consciousness is personal. This is the universal path to mislead beings into their selfish lives marked
by impurities and defilements. Consequently, any resultant mental fetter of selfishness would cloud and
enwrap his original pure mental essence to the extent that they manifest themselves throughout his thoughts,
intentions, speeches, and actions--by making them all impure, unskillful, and unwholesome. These
conditioned mental layers make up our mental integuments which confine our spiritual freedoms and
liberations. The other name for the mental integuments is: “Kileshas or Kleshas”. The Kileshas are
made up with these 4 pillars: sensual desires, delight in becoming/prides, self-
identities/personalities/conceits, and the ignorance of not realizing the Four Noble Truths. You will
notice that your mind is confined and wondering within the scopes of these 4 pillars, like being in 4 cells
of a prison. Let’s look at this one easy example: the sensual desires. For those who always seek outward
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to experience any sensual delights as their primary sources of happiness, their doing minds are always
active. Most of their mental energies would be consumed by their doing minds to always find something to
plan, initiate, think, worry, fear, doubt, react, or crave all day long. Nonetheless, the mental integuments
are not just extremely difficult to be seen, but they are also seriously thick, strong, and tough to break
open. Therefore, if you don’t do anything about it, you will continue to be the same ignorant person,
from rebirth to rebirth.
Therefore, if one could cease his conditioned thoughts to completely silence his mind, even for a
moment, he would uncover his original pure and altruistic mind, known as the Buddha-Nature. Thus,
there is no need for him to look elsewhere to become enlightened, since it’s already there within him at
all times. Yet, it is extremely difficult for anyone to completely silence his mind, since his conditioned
mental layers are always in a constant state of flux and outgoing exuberance. Nonetheless, by
identifying and cutting through all of the following ten mental fetters of selfishness incrementally and
gradually, he can attain a Buddhist enlightenment one stage at a time:
1. View/notion/perception/belief of self-identity
2. Doubt or uncertainty about the Triple Gems (Ariya)
3. Immoral conducts or breach of precepts
4. Sensual desires
5. Ill will such as anger and aversion
6. Delight in pleasant experiences given by material realms
7. Delight in pleasant experiences given by immaterial realms
8. Conceit
9. Restlessness
10. Ignorance/mental delusion
First, by permanently cutting away the first three mental fetters of selfishness, he is considered to
become a stream-winner (Sotapanna). During the cutting process, he would experience a brief opening
and closing of his mental integuments to experience Nirvana briefly. A stream-winner is certain to attain
the Arahantship within a period of 7 reincarnations at max. A once-returner (Sakadagami) shares the
same incident as the stream-winner but with a higher degree of mental refinement. Therefore, the once-
returner only has one reincarnation left to go. Each future reincarnation for both is not supposed to be
lower than the human realm though. Next, by permanently cutting away the first five mental fetters of
selfishness, he is considered to be a non-returner (Anagami) who will no longer come back to a world of
sensual desires; but, rather stays in a very peaceful and joyful Brahma realm until he becomes an
Arahant. During the cutting process, he would experience the brief opening and closing of his mental
integuments to experience Nirvana briefly again for the third time. Finally, by permanently cutting away
all ten mental fetters of selfishness, one is considered to be an Arahant. With this final slash, his mental
integuments would be completely destroyed permanently, which can be compared to the explosion of a
star in the universe. What then remains is the original pure knowing essence that spreads its
luminousness in all directions to merge itself as ONE with the universe at last. Since his conditioned
mental layers have been purged, there is nothing left there as a source to grasp names and forms to form
his future five aggregates any longer. Therefore, this would be his final birth in Samsara.
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In summary, the four levels of enlightenment can be condensed further into three levels of detachment:
letting go of the wrong view, letting go of your body, and letting go of your mind. The stream-winner
(Sotapanna) or once returner (Sakadagami) is considered to achieve the first level of detachment. The
non-returner (Anagami) is considered to achieve the first and second levels of detachment; and, the
Arahant is considered to achieve all 3 levels of detachment. It’s normal and scientific to have
enlightenment in stages, especially, from the easy part to the most difficult part.
Why did the Buddha designate these 4 and 3 levels to be parts of the Buddhist Enlightenment? Once you
become a stream-winner (Sotapanna), you are at the point of no return. You will definitely and
completely break away from the cycle of rebirths within no further than 7 reincarnations at max.
Otherwise, you will continue to be subject to the cycle of rebirths with no end date in sight. Therefore,
there is a big difference between being a stream-winner or not.
Then, “life” according to Buddhism, is the product of “AVIJJA” or Ignorance/delusion rather than the
product of creation from an intelligent creator or God. Because of birth, there are sickness, old age,
death, and the whole masses of suffering to follow. Without birth(s) or rebirth(s), there wouldn’t be
suffering at all. Because of ignorance/delusion, one creates good and bad karmas as the conditions to
nourish his life and his resultant worlds to live in. It’s the KARMAS that create and govern all
conditioned phenomena, instead of God. Therefore, the Buddhist religious goal is to break away from
the cycle of rebirths, rather than to celebrate “life” as the most wonderful thing as those who believe in
God as the separate external entity.
Now, by understanding the universal life cycle of causes and conditions of beings and things, the truths
of life will come into one’s insight as well. Life is simply a systematic collection of names and forms,
marked by needs and desires to close its gap between its two states of “as is” and “to be”. Therefore, we
can look at “life” as a process that consists of several moving parts (embedded objects, properties, and
components) which interrelate and work together dependently in a systematic fashion. The main reason
for an organized system or a process to exist in the universe is because there is at least a goal for it to
attain. Then, the final goal simply means that the process has come to its state of complete and
permanent restfulness. These are all to life for one to talk about: suffering (its restless state during its
journey) and the end of suffering (its final restful state). That’s why the scope of Buddhism is all about
sufferings and the end of sufferings or the Four Noble Truths only. Therefore, there are two parts to the
Truth. First is the conventional reality that defines the journey of life, and second is the ultimate reality
that defines the final goal of its complete and permanent restfulness. Then, this final goal should also
mean the cessation of all conditioned things and sufferings as well. That’s where Nirvana is! We call
them both the realities because they are actually real and need to be respected accordingly. The
conventional reality and the ultimate reality are just the two sides of the same coin. Therefore,
attaining the enlightenment is nothing other than flipping the coin to see both sides. Nonetheless, one
should not apply the standard of the ultimate reality against the conventional reality, such as the
rejections of the law of Karmas, reincarnations, heavens, hells, and Brahma realms. Although they cease
to exist in the ultimate reality, but they do exist in the conventional reality. The Buddha never taught us
to ignore the conventional reality and its rules/standards. Instead, he taught us to see, respect, and treat
them accordingly while we are still trapped in that reality. This is the first universal rule of all common
senses. For an example, we can’t just ignore the rules of laws or disobey the traffic lights in our
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societies, without expecting to have any consequences, can we? Does this sound like a great common
sense to have? At this point, one may argue that there is only ONE reality, not two or many. This
argument is not applicable here either, since we are talking about ONE coin with two sides rather than
two different realities. Because it is just ONE coin, it shows that the final goal is simply the matter of the
intrinsic paradigm, instead of the extrinsic one. Yet, both sides of the same coin have ONE thing in
common, which is the Middle Way. Therefore, the Middle Way is the Universal Path of all, and is the
angle where the Buddhist non-duality is to be discovered.
During the time of the current Buddha, the Buddha appointed two chief principal disciples: one for his
right hand and the other for his left hand. Besides, he also appointed several other principal disciples for
both monks and nuns. Each principal disciple was foremost in a unique area of skills and abilities. For
examples, the Buddha’s right hand (Shariputra) was considered to be foremost in wisdom; the Buddha’s
left hand (Maudgalyayana) was considered to be foremost in performing miracles and supernatural
powers. At this point, one may raise this question whether all of those Arahants (enlightened beings)
were equal or not? They were all equal in these 3 specific angles only: the perfection of spiritual purity,
the perfection of morality, and the experience of the ultimate bliss or Nirvana. Any other extra qualities
or abilities besides these 3 are considered to be optional, because they are not directly beneficial to the
Arahants who possess them; nonetheless, they are meant for the benefits and welfares of the other
beings instead. For an example, an Arahant might be able to attract more disciples if he had the abilities
to perform miracles and supernatural powers. However, only the Buddha was considered to be
omniscient and foremost in all unique angles/skills/abilities while his disciples were not. The
accumulations of the 10 perfections were different in their previous lives, much more or less, along with
their unique vows before becoming the Arahants. This confirms that “life” is an evolving, changing,
cumulative, and private process to become spiritually skillful and perfectly wise, which are conditioned
by, but not determined by, the impacts of these three mundane factors: heredities, environments, and
Karmas; and, the two things which are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the
Karmic imprint.
===================3-THE BUDDHIST THIRD NOBLE TRUTH====================
If something is correct, good enough, happy enough, or perfect, why does it need to change? Then,
“change” is simply the indication of something intolerable, isn’t it? That’s not all, we see “change” to
be universal in all conditioned things as well. Plus, the term “change” can also be expanded to
encompass these terms: impermanence, movement, activity, coming and going, arising and ceasing,
uncertainty, transformation, modification, replacement, conversion, temporary, transition, and many
more.
By exploring the opposite side of the absolute Truth, the absolute Truth would simply come into one’s
view as well! As the result, the end of suffering must be about something that stands in contrast to
“change” or “conditioned things”, correct? As the Buddha once said: “the stream-winner (Sotapanna),
the once-returner (Sakadagami), and the non-returner (Anagami) would primarily realize the true natures
of changeable things, whereas the Arahant would realize both, especially the unborn and unchangeable
nature (the absolute).” What are some of the contrasts we can notice to have a basic sense of the unborn
and unchangeable nature, if not about the unconditioned thing? Now because of these constraints of the
unborn, unchangeable, and unconditioned nature; what is then left for anyone to pursue other than to be
21
100% compliant to its way (the Middle Way), right? This is the reason why natures created the law of
Karmas for those who are not willing to accept and follow the way of the absolute and universal Truth.
The universal laws of Karmas treat everybody the same regardless of his/her
fame/status/wealth/background/knowledge/pride without any bias or exception at all, to make sure that
nothing gets away from the universal Middle Way of the absolute and universal Truth.
The Buddha said that one could attain the cessation of suffering at any one of these three connecting
chains of the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination: by the abandonment of clinging, by the
eradication of desires/cravings, or by the complete removal of ignorance/delusion. Besides, all three
rely on the same nutriment, namely ego, to sustain their existences. Then, the most efficient way for one
to attain the cessation of suffering is to simply cut off this primary source of nutriment or ego in a
nutshell.
The Twelve Chain of Dependent Origination that the Buddha discovered is the fundamental law of the
universe’s operation which embodies the ultimate Truth of the conventional reality (Samsara).
According to its definition, the appearance of any phenomenon is connected to numerous causes, and
these causes in turn link to further causes. Moreover, the phenomena themselves contribute conditions
for the emergence of other phenomena. Conversely, if one phenomenon ceases, it does so because the
conditions that produced it have also ceased, and this cessation leads to the disappearance of other
related phenomena. Therefore, the law of dependent origination encompasses two aspects: arising and
ceasing, occurring in multiple dimensions. The process of arising and ceasing, ceasing and arising,
continues indefinitely from the beginingless to the endless time. It encompasses everything from the
birth and decay of the physical body to the consciousness of any individual sentient being, to the
formation and destruction of the earth and the universe.
The Buddha did not just make up the Four Noble Truths from nowhere; instead, he extracted them from
the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination after his full enlightenment. According to the
Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination, the universal and ceaseless life cycle of causes and
conditions is considered to be impersonal by nature. A conditioned phenomenon arises in dependence
upon some other influential factors that coexist relatively by the way of enforcing the rules of
conditioning against each other to always cause something to arise and cease. There is no permanent
and unchanging agent to be found within all conditioned things at all, except these three common
characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. In another words, what all the
conditioned things do is to simply enforce the rules of conditioning upon each other through the links of
their relationships and communications. The rules of conditioning are made up of some inherent
in series are the end results of complex systematic causes and effects which are backed by nothing but
22
represents the freedom from desires as the Buddhist Third Noble Truth or Nirvana. The fourth bird
represents the ignorance of clinging to any extreme view. Therefore, the Buddha said that any extreme
view was to be avoided (the Buddhist Middle Way or the Buddhist Fourth Noble Truth). Now, don’t you
just witness how the Buddhist Four Noble Truths reveal the entire reality here?
Everything in the realm of conditioned things depends on each other for existence. Existence is only
possible through relational dependencies. Nothing can exist independently, as all things depend on
numerous interrelated factors. If one element ceases, others too cannot exist. This constant change
means entities also transform over time simultaneously and interdependently, as we see in any
ecological system in nature. All entities are formed and maintained through relational networks which
show no beginning or ending as the question of what comes first: “the seed or the plant, the chicken or
the egg?” Each event is the consequence of antecedents, accumulating as various influences that shape
the present. The same is true for the elements that constitute a human being or a sentient being which
arise from multifaceted conditions as well. These are merely collections of names and forms which
cannot be identified as ‘self’ or ‘ego’ or ‘soul’. The Buddha taught that even consciousness arose
dependent on conditions; without conditions, consciousness did not arise. Finally, all beings are
conditioned by, but not determined by, the impacts of these three mundane factors: heredities,
environments, and Karmas. It’s like someone who is enslaved by an oppressor, but he still has an
opportunity to set himself free as well. This is also the Middle Way which stands in the middle between
the theories of free will and determinism. Therefore, life is an evolving, changing, and cumulative
process rather. This is the reason why each being has different cumulative trait, habit, and personality as
we see in each being or life, which each has been collecting and accumulating throughout its countless
rebirths in Samsara.
All phenomena are connected in an intricate web of existence. The flourishing of one is intertwined
with the wellbeing of all. Our lives are intricately connected to the lives of others creating a web of
relationships, experiences, and shared existence. Therefore, by acknowledging our interconnected
nature, we are encouraged to shift from a self-centered perspective to embrace the wellbeing of the
collective: by extending our circle of compassion beyond ourselves, by fostering a deep understanding
that our happiness and suffering are intimately linked to the happiness and suffering of others, and by
reflecting on the intricate threads that connect us to the world around us toward communion.
Instead of viewing the self as a fixed entity, it teaches that the self is a dynamic and ever changing flow
of experiences, thoughts, and emotions—with each moment is distinct from the previous one. What the
Buddha rejected was the concept of having the permanent and unchanging agent or self/soul in each
being from rebirth to rebirth. However, this does not mean that there is not an evolving, changing, and
cumulative process in each being, during its journey, to merge with Nirvana at the end. Often we use
23
labels and descriptions to define who we are, creating a sense of a fixed identity. This encourages us to
go beyond these labels and recognize the fluidity of the dynamic self. By doing so, we open ourselves
to personal growth and a more authentic engagement with the world. If the self is in a constant state of
flux, it aligns with the Middle way and the impermanence of all phenomena. Additionally, by
recognizing the nature of altruism, we foster a deep understanding of our interconnectedness with others
and the world around us. This liberates us from the burden of rigid self-identifications. It invites us to
release attachments to ideas of an enduring “I” or me. By letting go of fixed identities, we cultivate a
sense of lightness, selflessness, and freedom. This liberation allows for a more open and adaptive
engagement with life’s experiences through the mindfulness of the changing nature of the self as we
resiliently navigate life’s journey. Therefore, we found a gateway to a profound transformation, where
the dynamic nature of the self, becomes the source of continual discovery and evolution.
The dynamic nature of the self underscores the emptiness within the components of the self. The
emptiness, in this context, does not imply a lack of existence, but rather the absence of a fixed and
independent identity to hold on to permanently. It challenges the notion of a solid and unchanging
agent, by inviting us to recognize the dynamic flow of our being with the boundless possibilities of
creation, like a fertile ground upon with the experiences of life unfold. With the dynamic interplay of
existence, we are encouraged to approach each moment with openness and receptivity. Instead of
viewing situations with preconceived notions or fix it expectations, we are encouraged to recognize the
infinite potential within an empty space to unveil the potential for growth, learning, and new
possibilities, such as to allow for a more authentic and creative engagement with life, and to transform
our perspective on challenges and uncertainties rather than perceiving them as obstacles in a
predetermined path.
Because life arises from a complex web of causes and conditions, our thoughts/feelings/perceptions are
therefore constantly changing, arising and passing away, based on various conditions. It’s all a fluid
ever changing process, a dance of interdependent elements that we label and conceptualize for
convenience. The perceived self we cling to so tightly is really just a convenient fiction as a way of
organizing experience that has no ultimate reality. To further illustrate this idea, let’s use the metaphor
of a rainbow. When you see a beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky, it appears to be a solid
independent thing. But when you try to locate the rainbow, you will find that it’s not actually there in
any fixed permanent sense. It’s an appearance that arises due to specific causes and conditions. The
rainbow is empty of inherent existence to hold on to just like the perceived self. Our waking sense of
self is a kind of dream, an appearance that arises due to various causes and conditions, but lacks any
ultimate independent reality. This might sound unsettling at first, but it’s actually a liberating insight.
When we start to see through the illusion of this abnormal perception, we can let go of a lot of the
anxiety, attachment, and a version that comes with it. We can start to experience life in a more open,
fluid, and compassionate way.
Because of the nature of a complex web of interconnected phenomena, when we really dig into it, we
find that there is no solid independent thing that exists apart from everything else. The same is true for
any subject and object of our experiences. Both are also empty of inherent existences. The very
distinction between subject and object is itself an illusion. The dualistic way of framing experience is
fundamentally mistaken. In reality, the subject and object are completely interdependent, arising
24
together as a single seamless experience. It’s like two sides of the same coin. You can’t have a coin
with only heads or only trails. The two sides depend on each other for their very existence. In the same
way, you can’t have a perceiver without something perceived, or an object of perception without a
perceiving consciousness. The two are mutually dependent, arising together in a single indivisible
moment of experience. In the traditional way of thinking, there’s a separate and private “you” who is
experiencing an environment as a separate external environment. But in the moment of direct
experience, is there really a separation between you and your external environment? The sensations and
experiences which are arising in your consciousness and your consciousness is taking the shape of the
external environment, the two are interpenetrating and defining each other, like a dance in which the
dancer and the dance are one. This is a taste of the non-dual nature of experience, in which the rigid
separation between subject and object softens and yields to a more fluid/interconnected way of being.
This non-dual view of experience has some mind bending implications. It means that the fundamental
nature of reality is not some collections of separate independent things, but rather a fluid/seamless hole
in which all the elements interpenetrate and define each other. We are not separate isolated entities, but
rather expressions of the vast open awareness—that is the very nature of reality itself. Our sense of
being as a separate self is a kind of projection, a convincing illusion created by the mental formation,
due to “AVIJJA”. When we start to see through this illusion and touch the luminous awareness that we
truly are, we discover a profound sense of liberation and inner peace. This isn’t something that we need
to achieve or create, it’s just the very nature of what we are, beneath the layers of confusion and
conditioning. And by learning to rest in this pure awareness of altruism, we gradually dissolve the false
sense of separation between ourselves and the world, and awaken to the unity and interdependence of all
things. Of course, this does not mean that we bypass or ignore the challenges and complexities of life,
rather it means that we meet them from a place of greater wisdom, openness, and compassion. We still
engage fully with the world, but we do so with a sense of lightness/flexibility/detachment, knowing that
all experiences are fleeting expressions of the endlessly creative dance of awareness.
The idea that all views, even the most profound spiritual insights, are themselves empty of inherent
existence to hold on to permanently. This idea suggests that any conceptual framework or belief system
we use to understand reality is ultimately just a provisional tool, not the final truth. Therefore, the
danger of getting attached to views, even the Buddhist ones, is that it can lead to dogmatism, closed
mindedness, and a kind of spiritual materialism where we use our beliefs to bolster the ego rather than
dissolve it.
But the emptiness of views is actually a profoundly liberating teaching, one that frees us from the
tyranny of dogma and fixed ideas. When we recognize that all views are empty, we can engage with
them more playfully and flexibly, using them as tools for awakening rather than as fixed positions to
defend. We can appreciate the relative truth of different perspectives, without getting trapped in any one
of them. And, we can rest more easily in the groundlessness of our own being, trusting the inherent
wisdom and compassion of our Buddha nature to guide us through the complexities of life. Ultimately,
the emptiness of views points us back to the simplicity and immediacy of our own direct experience. It
invites us to let go of our reliance on conceptual frameworks and trust the intelligence of the present
moment. It reminds us that the ultimate truth is always right here in the midst of the ever changing
dance of appearances, waiting for us to recognize it as our own true nature.
25
According to this collective and universal model, life is therefore considered to be each conscious and
experiencing being rather than a misleading unchanging self or soul. Yet within each life, there are
these public, protected, and private domains/properties, similar to the concept of the object-oriented
design in the Information Technology field. They are similar because the inventor of the object-oriented
design simply adopted these features from the natural objects in the real world. In nature, the two things
which are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic imprint (habitual
tendency). This is the reason why all beings are not currently equal in terms of skill, ability, talent,
knowledge, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom,
vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion, kindness, and equanimity. It seems like each being
is in a different stage of its own development, doesn’t it? Because of this actual fact, we can see that
John cannot go to a school in place of Mike to make Mike knowledgeable, right? Mike has to go to the
school for himself to be knowledgeable, even though the knowledge is available to the public. Because
life is the journey of a restless process to reach its final goal of transcending the absolute Truth, it never
sits still in one place. Moreover, it is always full of needs/desires/cravings/expectations to move from
one place to another to seek better happiness. Thus, it is seen to be discontent and restless. As you
already know that nobody wants to be in a prison. Then, it’s compatible to say that any places where
one does not want to be, are considered to be his prisons. Moreover, when talking about desires, the
more he has, the less this world becomes perfect for him. The more desires he has, the more he becomes
dependent on his external conditions/factors, which are constantly uncertain and changing. The more he
becomes dependent on his external conditions/factors, the more he allows them to control his happiness.
The more he allows them or other people to control his happiness, the more he will lose his happiness
and freedom. Now, when talking about losing his freedom, it is just the same as talking about him being
in a prison or being a slave, isn’t it? Therefore, the real purpose or meaning of life is more about being
spiritually free or liberated than being satisfied, isn’t it?
26
The entire life cycle of causes and conditions of Samsara also conforms to The Middle Way
(Majjhimāpaṭipadā). That’s why the Buddha neither answered “Yes” nor “No” to these generic and
extreme questions, because they represent the extreme permanent representations of facts/realities. For
examples:
Do heavens exist or not?
Do hells exist or not?
Do rebirths/reincarnations exist or not?
Is there a self or non-self?
Are there the laws of Karmas?
According to the Middle Way of Buddhism, whether a conditioned thing exists or ceases to exist,
it depends on one or more relative factors that support it to arise or cease. Plus, all conditioned
phenomena are impermanent anyway. Thus, the Buddha could not simply choose “Yes” or “No” to any
of the aforementioned questions. For an example, why do we need to have laws and orders in our
societies? If everyone upheld to the same high standard of morality in our societies, we wouldn’t need
to have any law, order, police or military at all, would we? Because we are not morally equal, some
laws and orders are needed to maintain peace, orders, and stabilities to prevent some evil and selfish
people from abusing and taking advantages of some other people. The same is true for the laws of
Karmas; it exists in the conventional reality, but not in the ultimate reality. Therefore, the Arahants (the
enlightened persons), who already entered the ultimate reality, are no longer subject to the laws of
Karmas, because they are morally perfect and spiritually pure. The same is true for the question of
rebirths/reincarnations, because it’s not applicable to everyone, such as an Arahant who is no longer
subject to a further rebirth/reincarnation in Samsara. So, it depends…. Now you can see that everything
treats everything else in full and in alignment with the Middle Way completely and flawlessly. Then,
what is it that misaligns or disarrays the mental aspects of all the unawake sentient beings from
The Middle Way, if not the false standard of measurement based on their abnormal
perceptions/feelings? And consequently, they have fallen into these three mental defilements of greed,
aversion, and delusion.
Duality is the conventional reality, whereas the non-duality is the ultimate reality. Because all sentient
beings use their abnormal perceptions/feelings as the standard of measurement, they have created this
whole existing of conventional reality to live in, based on the conditioned ideas of
comparison/differentiation/discrimination according to the suppositions of right/wrong, good/bad,
27
content/discontent, hot/cold, high/low, short/tall, black/white, beautiful/ugly, clean/filthy,

winning/losing, and much more, known as duality/dualism or plurality/pluralism. But in the ultimate
reality, everything is ONE and the same all across because everything is part of the same nature of
purity. Because of this false standard of measurement, one starts to see and treat beings/things
differently according to his biased feelings, perceptions, and views. Whatever that gives him a pleasant
feeling, he classifies that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful. Otherwise, he classifies it to be
bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Therefore, whoever transcends his feelings and perceptions, also transcends
the conventional reality of Dukkha. With the feelings of satisfaction, life is conditioned to have the
craving for sensual pleasures or the craving for ownership (craving for existence); on the other hand,
with the feelings of dissatisfaction, life is conditioned to have the craving of rejection (craving for non-
existence). These are the two opposite extremes, as supposed to the MIDDLE WAY to treat everything
equally the same!
arises; because of clinging, habitual tendency to control and manipulate beings and things arises. Then,
where do these three types of defilement/impurity (greed, aversion, and delusion) come from, if not from
the feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction as their conditions? With the feelings of satisfaction, life
is misled by the mental delusion to be greedy, to like, or to have. This is the side that
represents right/good/content suppositions. With the feelings of dissatisfaction, life is misled by the
mental delusion to be angry, to hate, to reject, or to dislike. This is the side that represents
wrong/bad/discontent suppositions. Therefore, greed/aversion/delusion or the impurities can manifest
themselves in our habitual tendencies to control and manipulate beings and things in the forms of
thoughts/ideas/views. Then, the five aggregates of life (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental
formations, and consciousness) are the foundations to accumulate suppositions (conditioned
thoughts/ideas/views) to cover, cloud, and blind us from seeing things as they really are according to
their true nature of ONENESS and PURITY.
Do you see how the duality/dualism or plurality/pluralism is created within our mental aspects?
These duality/dualism and plurality/pluralism then created the universal laws of Karmas, which in turn,
created the 31 public conventional spheres of existence known as the triple worlds (Trailokya): the
worlds of desires, the worlds of form, and the worlds of formlessness. The worlds of desires consist of
the first 11 realms of the hierarchy: hell born, preta, animals, ghosts, humans, and those six levels of
heavenly realms. The worlds of form are reserved for those who have attained one or more level(s) of
meditation (between the first to the fourth Jhana states), which were designated from 12 th to 27th realms
of the hierarchy (Rupa). The last four levels of the hierarchy (Arupa) are for those who have attained
one or more level(s) of meditation, from the 5th to 8th Jhana states. Therefore, there are 8 levels deep in
the Samatha meditation, in terms of the mundane Jhana states. The wrong/bad/discontent side is the
direction toward hells, whereas the right/good/content side is the direction toward heavens and Brahma
realms, which are together encircled by the wheel of rebirths known as Samsara. That’s why the
Buddha said that you were the product of your past/present Karmas, and a private world in which you
lived (good or bad) were created by you mentally and physically.
28
this very cycle of rebirths, rather than to celebrate “life” as the most wonderful thing as those who
believe in God as the separate external entity.
==================4-THE BUDDHIST FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH====================
equally the same!
Whoever understands The Middle Way thoroughly, that person can derive himself to realize the ultimate
reality of ONENESS and PURITY successively and quickly. The basic definition of The Middle Way
encompasses the following words: moderation, embracement, non-bias, non-preference, non-prejudice,
non-discrimination, nonalignment, non-condition, equality, purity, neutrality, detachment, fairness,
firmness, disinterest, restfulness, calmness, equanimity, tranquility, peace, stillness, silence, dispassion,
29
independence, freedom, liberation, emptiness, selflessness, compassion, kindness, generosity,

enlightenment, and indifference.
The Buddha’s discovery of the Middle Way came from his hearings of sounds from a man playing a 3-
stringed veena. The uppermost string was too loose, and its sound was not tuned to be right on pitch.
The lowest string was too taut, and its sound was not tuned to be right on pitch either. Only the middle
string was tuned to be right on pith, because it was neither too taut nor too loose. Then, he further
discovered that the Middle Way was the universal path to all beings/things, and any extremes were to be
avoided. Because of this discovery, he was able to become an enlightened Buddha. In Buddhism, beings
are considered to be the impersonal processes. Although people are often referenced to in the Buddhist
teachings, but they should not be understood as “atta” or “self”. In Buddhism, life is considered to be
each conscious and experiencing being rather than a misleading self or soul, and the two things which
are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic imprint (habitual
tendency).
The Buddha said that the Kileshas (mental impurities or defilements) were only to be found within the
mental aspects of all unawake sentient beings, and they are not to be found within their physical bodies
or at any external phenomenon out there in the universe. Since everything else does not have the
Kileshas in it, we can say that it is pure by nature in a nutshell. Since The Middle Way encompasses the
word “purity”, it is therefore considered to be the universal path to all; and, it can be found everywhere
noticeably if one looks at things hard enough. For example: if a river is going to flood an area full of
houses, it does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a king or a peasant; if a forest fire is going
to burn an area full of houses, it also does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a rich and elite
person or a poor forgotten man. If a candle fire is going to burn a piece of paper, it does not care or
earthquake, and the list goes on endlessly. Even in the conventional realms of fiction, where all the
unawake sentient beings reside (for example: hells, heavens, earth, brahma realms), they are also seen to
be in ONE with the ultimate reality inseparably. How can the conventional worlds of fiction be in one
and the same with the ultimate reality (non-fiction)? As you already know, these conventional realms
are subject to the universal laws of Karmas which treat everybody the same regardless of his/her
fame/status/wealth/background/knowledge/pride without any bias or exception at all. The universal
laws of Karmas also conform to The Middle Way. Now, we can simply see that nothing gets away from
the universal Middle Way at all. The conventional reality and the ultimate reality are just the two sides
of the same coin. Therefore, attaining the enlightenment is nothing other than flipping the coin to see
both sides. Nonetheless, one should not apply the standard of the ultimate reality against the
conventional reality, such as the rejections of the law of Karmas, reincarnations, heavens, hells, and
Brahma realms. Although they cease to exist in the ultimate reality, but they do exist in the
conventional reality. The Buddha never taught us to ignore the conventional reality and its
rules/standards. Instead, he taught us to see, respect, and treat them accordingly while we are still
trapped in that reality. This is the first universal rule of all common senses. For an example, we can’t
just ignore the rules of laws or disobey the traffic lights in our societies, without expecting to have any
30
consequences, can we? Does this sound like a great common sense to have? At this point, one may
argue that there is only ONE reality, not two or many. This argument is not applicable here either, since
we are talking about ONE coin with two sides rather than two different realities. Because it is just ONE
coin, it shows that the final goal is simply the matter of the intrinsic paradigm, instead of the extrinsic
one. Yet, both sides of the same coin have ONE thing in common, which is the Middle Way.
Therefore, the Middle Way is the Universal Path of all, and is the angle where the Buddhist non-duality
is to be discovered.
One main reason that this earth has living creatures is because it can provide stable, moderate, and
comfortable climates/temperatures for their physical bodies to survive and evolve. The ultimate insight
that came out of the Buddha’s enlightenment was The Twelvefold Dependent Origination
(Pratītyasamutpāda) that explains the entire life cycle of causes and conditions of Samsara. The entire
life cycle of causes and conditions of Samsara also conforms to The Middle Way
(Majjhimāpaṭipadā). That’s why the Buddha neither answered “Yes” nor “No” to these generic and
extreme questions, because they were/are extreme permanent representations of facts/realities. For
examples:
Do heavens exist or not?
Do hells exist or not?
Do rebirths/reincarnations exist or not?
Is there a self or non-self?
Are there the laws of Karmas?
According to the Middle Way of Buddhism, whether a conditioned thing exists or ceases to exist,
it depends on one or more relative factors that support it to arise or cease. Plus, all conditioned
phenomena are impermanent anyway. Thus, the Buddha could not simply choose “Yes” or “No” to any
of the aforementioned questions. For an example, why do we need to have laws and orders in our
societies? If everyone upheld to the same high standard of morality in our societies, we wouldn’t need
to have any law, order, police or military at all, would we? Because we are not morally equal, some
laws and orders are needed to maintain peace, orders, and stabilities to prevent some evil and selfish
people from abusing and taking advantages of some other people. The same is true for the laws of
Karmas; it exists in the conventional reality, but not in the ultimate reality. Therefore, the Arahants (the
enlightened persons), who already entered the ultimate reality, are no longer subject to the law of
Karmas, because they are morally perfect and spiritually pure. The same is true for the question of
rebirths/reincarnations, because it’s not applicable to everyone, such as an Arahant who is no longer
subject to a further rebirth/reincarnation in Samsara. Now you can see that everything treats everything
else in full and in alignment with the Middle Way completely and flawlessly. Then, what is it that
misaligns or disarrays the mental aspects of all the unawake sentient beings from The Middle
Way, if not the false standard of measurement? And consequently, they have fallen into these three
mental defilements of greed, aversion, and delusion.
Do you see how the duality/dualism or plurality/pluralism is created within our mental aspects?
These duality/dualism and plurality/pluralism then created the universal laws of Karmas, which in turn,
created the 31 public conventional spheres of existence known as the triple worlds (Trailokya): the
worlds of desires, the worlds of form, and the worlds of formlessness. The worlds of desires consist of
31
the first 11 realms of the hierarchy: hell born, preta, animals, ghosts, humans, and those six levels of
heavenly realms. The worlds of form are reserved for those who have attained one or more level(s) of
meditation (between the first to the fourth Jhana states), which were designated from 12th to 27th realms
of the hierarchy (Rupa). The last four levels of the hierarchy (Arupa) are for those who have attained
one or more level(s) of meditation, from the 5th to 8th Jhana states. Therefore, there are 8 levels deep in
the Samatha meditation, in terms of the mundane Jhana states. The wrong/bad/discontent side is the
direction toward hells, whereas the right/good/content side is the direction toward heavens and Brahma
realms, which are together encircled by the wheel of rebirths known as Samsara. That’s why the
Buddha said that you were the product of your past/present Karmas, and a private world in which you
lived (good or bad) were created by you mentally and physically.
As the result, the Buddha taught his disciples to start at being mindful and observant of their six sense
contacts where the feelings and perceptions are fed. Otherwise, be mindful and observant of their mental
activities and emotions for all the attachments/delusions that persuade from within. That’s why the
teachings of the Buddha focus solely on the strategies to expose all the ill-interests hidden within the
five aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness). Even
being good or being right is still not a way in Buddhism, because they are parts of the aforementioned
duality/dualism. The more suitable word is to be “pure” or “skillful” in liberation means. This skillful
means of liberation are the objectives for a practitioner to transcend The Middle Way, by cultivating his
morality/Samadhi/wisdom to reach the final point of Sanka-oubeka-yanna (Equanimity).
In another words, the Middle Way can be seen as the acceptance of beings/things without any
controls/manipulations at all, which also means the acceptance without any attachments at the same
time. By adjusting his view, thought, intention, effort, concentration, speech, action, and livelihood to be
in congruence with the most skillful way to treat things and beings properly without a practice of
control/manipulation over anything, then, he simply upholds the Noble Eightfold Path in a nutshell!
Then, the attitude of a truth-winner is simply to accept things the ways they really are willingly and
completely. This is the true definition of the word “spiritual purity”, which stands in contrast with these
words: alteration, modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty. And, it is this
32
acceptance that will set every being free spiritually. When one sees things as they really are clearly with
his pure wisdom, he knows how to treat things/beings right accordingly. When he sees and treats
things/beings right accordingly, any conflicts/resistances/injustices do not arise at all, neither from
within nor from without. What do you think where a conflict/resistance/injustice comes from, if not
from how one mistreats himself or mistreats another person or a thing? On the other hand, if
conflicts/resistances/injustices do not arise, especially from within at all, peace and tranquility are
simply there to be acquired at any time. This is how the ultimate bliss of one’s heart is realized and
achieved! Therefore, there is nothing more important than to see and treat all things and beings right or
skillfully. The angle of acceptance without any controls/manipulations is referred to as the Middle
Way, whereas the angle of the right or the skillful treatments is referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path
of Buddhism.
The way of Truth always reveals itself completely in natures and it belongs to the public domain, and so
does the ultimate reality. Then, it must be marked with these signs of purity, inclusion, union, and
embracement thereof. All are equal to acquire it at all times, but not at one’s conditioned desires to
control it. That’s why the Buddha said that our duty toward the Buddhist Second Noble Truth was to
eradicate all types of conditioned cravings/desires, because they were all about “control”. Moreover,
exclusion and discrimination are the signs of selfishness to exert control and to discriminate, where only
the few are allowed to gain access, while the rests are left out. If there are two worlds, for example,
where in one world, all are allowed to become equally and inclusively happy, while in the other world,
only the few are allowed to be happy apart from many. Which world is a better world for all to live in?
That is one of the reasons why there is no room for God in Buddhism, because we prefer to be in the
former type of the better world, instead of the latter.
The sunlight can still be blocked, but the light of the unconditional/limitless compassion can’t be
blocked at all. All the Buddhas, whether about those who already appeared in this world or will appear
in the future, came or will come with only one purpose in their hearts--that is to bring the unconditional
benefits and welfares to all beings at all levels. Nonetheless, how can those of different interests and
appearances be happily embraced by someone though? They can only be accepted/embraced at the way
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they will be treated equally the same themselves. Then, the way that all will be treated equally the same
is simply the middle way of maintaining the same distance between those of the differences themselves.
It is the way for one to be above all conditioned influences, and is where the truth of
embracement/inclusion is and has always been. This is the very heart of the Buddhist non-duality.
Therefore, one whose heart is completely detached from all conditioned things, is in one with the non-
duality. When he maintains an equal distance between everything without preferring this more and the
others less, he becomes like those who see and treat things and beings equally the same which
consequently lead him to be free from the mind of discrimination or free from both internal and external
conflicts/interests/influences toward his original essence of equanimity. This means that, with an
unbiased mind, he has become thoroughly equanimous. Equanimity is because there are no conflicting
forces marked by conditionings to pressure/squeeze/pull/push against each other that will cause
something to arise or cease. Then, he definitely acquires the certainty that “conditioned phenomena” do
not arise from within at all; and, since his mind is no longer troubled by objects and notions, he is certain
to pursue an irreversible career and to become ONE with the absolute ONENESS forever. Without a
troubled mind, he can no longer cause any troubles in this world at all; and, since he is seen to be
someone who can’t do anything destructive/abusive to himself or to others, he is simply perfect in a
nutshell!
When he sees things as they really are according to their true natures of ONENESS and PURITY, he
then knows how to treat things and beings appropriately and skillfully in his way of life, according to the
Middle Way. By adjusting his view, thought, intention, effort, concentration, speech, action, and
livelihood to be in congruence with the most skillful way to treat things and beings properly without a
practice of control/manipulation over anything, then, he simply upholds the Noble Eightfold Path in a
nutshell! In so doing, conflicts and resistances do not arise from his mental aspects, speeches, and deeds.
What a peaceful and perfect life he has!
As the Buddha once said that whichever religion it might be, as long as they taught the Noble Eightfold
Path, there would be these four types of enlightened beings in that religion without a doubt: stream-
winner (Sotapanna), once-returner (Sakadagami), non-returner (Anagami), and Arahant. The Middle
Way or The Noble Eightfold Path is the central theme of The Fourth Noble Truth, which is all about the
way to the end of sufferings. The First and Second Noble Truths are all about the deceptions of the five
aggregates (Khandhas) that mislead beings astray into falsehood/fabrications. According to the Buddhas,
there is no other way out of Samsara without The Four Noble Truths. So far, I have not seen any other
religions that taught/teach The Four Noble Truths yet, besides Buddhism. Nonetheless, they claimed to
have some enlightened beings in their religions though. Moreover, the majorities of people seem to be
more attracted to those fake enlightenments than the real one.
In Buddhism, life is considered to be each conscious and experiencing being rather and a
misleading self or soul. Within each being/life/process, there are both the public and private domains;
and the two things which are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic
imprint (habitual tendency). When the final goal is reached by each being, the conditioned mundane
body and mind are spiritually detached to reveal the supramundane nature at the innermost layer of
several nested bodies, similar to a lotus flower. That’s why the symbol of Buddhism is a lotus flower.
Like in a lotus flower, we can see more refined beauty in it as it opens itself up to reveal its inner layers
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to the world. The only difference in the spiritual dimension is that the inner nested bodies are getting
bigger toward the innermost one as supposed to getting smaller from what we see in the lotus flowers or
in the concentric circles. At one’s end, there are simply no distinguished marks of selfishness there at all
but the perfect altruism alone. It’s simply free, pure, undefiled, unconditioned, and unconventional that
can be realized by all at all times, but not at one’s conditioned desires to control it. Then, the process of
each life is simply put to rest completely and permanently once the innermost spiritual and
supramundane body is completely revealed. This is the perfect happiness at each present moment
beyond the space, time, law of Karmas, and causality! Please note that, by becoming selfless or
altruistic, the fact of being individual being does not get dissolved to disappear at all; only the word
“process” would disappear, because the final goal has been reached, along with the selfish
thoughts/intentions, speeches, and deeds.
=======================5-THE REALMS OF KNOWLEDGE======================
The conventional reality is the struggle to reach the ultimate reality. Therefore, life is simply the
journey of a restless process to achieve its final goal of transcending the absolute Truth. The assumption
was then made that, by discovering oneself, the truths of life would be discovered as well! This gave
births to several scientific studies/researches/analyses out there in this world to address the natures of
beings and things. Nonetheless, all can be categorized into four major principles:
1. The doctrine of biological sciences: the scientific principle that encompasses all the divisions of
natural sciences and examines various aspects of vital processes. The concept includes anatomy,
physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, and biophysics; and covers all organisms from
microorganisms, animals, to plants.
2. The doctrine of chemical/atomic/nuclear sciences: the scientific principle that focuses on the
smallest physical components of elements--having the chemical properties of the elements which
consist of nucleuses containing combinations of neutrons and protons and one or more electrons.
They are bound to a nucleus by electrical attraction; the number of protons determines the
identity of an element.
3. The doctrine of psychological/mental phenomena: the scientific or derived principle that
focuses on the mental/emotional aspects of human mind, which may include religious doctrines.
4. The skillful means of liberation: the endeavor that focuses on the spiritual enlightenment to
achieve the ultimate peace, freedom, liberation, or purity.
By mastering the first kind of knowledge, one can become intelligent in solving problems in his
professional career of related field(s). Moreover, he is able to visualize his body as a mechanical
machine that contains several moving parts (embedded objects, properties, and components) which
interrelate and work together dependently in a systematic fashion.
By mastering the second kind of knowledge, one can become an intelligent scientist. Moreover, he is
able to visualize his body as a collection of countless atomic particles, similar to a galaxy that contains a
collection of countless planets, stars, and solar systems.
By mastering the third kind of knowledge, one can become an intelligent scholar. He is able to analyze
his body and mind further into the five aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental
formations, and consciousness). These interrelated and interdependent names and forms are marked by
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the ceaseless continuation of causes and conditions produced by these three collective factors of
heredity, environment, and Karmas.
By mastering the fourth kind of skillfulness, one simply becomes a spiritual strategist/artist. His
activities are to identify these ignored and distressful facts about his five aggregates, such as ceaseless
torments, ceaseless loathsomeness, ceaseless uncertainties, ceaseless insecurities, and ceaseless
destructions. Thereafter, he is able to visualize his life as a seriously sick and imprisoned person who
stays in a big hospital for the whole period of his life. Everything he needs or desires for is considered
to be a temporary cure for one of his sicknesses. For example, foods are the temporary cure for his
hunger; clothes are the temporary cure to keep him warm; bath is the temporary cure for his filthy body;
a relationship is a temporary cure for his loneliness, and the list can go on endlessly. Then, what is the
permanent remedy for all of these sicknesses/sufferings?
After several mindful and profound investigations of his five aggregates, he has come to realize that his
five aggregates are not subject to his willful controls at all. They arise, endure, and perish according to
the ceaseless cycle of causes and conditions produced by these three mundane factors of his heredities,
environments, and Karmas. The five aggregates are neither me nor mine! Therefore, by taking a
possession of something that is not yours to bring it into your assertive control, it’s an act of theft and
manipulation. By speaking of something that is not yours to claim that you have an exclusive right over
it, it’s a telling of lies and mental delusions. Both are the acts of dishonesty and impurity, which have
their common root in one’s false senses of self-identities. Therefore, the art of making oneself
disappearing, by lessening his own ego, selfishness, controls, and attachments in order to become
completely altruistic and detached, is the way to become spiritually liberated!
Because life is the journey of a restless process to reach its final goal of transcending sufferings, it never
sits still in one place. Moreover, it is always full of needs/desires/cravings/expectations to move from
one place to another to seek better happiness. Thus, it is always seen to be discontent and restless. As
you already know that nobody wants to be in a prison. Then, it’s compatible to say that any place where
one does not want to be, is considered to be his prison. Moreover, when talking about
needs/desires/cravings/expectations, the more he has, the less this world becomes perfect for him. The
more needs/desires/cravings/expectations he has, the more he becomes dependent on his external
conditions/factors, which are constantly uncertain and changing. The more he becomes dependent on
his external conditions/factors, the more he allows them to control his happiness. The more he allows
them or other people to control his happiness, the more he will lose his happiness and freedom. Now,
when talking about losing his freedom, it is just the same as talking about him being in a prison or being
a slave, isn’t it? Then, what is the real meaning or purpose of life, if not about peace, spiritual freedom,
and independence, rather than the material look, wealth, status, fame, or pride, right?
However, the way to attain more spiritual freedom is simply to follow these four ways of letting go,
taught by the Buddha:
 Simply find a courage to throw it away: simply answer yourself these questions: do you really
need it? Can it be done? Is it better to do so?
 Instead of seeking out to control the situations to make this world a perfect world, just change
your attitude to be content of what you have and where you are.
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 Practice giving and expect nothing in return: instead of needing more, wanting more, and
expecting more; rely on yourself for your own happiness. Don’t let other people control your
happiness. Become more spiritual so that you can become a happy person via giving out and
helping others.
 Become someone with a Teflon mind, so that nothing can stick to it: value spiritual properties,
such as generosity, compassion, kindness, and truthfulness more than these material wealth,
status, fame, and pride. This will set you free from all the mundane interests, so that nothing in
this world can stick to your mind.
Most importantly, never allow knowledge (your learning) to stand in the way of truths! Don’t even trust
your own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. This is the ultimate detachment! Complete detachments
equal complete spiritual freedom, indeed!
======================6-THE BUDDHIST SATIPATTHANA=======================

There are THREE things that we always ignore and overlook in our lives: the emptiness, the purity, and
our physical and mental realities. For example, as we walk on a street in our neighborhoods, we look at
trees, houses, cars passing by, landscaping, people around us, and more. But we don’t realize that what
we see are sitting on nothing but the emptiness that has permeated everywhere from the beginning
unaltered. Without the emptiness, all objects with masses can’t possibly be there at all, can they? To
put water in a bucket, that bucket needs to be empty first to have room for the water, right?
Nonetheless, we always overlook at the emptiness, even though it is just right there in front of us at all
times. Second, when we buy a drink such as Coke, Pepsi, or smoothie; we only care to look at the
color(s) or texture(s) and to feel the taste(s) of the drink. But, we never pay attention that there is pure
water there as its fundamental or essential element. Third, we spend most of our times focusing outward
all day, for examples: working, watching TV, playing on smart phones, socializing, doing house works,
going shopping, cooking, searching on the internet, playing sports, and doing other hobbies. Even when
we stay alone, we tend to daydream into the past or the future. Thus, we always overlook and forget
about our present moments as well as our physical and mental realities.
This means that we only pay attentions to the add-ons that come after the original root of life; and,
because we are conditioned by our mental delusions which are marked by desires to follow, we are
misled to see and treat our external conditions as being so relevant to our sensory contacts to satisfy our
positive feelings. Therefore, we are always motivated and distracted to look outward to experience and
depend on our external conditions rather than to look inward to realize and to depend on our inner
common root. By repeating these same actions, speeches, and intentions throughout our countless
rebirths; they have become our default habitual tendencies. Then, our conditioned mental states of
outgoing exuberance tend to work instantly and automatically as parts of our natural instincts. Since our
conditioned minds have this common tendency to wander out or to daydream all the times, we have
great difficulties practicing the Buddhist mindfulness meditation to make our minds still.
Nonetheless, there are two major parts of our mental aggregates: one is our mental formations (saṃskāra)
and the other is our consciousness (vijñāna). The former is considered to be the active part of the mind (the
doer), whereas the latter is the passive part of the mind (the knower).
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1. The doer is responsible for constructing activities via planning, craving, dreaming, thinking,
initiating, and reacting to the information received from our perceptions and sensations.
2. The knower is responsible for the awareness of an object/notion and the discrimination of its
components/aspects.
Whether we will direct/focus our mental energies more on one half and less on the other half of the
aforementioned aggregates, it depends upon our views and habitual tendencies, which influence our lists of
priorities. For those who always seek outward to experience any sensual delight as their primary source of
happiness, their doing minds are always active. Most of their mental energies would be consumed by their
doing minds to always find something to plan, initiate, think, worry, fear, doubt, react, or crave. There
would hardly be any mental energy left for their knowing minds to be mindful at all. This is the main
reason for them to have many psychological stresses and restlessness in their lives. Because these
conditioned mental states of outgoing exuberance constantly distract our awareness from seeing our own
internal physical/psychological/spiritual phenomena as they really are, we thus never discover our own
flaws within our bodies and minds.
How can we get an opportunity to notice our own physical and mental sufferings, which always reveal
themselves, when we always overlook at them? Therefore, the Buddha promoted Satipatthana as the
key techniques for achieving the ultimate mindfulness in these four domains: mindfulness of one’s
physical body, mindfulness of one’s feelings/sensations, mindfulness of one’s chitta, and mindfulness of
the Buddhist Dharma. The Buddha said that Satipatthana was the best and the only way for anyone to
realize the Four Noble Truths. The ultimate purpose of Satipatthana is for a practitioner to become
skillful in exercising his mindfulness over his body and mind. Once he becomes skillful, he will notice
sufferings embedded clearly within his body and mind at all times. Once he sees and accepts the first
Noble Truth (Dukkha), the other 3 Noble Truths will follow automatically. This is how one gets
liberated spiritually.
Satipatthana will encourage his doing mind to think/desire/worry/fear/doubt less decreasingly to return
much of his mental energy back to his knowing mind. This is the way to counter the five hindrances
(sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and doubt) to allow his
knowing mind to settle down into a firmed, independent, still, and unbiased position. As his knowing
mind becomes more energized and mindful, he has also become more settled, restful, awakened, and
wise in the same process. It’s the process to return his mind back to its natural state, which seeks
happiness and comfort within itself rather than from the outside. The mind then becomes self-sufficient,
self-comforting, and self-sustaining, so that the doors from the mind to the five external senses are cut
off. Instead it remains immersed in itself, in a radiant joy (jhana). As he experiences this, he delights in
it; and he sees that it is wiser and nobler to delight in something like this, instead of any good feeling
received from the five external senses. Then, he obtains the wisdom to allow himself to let go of any
external dependency.
The Buddha once said: “one can only become spiritually pure by the way of wisdom.” Therefore, to
combat with one’s own ignorance/delusion, he must follow a right strategy to cultivate and culminate his
wisdom to see the ultimate reality by himself. In Buddhism, there are three levels of wisdom:
1. The first level comes from hearing/listening/studying and memorizing (knowing).
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2. The second level comes from one’s understanding as the results of some analyses/considerations
(understanding).
3. The last level comes from his ultimate insight via the Buddhist Samatha and Vipassana
meditations (realizing, mastering, and transcending). The third level of wisdom is another
proprietary product of Buddhism.
=====================7-THE BUDDHIST SKILLFUL EFFORT=====================
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment are the incremental results revealed through the Buddhist Skillful
Effort as the following:
1. Mindfulness
2. Investigation
3. Energy
4. Joy or Rapture
5. Relaxation or Tranquility
6. Samadhi
7. Equanimity
According to the Buddha, a Buddhist practitioner must rely on his own effort to succeed the religious
goal. To make it more difficult, that effort must go against the stream of the world, like those Salmon
fishes that swim upstream to gather for reproduction during their spawning season. In similarity to the
Salmon fishes which are strongly driven by their common instinct and passion, the practitioner needs to
be inspired to start his spiritual endeavor as well. Since his spiritual journey involves his enormous self-
sacrifice to overcome several great difficulties ahead, an intrinsic motivation is required, rather than an
extrinsic one. Yet, this is just to get him started. He still needs to have few additional contributing
factors of empowerment to take him all the way, which include diligence, persistency, and investigation.
They are known to be the Four Bases of Power (Iddhipada) in Buddhism.
When referring to the skillful effort in the Noble Eightfold Path, it’s all about the fourfold effort to
cleanse one’s mind from any existing unskillful mental activity, and to prevent it from arising back again.
Some examples of the unskillful mental formations are: greed, sensual desire, aversion, dullness,
drowsiness, restlessness, worry, fear, and doubt. On the positive side, it’s about maintaining and
increasing several skillful means of liberation, according to the 10 Paramitas: generosity, morality,
renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion/kindness, and equanimity.
There is also a scale-down version which is more suitable for the majority, namely the 4 Brahmaviharas:
loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. But, how can the practitioner identify
and become aware of his unskillful/skillful mental formations quickly enough? It looks like the best and
the only way to take on this skillful effort is to practice the mindfulness meditation, known as the Buddhist
Satipatthana, which covers these four domains: body, feelings, chitta, and the Buddhist Dharma. The
primary purpose of Satipatthana is for the practitioner to become skillful in exercising his mindfulness
over his mental activities, not to allow his impure/destructive mental energy modes to condition and
trouble his mind successfully. On the positive side, the reverse is also true. Therefore, the chitta domain
is the most direct way for the practitioner, whereas the other three domains are the indirect ways.
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Because of his intrinsic motivation, it naturally comes his diligence to grasp and observe a mental
formation that appears right in front of him at the present moment. The first step is to learn how to
identify and sort out what are considered to be unskillful and skillful thoughts, intentions, moods, and
emotions. As a mental formation arises in front of you at the present moment, its presence should be noted
without an interference; then, when it fades away, a note should also be made of its disappearance
without an interference as well. Then, after noting its presence, its identification of its uniqueness is
also recognized at the same time. The same exercise has to be done repetitively until one’s awareness is
automatically triggered, when the same mental formation appears in the future again. This is how one
can achieve the spiritual faculty of the automatic mindfulness!
Once he becomes skillful enough to grasp hold of each movement of his mental formations with his
automatic mindfulness, his knowing mind is automatically detached free from his fluctuated thoughts,
moods, and emotions to stand out by itself. This allows his knowing mind to settle down into a firmed
and unbiased anchor as an independent and separate stationary observer. This is how one can achieve
the spiritual faculty of Samadhi! This kind of Samadhi is the proprietary product of Buddhism. As
the results of this automatic detachment of the knower, the experiences of these mental freedom,
relaxation, energy, and joy become prominent naturally. They are the intrinsic rewards that reinforce the
diligence and persistency elements according to the 7 factors of enlightenment. As the diligence and
persistency elements get reinforced even further, his Samadhi becomes more skillful and refined
incrementally as well.
This awakened and detached knowing mind is the CORE element of the Buddhist Vipassana to discover
how a mental formation arises and how it can be matured, according to the Twelvefold Chain of
Dependent Origination. This investigation process is meant to sort out what are considered to be
unskillful/skillful thoughts, intentions, moods, and emotions. This is how one can achieve the spiritual
faculty of wisdom! However, the similar investigations have to be done repetitively to sharpen his
wisdom, so that it can rip open his mental fetters of selfishness (Kileshas) at the end (ariyannamuck).
When he arrives at an automatic mode of practice which skillfully blends his mindfulness, Samadhi,
and wisdom together; that is considered to be the final stage of his spiritual training. At this final stage,
his clear wisdom quickly relaxes away any destructive/unskillful mental condition to prevent it from
arising further to take control of his mind/speech/action. What a relief to experience relaxation a lot! As
the results, he can experience some additional intrinsic rewards being generated incrementally from the
tranquility factor, to the concentration factor, and finally toward the equanimity factor.
According to the Twelvefold Chain Dependent Origination, the universal and ceaseless life cycle of
causes and conditions is considered to be impersonal by nature. A conditioned phenomenon arises in
dependence upon some other influential factors that coexist relatively by the way of enforcing the rules
of conditioning against each other to always cause something to arise and cease. There is no
permanent and unchanging agent to be found within all conditioned things at all, except these three
common characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. Without exception, all
conditioned things are subject to this same universal life cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and
decline. The mental aggregates of each being which are parts of the five aggregates are also called the
“conditioned mind” as well. Therefore, if an individual being desires to seek for a certainty, reliability,
personality/control, or any extreme permanent representation of fact/reality in such a phenomenon, he
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desires to seek for something else that does not really exist, except for a disappointment or the emptiness
in return, right? Then, all types of desires are simply based on a bunch of false hopes and mental
delusions, and any fabricated condition to fulfil the aforementioned desires is nothing other than a
bunch of illusions all together. Did you see that we just shot two birds with one arrow? The first bird
represents the flaws within all types of desires. Therefore, it is very reasonable to say that
“desires/cravings” are the causes of Dukkha and any unskillful action, speech, and intention (the Buddhist
Second Noble Truth). The second bird represents the ignorance of clinging to any extreme view.
Therefore, the Buddha said that any extreme view was to be avoided (the Buddhist Middle Way or the
Buddhist Fourth Noble Truth). Nonetheless, concerning the common characteristic of impermanence,
some may still want to argue that only change is constant or permanent. Change can only exist as long
as there are suffering and Karmas, but not at the end of suffering.
Because of the six sense faculties, there are contacts; because of contacts, feelings arise; because of
feelings, desires arise; because of desires, clinging arises; because of clinging, habitual tendency to
control and manipulate situations arises. Since the six sense faculties are the gates, the Buddha pointed
out the need to have the main gatekeeper there at the mindfulness. It is a delight in a pleasant feeling
that leads a sentient being to be greedy via having a sensual desire or a desire for existence; it is an
aversion in an unpleasant feeling that leads a sentient being to have a desire for non-existence to get rid
of the unpleasant experience. Both the delight and the aversion are the products of one’s mental
delusions to deceive himself into bias, discrimination, and exclusion. Without any mental delusion, both
the delight and the aversion do not arise; without both the delight and the aversion, desires do not arise.
Thus, by neither being prone to take the delight on one extreme nor being troubled to take the aversion
on the other extreme, he simply takes The Middle Way firmly at each present moment. Therefore, the
equanimity factor is the last factor in The Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
The MIDDLE WAY is about being neutral by transcending one’s own sensory contacts or feelings.
Therefore, the Middle Way is the way for one to be no longer troubled by objects and notions. The
minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and sufferings in this world! Without a mind of troubles,
one is certain to cause no more troubles and destructions regardless of space and time, which therefore,
spiritually transforms himself to become a respected noble and altruistic Arahant! When he can’t no
longer do no wrong, he is simply seen to be perfect in a nutshell. Therefore, it’s a false statement to say
that a human being cannot be perfect. There are such persons in Buddhism, namely the Arahants.
Nonetheless, the Buddhist way of perfection is not to be expressed through a physical or psychological
dimension, but rather to be expressed through the ultimate spiritual dimension instead!
===========================8-ANATTA is ALTRUISM============================
The Truth is beings/things as they really are according to their true natures, not according to what you
think/believe they are or should be. Therefore, the attitude of the truth-winner is to just see and accept
beings and things the ways they really are completely without any resistances and interferences. There is
somebody who tries to explain the reality and enlightenment via the extreme approach of “non-self” vs
“self”. The Buddha used “non-self” as one of his strategies of awakening only to allow people to detach
from the five conditioned aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and
consciousness), but not to be accepted as the absolute Truth. All Buddha’s teachings must conform to
the Middle Way and facts. In fact, a conditioned phenomenon arises in dependence upon some other
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influential factors that coexist relatively by the way of enforcing the rules of conditioning against each
other to always cause something to arise and cease. Therefore, a being or a thing is considered to be a
specific natural event or impersonal process instead. What the Buddha rejected was the concept of
having the permanent and unchanging agent or self/soul in each being from rebirth to rebirth. However,
this does not mean that there is not an evolving, changing, and cumulative process in each being, during
its journey, to merge with Nirvana at the end. Then, what has become after this is considered to be
permanent and unchanging forever. So, the Truth is the Middle Way between the two extremes of non-
self and self.
misleading self or soul. Within each life, there are these public, protected, and private
domains/properties, similar to the concept of the object-oriented design in the Information Technology
field. They are similar because the inventor of the object-oriented design simply adopted these features
from the natural objects in the real world. In nature, the two things which are always parts of the private
domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic imprint (habitual tendency). This is the reason why all
beings are not currently equal in terms of skill, ability, talent, knowledge, loving-kindness, compassion,
sympathetic joy, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution,
compassion, kindness, and equanimity. It seems like each being is in a different stage of its own
development, doesn’t it? Because of this actual fact, we can see that John cannot go to a school in place
of Mike to make Mike knowledgeable, right? Mike has to go to the school for himself to be
knowledgeable, even though the knowledges are available to the public. The enlightenment is not an
exception to this universal rule either. When the prince Siddhartha Gautama bodhisattva became the
enlightened Buddha around 2600+ years ago, he had to teach the ways to allow others to become
enlightened after him. The rests of the people did not automatically get the direct benefits from his
omniscient enlightenment at all. Every Buddhist disciple had/has to adopt the Four Bases of Power
(Iddhipada), such as the intrinsic motivation, diligence, persistency, and investigation to become an
Arahant without an exception. Therefore, for someone to argue that each separate person is a
fictitious/illusionary self and the enlightenment is not an event that could happen to any individual
person, this argument would be strongly contrary to facts and realities period. The same is also true to
this disputable idea that all are already enlightened, and all don’t need to follow any strategy to become
enlightened. Then, what is the point for the man to be on this website and tries to explain this or that, if
all are already enlightened? Why does he still think that he knows more than those who are already
enlightened? Plus, why are there good and evil people in societies, if all are already enlightened? There
are causes and conditions behind all of these inequalities, because we live in the world of causality. So,
does the man think that any causes and conditions in natures are fictitious/illusionary as well?
Besides these short disputable statements given above, the man did not provide any sufficient
explanations based on any acceptable scientific knowledges, philosophies, reasons, and common senses
to support his claims at all. Moreover, any of these disputable statements is not applicable to the
Buddha’s reference to each being or life either, since each being or life according to the Buddha, is
rather an evolving, changing, cumulative, and private process to become spiritually skillful and
perfectly wise; and there is no reference to the concept of having the permanent and unchanging
agent/self/soul in each being from rebirth to rebirth either. The Buddhist enlightenment is all about the
matter of switching from having the abnormal perceptions to having the normal perceptions, from
having the wrong view to having the right view, from being spiritually unskillful to being spiritually
skillful, from being spiritually unawake to being spiritually awake, from being spiritually impure to
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being spiritually pure, or from being selfish to being altruistic. So, it’s clearly not about being
somewhere, being nobody, or being somebody special/unique/important at all. Most importantly, the
Buddhist enlightenment does not alter the fact of having the private domain/property within each
individual process/being/life either. And, it has nothing to do with whether there is no separate self or
not. This was why the Buddha remained silent when he was asked whether there was a self or not,
because this question did not conform to the Middle Way of the absolute and universal Truth, which all
beings/things are to revolve around. Moreover, if all are already enlightened, life/being wouldn’t be
called an organized systematic process, would it? The main reason for an organized system or a process
to exist in the universe is because there is at least a goal for it to attain, right? What do you think the
final goal is, if not the Buddhist enlightenment? Yet, whether that final goal is the matter of the intrinsic
paradigm or the extrinsic one is another topic of discussion though.
According to the Twelvefold Dependent Origination of Buddhism, the universal and ceaseless life cycle
of causes and conditions is considered to be impersonal by nature. A conditioned phenomenon arises in
common characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. In another words, what all
the conditioned things do is to simply enforce the rules of conditioning upon each other through the
links of their relationships and communications. The rules of conditioning are made up of some inherent
in series are the end results of complex systematic causes and effects which are backed by nothing by
represents the freedom from desires as the Buddhist Third Noble Truth or Nirvana. As the result, the end
of suffering must be about something that stands in contrast to “change” or “conditioned things”,
be avoided (the Buddhist Middle Way or the Buddhist Fourth Noble Truth). Now, don’t you just witness
how the Buddhist Four Noble Truths reveal the entire reality here? Yet, do you see any other religions
out there who taught/teach the Four Noble Truths, except Buddhism? Nonetheless, concerning the
common characteristic of impermanence, some may still want to argue that only change is constant or
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permanent. Change can only exist as long as there are sufferings and Karmas, but not at the end of
suffering.
By understanding the universal life cycle of causes and conditions of beings and things, the truths of life
will come into one’s insight as well. Life is simply a systematic collection of names and forms, marked
by needs and desires to close its gap between its two states of “as is” and “to be”. Therefore, we can
look at “life” as a process that consists of several moving parts (embedded objects, properties, and
The sunlight can still be blocked, but the light of the unconditional/limitless kindness/compassion can’t
be blocked at all. All the Buddhas, whether about those who already appeared in this world or will
appear in the future, came or will come with only one purpose in their hearts--that is to bring the
unconditional benefits and welfares to all beings at all levels. Nonetheless, how can those of different
interests and appearances be happily embraced by someone though? They can only be
accepted/embraced at the way they will be treated equally the same themselves. Then, the way that all
will be treated equally the same is simply the Middle Way of maintaining the same distance between
those of the differences themselves. It is the way for one to be above all conditioned influences, and is
where the truth of embracement/inclusion is and has always been. Therefore, one whose heart is
completely detached from all conditioned things, is in one with the non-duality.
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awakened. Because the absolute Truth is 100% correct, it is therefore unchangeable or undisputable or
unquestionable, right? Because it is the unchangeable Truth, therefore, there is no other way for us to
escape the Truth either, but to simply accept it as it is, don’t we? This is the reason why natures created
the law of Karmas for those who are not willing to accept and follow the way of the absolute and
universal Truth.
Because life is an organized system or a process to overcome the rules of conditioning through the
process of causes and conditions, its supported protocol must also be both cumulative and inclusive.
This means that the process to reach its final goal takes places not only physically, but also consciously
as well—consciously through rebirths/reincarnations if necessary. And, it’s also cumulative through the
law of Karmas itself, by passing on any collected information from one life cycle to another
continuously. Therefore, nothing is lost and left out through an entire and prolonged process of each
being. This makes sense, since it normally takes longer than one lifetime for each being to attain the
Buddhist enlightenment. Finally, all beings are conditioned by, but not determined by, the impacts of
these three mundane factors: heredities, environments, and Karmas. It’s like someone who is enslaved
by an oppressor, but he still has an opportunity to set himself free as well. This is also the Middle Way
which stands in the middle between the theories of free will and determinism. Therefore, life is an
evolving, changing, and cumulative process rather. This is the reason why each being has different
cumulative trait, habit, and personality as we see in each being or life, which each has been collecting
and accumulating throughout its countless rebirths in Samsara. The Buddha’s teachings not only support
some aspects of the science of “physical evolution” to build up steps for beings, but also embrace some
of the viewpoints of “the evolution of consciousness” which cover rebirths/reincarnations as well.
Just look at the facts in natures, such as in a light bulb, our physical bodies, or plants. For a light bulb,
each beam of light arises and passes away instantly, but it looks like the light is always there all the
times constantly. This is because there is a light bulb as the body to keep supplying the constant beams
of light. Therefore, we can hardly notice the impermanence in it at all. Our bodies and plants are the
same; every 10 or 15 years, our entire bodies are completely replaced by the whole sets of new cells
without us being aware of them at all. Therefore, we completely have new bodies every 15 years, but we
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don’t seem to notice that. Instead, we feel like we have had the same bodies all the times. Moreover, we
are able to pass on our inheritances to the next generations via giving births for preservations. Every
component in our bodies is impermanent but the natures are able to find some ways to keep things going
without losing any features or properties. One of the ways to keep things going without losing any
features or properties is to have a separate and individual body as a container which should last much
longer than its embedded sub-systems within it. And, all the sub-systems within it should work together
dependently in a systematic fashion to support the survival of the whole private body, by allowing its
internal sub-systems to renew/replace themselves all the times indefinitely, due to their shorter
longevities. This is the universal model which has been adopted by all since time immemorial. This is
the main reason for the numerous individuals to exist in the world of causality. The reason each life span
is temporary or impermanent, because it’s tied to a specific group of its previous Karmic debts that it
needs to pay off. Once it pays off this group, it will continue into another specific group with a new life
cycle and so on. But for the Arahants, once they pass away, all of their Karmic debts would be dissolved
to disappear; therefore, they are no longer subject to any further rebirths, along with having their
innermost spiritual and supramundane bodies permanently, to enter Nirvana.
Our minds work in the similar way. We have our nested spiritual bodies which are made up by a
bunch of mental aggregates to work together in a systematic fashion as well. Within each individual
being, there are a bunch of mental aggregates rather than a single mind or consciousness. Each part of
the mental aggregates has its own specific task to perform, similar to a body’s organ or a computer’s
component. In a computer system, for example, there are local/session/application/global variables that
hold a variety of information and a single piece of information can be passed from one variable to
another as well as from one scope to another. There is a part of our mental aggregates which is
responsible for performing the function to die and to pass any information to another part that is
responsible for performing the function to be born into another life cycle continuously. However, each
part of the mental aggregates is not permanent either, since it is a conditioned thing, which is still subject
to the universal life cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and decline.
Within each being/life/process, there are the public, protected, and private domains; and the two things
tendency). When the final goal is reached by each being, the conditioned mundane body and mind are
spiritually detached to reveal the supramundane nature at the innermost layer of several nested bodies,
similar to a lotus flower. That’s why the symbol of Buddhism is a lotus flower. Like in a lotus flower,
we can see more refined beauty in it as it opens itself up to reveal its inner layers to the world. The only
difference in the spiritual dimension is that the inner nested bodies are getting bigger toward the
innermost one as supposed to getting smaller from what we see in the lotus flowers or in the concentric
circles. At one’s end, there are simply no distinguished marks of selfishness there at all but the perfect
altruism alone. It’s simply free, pure, undefiled, unconditioned, and unconventional that can be realized
by all at all times, but not at one’s conditioned desires to control it. Then, the process of each life is
simply put to rest completely and permanently once the innermost spiritual and supramundane body is
completely revealed. This is the perfect happiness at each present moment beyond the space, time, law
of Karmas, and causality! Please note that, by becoming selfless or altruistic, the fact of being individual
being does not get dissolved to disappear at all; only the word “process” would disappear, because the
final goal has been reached, along with the selfish thoughts/intentions, speeches, and deeds.
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===========================9-THE PYRAMIDS================================
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world is the Great Pyramid. Several theories exist to provide
reasons why the pyramids were built. The truths about the pyramids can simply be found no further than
the truths of a triangle. The ancient people built the pyramids to provide the visual representations of both
the conventional and the absolute Truths to the world.
The conventional reality is the way to reach the ultimate reality. Therefore, life is simply the journey of a
process to reach its final goal as mentioned before. In regard to the conventional reality, we can refer to the
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where there are three major stages of needs (see Figure I below). The first
stage, at the bottom, represents our physical needs; the second stage, in the middle, represents our
psychological desires; and the last stage, on top, represents our spiritual endeavors. The goal is to
elevate from the bottom toward the top. The higher the stage, the fewer there are to be seen, thus,
forming a hierarchy that makes up a triangle or a pyramid.
In regard to the ultimate reality, there are also three angles to it that make up a complete triangle. One
can enter the ultimate reality from any one of the three angles of the absolute purity:
 It’s absolutely pure because it is not subject to changeability (the unchangeable nature).
 It’s absolutely pure because it exists without birth or beginning (the unborn nature).
 It’s absolutely pure because there are no distinguished marks of self-identities in it (the perfect
spiritual state of altruism).
The three angles of the absolute purity are also known in Buddhism as the Triple Gem:
 The Buddha: one who is not subject to changeability to expound the noble path to Nirvana.
 The non-fabricated Dharma: the unborn nature or the ultimate reality.
 The Sangha: the followers who are completely liberated and detached from the entanglements
and manipulations of all conditioned phenomena.
Figure I: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
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=======================10-PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT========================

Since the Buddha was here to point out the way to one’s spiritual freedom and liberation, his teachings
have been posted to challenge the world to prove them, by the way of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Nonetheless, there are commentaries that were added on top of the Sutras in the Tipitaka. Are they also
legitimate sources of Buddhism? Besides practicing the Samatha and Vipassana meditations from the
Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha did not refer to use any other method to verify his teachings at all.
The Buddha said: “whoever sees the Dharma, see me.” Therefore, the word “Buddha” represents the
perfect spiritual state of purity instead of a person. According to the Buddha, whichever method or
strategy that could lead a practitioner to this spiritual finish line, that method or strategy was legitimate.
Then, one should not rush to judge whether this particular source is legitimate or not, just because it
comes from the earlier or later sources. For example, one later source may say that there are 40 different
techniques of meditation in Buddhism, while an earlier source only mentions about 30 in total. Which
one is the correct source? The only way to validate them is to try all 40 out. In so doing, several past
noble monks confirmed that all 40 worked as expected.
The Samatha meditation has been used by several skillful practitioners to prove and validate the
historical events and literatures in the commentaries. When one becomes skillful enough with his
meditation practices and is able to reach at least the fourth jhana easily, he can acquire some abilities, for
examples, to recall his previous lives, to have divine eyes and ears, to look back into the past, and to
visit several heaven and Brahma realms. For examples, 2500 years on earth are only 25 days in the
Tavatimsa heaven realm or 12.5 days in the Yama heaven realm. This is because 1 day in the Tavatimsa
heaven realm is equal to 100 years on earth, and 1 day in the Yama heaven realm is equal to 200 years
on earth. In those heaven realms, celestial beings have much longer life spans, in millions of years,
when compared to people who live on this earth. For a little more than 2500 years since the time of the
Buddha, we may not be able to find someone in this world who has lived 2500 years to ask some
questions to verify some events in the commentaries; but in the heaven or Brahma realms, the skillful
practitioner can meet many Buddhist monks/laymen up there, who died from this world during this
2500-year period, to ask any question. There are stories of many Buddhist monks who visited the
heaven and Brahma realms to ask several questions to clear away their doubts and to verify the contents
in the commentaries. Many of the celestial beings are well aware of all the events and facts which have
been taking places since the time of the Buddha, and they are eager to answer any question. This is the
main reason why the Buddha, before entering Nirvana, emphasized the practice of the Samatha and
Vipassana meditations to his disciples as the best way to pay respect to him.
Moreover, the skillful practitioner can also use his skills in the Samatha meditation to prove if the Pure
Land of the Ultimate Bliss of the Mahayana Buddha Amithabha really exists or not. All he has to do is
to call out for the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin) to come to answer if the Pure Land really
exists, since this belief is not in any of the Tharavada Buddhist scripts at all. The Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara has been known to possess immeasurable kindness and compassion who hears the cries
of all sentient beings who call upon her name for helps.
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=================11-THE BUDDHIST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS=================

In other religions, people always ask these questions:
- Where do we come from?
- Is there a God?
- What is the absolute good or happiness?
But in Buddhism, we ask these questions instead:
- What are the truths of life? They are the Four Noble Truths.
- What is the most important thing in life? To realize the Four Noble Truths.
From one of Ajahn Brahm’s talks:
What is the best wish, among all other wishes, one can have?
There is a story of 5 children playing a wishing game. The game goes like this: every child has
to come up with a wish, and a child who manages to come up with the best wish, would win the
wishing game. So the first child, who did not have much time to think, since he had to go first,
wished he had a hamburger from a McDonald—a big and thick one with double cheese and
meat. He really liked to eat hamburger, but his mom did not allow him to eat that usually.
Now the next child had a bit more time to think and he heard what the first child said, so he
thought he could beat that easily. He said: “if I had a wish, I would wish for a McDonald
restaurant; then I can have as many hamburgers as I want and whenever I want them.”
Obviously, that was superior!
Then, they asked the third child who was very smart. Plus, he had more time to think. He came
up with a wish he thought he would win. He said: “if I had a wish, I would wish for one billion
dollars. Because with one billion dollars, first of all, I can buy myself a McDonald restaurant.
Secondly, I can buy myself video games to play because I really like to play video games. When
I tried to play my video games, my parents kept telling me to do my homework instead. So, the
third thing I would buy, is my own school so that I would have full control over it. I can give
myself a good grade and a graduation there. When I graduate from my own school, I can buy
myself my own university to repeat the same thing all the way. That way, I can spend all my
time eating hamburgers and playing video games all the times.” The assumption was that, with
one billion dollars, it was more than enough for one person to spend in his whole life. So, two or
more billions were not considered to be superior wishes here. So that child thought that he was
clearly winning the wishing game.
There were two children left; so, how could they beat the one billion dollars wish? The fourth
child was a genius. He said: “I can beat that! If I had a wish, I would wish for 3 wishes. For my
first wish, I want a McDonald restaurant. For the second wish, I want one billion US dollars.
And for my third wish, I would have 3 more wishes. That way, I can go on forever. So, can
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anyone beat that?” That was a very smart kid. With the infinity of wishes granted, could that be
exceeded?
However, he was exceeded! The last child would win the wishing game. He managed to think of
a wish that was clearly superior to the infinity of wishes granted above. That last child said: “if I
had a wish, I wished I was so perfectly content to the point that I would never need any more
wish ever again.” This is called “the Buddha” who represents the freedom from desires. It’s the
type of happiness/peace right here and right now and within you, without having to search and to
depend on any external condition.
The other wishes represent the freedom of desires; and, most of our societies have pursued and
enhanced this freedom of desires. It’s the type of happiness that you have to search and to
depend on your external conditions.
This is another way of looking at Nirvana. Since Nirvana is the highest level of contentment and there is
not a higher level to go after any longer, any desire to be happier or to be better simply ceases to exist by
itself automatically. As stated in the Four Noble Truths, desires are the causes of suffering and they are to
be eradicated, so that the end of suffering is realized, and so is Nirvana at the same time!
============12-THE WAY OF THE ABSOLUTE AND UNIVERSAL TRUTH==============
The absolute Truth is the stationary center of the Universe where all beings/things are to revolve
around. The common course of such revolution is clearly seen to encircle, which has the same meaning
as “to encompass”, “to embrace”, or “to accept willingly”. This common course of revolution is the
way of the absolute and universal Truth which always reveals itself completely in public. Isn’t this what
we see everywhere in natures, whether we look at an atomic particle, a solar system, all the way to a
galaxy?
Because the absolute Truth is the stationary center of the Universe, it must be the unborn, unchangeable,
still, and ONE common intrinsic and fundamental nature for all. In another angle, it must also be
undisputable or unquestionable, to be worthy of being completely accepted by all, mustn’t it? Then,
there is no other way for us to change it or to escape it at all, but to be in the total compliance only. This
is the reason why natures created the laws of Karmas for those who are not willing to accept and follow
the way of the absolute and universal Truth. Therefore, the laws of Karmas are what that govern the
conventional reality where all the unawake sentient beings reside.
For an example, if you hold up a rubber band within your two fingers in front of you on its one end, let’s
say its top end, and twist it around at its other end, let’s say its bottom end, with another two fingers
without letting it go as much as you can; you will see and feel that the rubber band is storing up a
resistant energy/force to restore itself back to its original form. The more you continue to twist it around
in the same direction, the more resistant energy/force it will accumulate. Once you let go of the
deviation of the rubber band at its bottom end, it will simply spin itself in the opposite direction to return
itself back to its original form fast, depending on the amount of its stored energy.
According to the aforementioned analogy above, we can simply see that the rubber band, in its original
form, represents things as they really are (the Truth); the act of twisting the rubber band represents the
unskillful practice of bending the unchangeable Truth; the stored resistant energy/force represents one’s
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karmic debts that he needs to pay back; and, the act of letting go represents the detachment taught by the
Buddha to return his heart back to its original state of purity, which stands in contrast with these words:
alteration, modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty.
Then, the attitude of a truth-winner is simply to accept things the ways they really are willingly and
completely. This is the true definition of the word “spiritual purity”, which stands in contrast with these
words: alteration, modification, manipulation, control, prejudice, and dishonesty. And, it is this
acceptance that will set every being free spiritually. When one sees things as they really are clearly with
his pure wisdom, he knows how to treat things/beings right accordingly. When he sees and treats
things/beings right accordingly, any conflict/resistance/injustice does not arise at all, neither from within
nor from without. What do you think where a conflict/resistance/injustice comes from, if not from how
one mistreats himself or mistreats another person or a thing? On the other hand, if
conflicts/resistances/injustices do not arise, especially from within at all, peace and tranquility are
simply there to be acquired at any time. This is how the ultimate bliss of one’s heart is realized and
achieved! Therefore, there is nothing more important than to see and treat all things and beings right or
skillfully. The angle of acceptance without any control/manipulation is referred to as the Middle Way,
whereas the angle of the right or the skillful treatments is referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path of
Buddhism.
However, the absolute Truth is indescribable and incomprehensible and it cannot be approached
directly, only indirectly by the way of the conventional reality, as the current Buddha once said: “this
physical body seeks enlightenment.” In another words, our physical bodies represent the conventional
reality which is the revolving way to embrace the absolute Truth. We have come far enough in
Sciences and Educations to be able to see the common blueprint of the conventional reality in the
atomic particles, if we look at them at the right angle from the Buddhist enlightenment perspective!
The phenomena of transitory existences concern themselves with only these two aspects of what they do
and how they respond to the necessary conditions of what they do. Although what they do remains
without change but how they operate to accomplish what they do is subject to change and evolution.
The evolution, which is explored by the infinite change/possibility and supported by the endless
continuation of causes/conditions, confines its revolution within the realm of self-reconstruction to
embrace nothing but the perfect energy mode of the absolute Truth. If we look at the primitive level of
physical elements, the objective consciousness refers to the problem of insufficient energy constituted
within each conditioned atom. With each atom’s unique characteristic/property and its ability to
exchange its electrons with the other elements of similar need(s) without limit, they together create the
continuation of causes and conditions in the physical phenomena marked by change endlessly (freedom
of desires blueprint). This collective pattern of resource sharing enhancement gives rise to the
common laws of giver and receiver, known as “morality/virtue/Karmas”, to maintain the perfect
balance.
According to the periodic table of elements, there are two major types of the basic elements: one is the
conditioned elements and the other type is the unconditioned noble gases. The conditioned elements
appear to have some assumed missing electrons in their outermost energy levels originally. They need
to have 8 electrons in their outermost energy levels in order to be stable as the unconditioned noble
gases. Each conditioned atom is defined by its disposition to attract and capture one another at its last
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level of supposed missing electrons wherefrom the acquired balance may settle as the fulfillment found
within an unconditioned noble gas (the goal). In chemistry, the octet rule refers to the tendency of
atoms to have eight electrons in the outermost shells. When atoms have fewer than eight electrons in
their outermost shells, they tend to react and form compounds. An ideal arrangement is attended when
the atom is surrounded by eight electrons. This octet can be made up by own electrons and some
electrons which are shared. Thus, an atom continues to form bonds until an octet of electrons is made.
In another words, the noble gases naturally do not form compounds. They have the most stable
configuration (full octet, no charge); so, they have no reason to react and change their configuration. All
other elements attempt to gain, lose, or share electrons to achieve a noble gas configuration.
Unlike the conditioned elements, the noble gases appear to already have the perfect 8 electrons at their
outermost energy levels by default as their original roots, except helium which has just 2 electrons. But
helium also has a full outer energy level, because its only energy level (energy level 1) can hold a
maximum of 2 electrons. The noble gases represent the perfect state of calm and restfulness, without
being subject to change/conditioning at all (freedom from desires blueprint). Now, we can see that
there are two kinds of freedom in nature: the freedom of desires and the freedom from desires. In
another words, the freedom of desires represents the extrinsic paradigm, whereas the freedom from
desires represents the intrinsic paradigm.
However, their settlements via forming the aforementioned compounds are not characterized as firm and
stable as the noble gases, but rather with the aberration marked by these three aggregated signs of
continuous violence, destruction, and reconstruction. The instability of their compound existences
indicates the inherent open systems of individuals on which their combined totality has not redeemed the
oneness of all yet. They appear to exchange as just trading partners via fusing together through the
gravitational media of linking, instead of the process of blending all to become as one. Even after a
perfect match is found between two or more elements to share their electrons with one another to form a
compound, the conditioned compound is still seen to be unsatisfied/unstable, and is still subject to
change and restlessness (freedom of desires still). Therefore, this first option of following the desires
to take from the other(s) by depending itself upon its external conditions (the extrinsic paradigm), in
order to satisfy the desires, is not the right solution; nonetheless, it is the solution that has been taken by
the stream of the world anyway. The second option is to become like the stable noble gases not at a
physical dimension, but at a spiritual unconditioned dimension instead (the intrinsic paradigm). This is
the ultimate reality where/when all conditioned phenomena cease to exist, namely NIRVANA (freedom
from desires). As the result, the ultimate reality is considered to be supra-mundane in nature.
Buddhism is the only religion that successfully takes this second option all the way to Nirvana, via the
Noble Eightfold Path.
It is really a striking coincidence to see the number 8 used to describe both the stable noble gases and the
Noble Eightfold Path. They happen to pick the same number 8 and represent the same kind of freedom,
which is the freedom from desires thereof. But, the former represents the freedom from desires at the
physical dimension, whereas the latter represents the freedom from desires at the spiritual dimension.
Moreover, the Noble Eightfold Path can be further condensed from 8 to 3 (morality, Samadhi, wisdom),
from 3 to 2 (Samatha and Vipassana), and from 2 to 1 (the Middle Way). Since one of the stable noble
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gases, namely helium, has only 2 electrons, it is considered to match with the condensed version of the
Noble Eightfold Path , namely Samatha and Vipassana.
Because of the Noble Eightfold Path taught by the Buddha, one can become completely and
permanently restful like the stable noble gases (freedom from desires). Then, true happiness, according
to Buddhism, must be about peace, freedom, and independence, without any remainders of conditioned
things period. In another words, it must not depend on any external conditions or factors for its own
freedom and happiness. If you still need to depend on something else or someone else other than
yourself to be happy, that happiness is very questionable! Would you rather let something else or
someone else control your happiness? Then, what kind of freedom is the right form of freedom, if not
the freedom from desires? Aren’t the desires that make you depend on something else or someone else
as their conditions? For something to be the best form of happiness, it must be an intrinsic value rather
than an extrinsic one, mustn’t it? What do you think is the better option between the two? Then, it must
be self-sufficient, self-comforting, and self-sustaining instead. Without desires, one is simply calm,
peaceful, restful, free, and independent. This is the true happiness according to the Buddha and the Four
Noble Truths! That’s why the Buddha taught the aforementioned Noble Eightfold Path for us to let go of
the Khandhas or the 5 aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and
consciousness), because they are among the conditioned fabrications to depend on external conditions.
The conditioned fabrications block or cloud the unconditioned Dharma from being realized. Once the
Khandhas are spiritually detached, the unconditioned Dharma is finally revealed.
The involvement with one another among the conditioned atoms has originally created the short life
cycle of just formation and decay, which was logically impossible to break/escape, due to the
insufficiency of space and time for the inner level of consciousness to be supportive. Yet, through the
process of evolution which has enhanced the structuring process of material dependency, as the only
alternative methodology, to enlarge the life cycle with more complicated algorithms of systematic forms
to pursue growth, reproduction, and maturity. The original inescapable life cycle was then extended to
accommodate these additional nodes in bold letters: formation, growth, reproduction, maturity, and
decline; therefore, it has now become possible to break and escape the cycle of mortality.
Moderation between the extremes of conditionings has paved the infinite way for the evolution of
complex systematic development to pursue growth/reproduction/maturity upon the process of endurance
and resistance against the insecure decay. The repetitively simple mathematical rule of organizing has
created a common pattern and order of managerial body of meaningful integration, branching off units
of distribution to compete and process among individual sub-systems for the progress of solving the
same problem, yet depending upon one another: in the form of strength and survival they compete as so
in the form of sending and receiving ends they depend upon one another.
One of the ways to keep things going without losing any features or properties is to have a separate and
individual body as a container which should last much longer than its embedded sub-systems within it.
And, all the sub-systems within it should work together dependently in a systematic fashion to support
the survival of the whole private body, by allowing its internal sub-systems to renew/replace themselves
all the times indefinitely, due to their shorter longevities. This is the universal model which has been
adopted by all since time immemorial, especially in living creatures and plants. This is the main reason
for the numerous individuals to exist in the world of causality. In the worlds of objects, each is
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independently responsible for managing its own private state and offering services to the other related
objects. Each object has a defined interface which can be called by the other objects to link themselves
together to create a larger system. Each object has a self-contained capability or energy which is able to
develop and locate itself from inside out through the shared interfaces with the other related objects
according to the degrees of uncertainty. The flow of energies within the interfaces is the content of the
environment within which they live together. Please also note that the process of evolution takes places
not only physically, but also consciously as well—through rebirths/reincarnations.
Just look at the facts in natures, such as in a light bulb, our physical bodies, or plants. For a light bulb,
each beam of light arises and passes away instantly, but it looks like the light is always there all the
times constantly. This is because there is a light bulb as the body to keep supplying the constant beams
of light. Therefore, we can hardly notice the impermanence in it at all. Our bodies and plants are the
same; every 10 or 15 years, our entire bodies are completely replaced by the whole sets of new cells
without us being aware of them at all. Therefore, we completely have new bodies every 15 years, but we
don’t seem to notice that. Instead, we feel like we have had the same bodies all the times. Moreover, we
are able to pass on our inheritances to the next generations via giving births for preservations. Every
component in our bodies is impermanent but the natures are able to find some ways to keep things going
without losing any features or properties.
Our minds work in the similar way. We have our nested spiritual bodies which are made up by a
bunch of mental aggregates to work together in a systematic fashion as well. Within each individual
being, there are a bunch of mental aggregates rather than a single mind or consciousness. Each part of
the mental aggregates has its own specific task to perform, similar to a body’s organ or a computer’s
component. In a computer system, for example, there are local/session/application/global variables that
hold a variety of information and a single piece of information can be passed from one variable to
another as well as from one scope to another. There is a part of our mental aggregates which is
responsible for performing the function to die and to pass any information to another part that is
responsible for performing the function to be born into another life cycle continuously. However, each
part of the mental aggregates is not permanent either, since it is a conditioned thing, which is still subject
to the universal life cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and decline.
Within each being/life/process, there are the public, protected, and private domains; and the two things
tendency). When the final goal is reached by each being, the conditioned mundane body and mind are
spiritually detached to reveal the supramundane nature at the innermost layer of several nested bodies,
similar to a lotus flower. That’s why the symbol of Buddhism is a lotus flower. Like in a lotus flower,
we can see more refined beauty in it as it opens itself up to reveal its inner layers to the world. The only
difference in the spiritual dimension is that the inner nested bodies are getting bigger toward the
innermost one as supposed to getting smaller from what we see in the lotus flowers or in the concentric
circles. At one’s end, there are simply no distinguished marks of selfishness there at all but the perfect
altruism alone (the Buddha-Nature). It’s simply free, pure, undefiled, unconditioned, and unconventional
that can be realized by all at all times, but not at one’s conditioned desires to control it. Then, the
process of each life is simply put to rest completely and permanently once the innermost spiritual and
supramundane body is completely revealed. This is the perfect happiness at each present moment
beyond the space, time, law of Karmas, and causality!
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Since all conditioned things cease to exist spiritually there at the Buddha-Nature, then nothing arises. In
another words, there is not even a slice of activity or movement to be detected there period. Thus, there
is nothing for one to become aware of at all. It’s just the perfect spiritual state of oneness and
transcendence by nature. Since nothing arises, one cannot speak of its origin. Therefore, it is considered
to be the unborn and unchangeable fundamental nature for all. Since nothing arises, it is completely still,
restful, calm, and unconditional, which can be acquired by all at all times, but not at one’s conditioned
desire to control it. Then, to be with the absolute Truth face-to-face, it is the same as to be completely
restful, calm, and peaceful, isn’t it? This complete restfulness in itself is the ultimate bliss and freedom!
Therefore, the attitude of a wise man consists of no longer thinking of anything, as supposed to the
conditioned mental thoughts of outgoing exuberances: that’s the secret of peace, tranquility, and
equanimity!!! Because of the cessation of all conditioned things there, we therefore cannot use our
original mental essence is uncovered to appear visibly.
awakened. That’s why Buddhism is the only religion of the ultimate wisdom, instead of a system of
blind faith and belief.
Because life is an organized system or a process to overcome the rules of conditioning through the
process of causes and conditions, its supported protocol must also be both cumulative and inclusive.
This means that the process to reach its final goal takes places not only physically, but also consciously
as well—consciously through rebirths/reincarnations if necessary. And, it’s also cumulative through the
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laws of Karmas itself, by passing on any collected information from one life cycle to another
continuously. Therefore, nothing is lost and left out through an entire and prolonged process of each
being. This makes sense, since it normally takes longer than one lifetime for each being to attain the
Buddhist enlightenment. Finally, all beings are conditioned by, but not determined by, the impacts of
these three mundane factors: heredities, environments, and Karmas. It’s like someone who is enslaved
by an oppressor, but he still has an opportunity to set himself free as well. This is also the Middle Way
which stands in the middle between the theories of free will and determinism. Therefore, life is an
evolving, changing, and cumulative process rather. This is the reason why each being has different
cumulative trait, habit, and personality as we see in each being or life, which each has been collecting
and accumulating throughout its countless rebirths in Samsara. The Buddha’s teachings not only
support some aspects of the science of “physical evolution” to build up steps for beings, but also
embrace some of the viewpoints of “the evolution of consciousness” which cover rebirths/reincarnations
as well. The last factor, namely the Karmas, is the factor that scientific communities missed out in their
incomplete evolutionary theory. Good or bad Karmas are the results of one’s
actions/speeches/intentions to abuse less or more. Therefore, one is responsible for creating his own
private place to live in one of those 31 public realms, according to his own private karmic debts; and, as
long as his private karmic debts are not paid off in full, his cycle of rebirths will continue. The reason
each life span is temporary or impermanent, because it’s tied to a specific group of its previous Karmic
debts that it needs to pay off. Once it pays off this group, it will continue into another specific group
with a new life cycle and so on. But for the enlightened Arahants, once they pass away, all of their
remaining Karmic debts would be dissolved to disappear along with the five conditioned aggregates;
therefore, they are no longer subject to any further rebirths, along with having their innermost refined
spiritual and supramundane bodies permanently, to enter Nirvana. Please note that, by becoming
selfless or altruistic, the fact of being each private individual being does not get dissolved to disappear at
all; only the word “process” would disappear, because the final goal has been reached, along with the
selfish thoughts/intentions, speeches, and deeds.
According to this collective and universal model, life is therefore considered to be each conscious and
experiencing being rather than a misleading self or soul. Within each life, there are these public,
protected, and private domains/properties, similar to the concept of the object-oriented design in the
Information Technology field. They are similar because the inventor of the object-oriented design
simply adopted these features from the natural objects in the real world. In nature, the two things which
are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic imprint (habitual
tendency). This is the reason why all beings are not currently equal in terms of skill, ability, talent,
knowledge, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom,
vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion, kindness, and equanimity. It seems like each being
is in a different stage of its own development, doesn’t it? Because of this actual fact, we can see that
John cannot go to a school in place of Mike to make Mike knowledgeable, right? Mike has to go to the
school for himself to be knowledgeable, even though the knowledge is available to the public. Because
life is the journey of a restless process to reach its final goal of transcending the perfect happiness or the
absolute Truth, it never sits still in one place. Moreover, it is always full of
needs/desires/cravings/expectations to move from one place to another to seek better happiness. Thus, it
is seen to be discontent and restless. As you already know that nobody wants to be in a prison. Then,
it’s compatible to say that any places where one does not want to be, are considered to be his prisons.
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Moreover, when talking about desires, the more he has, the less this world becomes perfect for him. The
more desires he has, the more he becomes dependent on his external conditions/factors, which are
constantly uncertain and changing. The more he becomes dependent on his external conditions/factors,
the more he allows them to control his happiness. The more he allows them or other people to control
his happiness, the more he will lose his happiness and freedom. Now, when talking about losing his
freedom, it is just the same as talking about him being in a prison or being a slave, isn’t it? Therefore,
the real purpose or meaning of life is more about being spiritually free or liberated than being satisfied,
isn’t it?
Where is the middle way in natures? For example: if a river is going to flood an area full of houses, it
does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a king or a peasant; if a forest fire is going to burn
an area full of houses, it also does not discriminate whether this house belongs to a rich and elite person
or a poor forgotten man. If a candle fire is going to burn a piece of paper, it does not care or
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earthquake, and the list goes on endlessly. Now you can see that everything treats everything else in full
and in alignment with the Middle Way completely and flawlessly. Therefore, whoever understands The
Middle Way thoroughly, that person can derive himself to realize the ultimate reality of ONENESS and
PURITY successively and quickly. The basic definition of The Middle Way encompasses the following
words: moderation, embracement, non-bias, non-preference, non-prejudice, non-discrimination,
nonalignment, non-condition, equality, purity, neutrality, detachment, fairness, firmness, disinterest,
restfulness, calmness, equanimity, tranquility, peace, stillness, silence, dispassion, independence,
freedom, liberation, emptiness, selflessness, compassion, kindness, generosity, enlightenment, and
indifference.
equally the same!
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It is a delight in a good feeling that leads a sentient being to have a sensual desire or desire for existence;
it is an aversion in a bad feeling that leads a sentient being to have a desire for non-existence. Both the
delight and aversion are the products of the mental delusions. Without the mental delusions, both the
delight and aversion do not arise; without both the delight and aversion, cravings do not arise. Thus, by
neither being swayed toward delight on one extreme nor being driven into aversion on the other
extreme, one simply takes The Middle Way firmly. The MIDDLE WAY is about being neutral by
Middle Way or the Noble Eightfold Path is the way of the absolute and universal Truth found in natures by
the Buddhas. Therefore, by following the path, one is certain to be re-united with the absolute Truth at last.
According to the Buddhas, there is no second other way besides this or there is no other way out of
Samsara without The Four Noble Truths. So far, I have not seen any other religions that taught/teach
The Four Noble Truths yet, besides Buddhism. Nonetheless, they claimed to have some enlightened
beings in their religions though. Moreover, the majorities of people seem to be more attracted to those
fake enlightenments than this real one.
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=======================13-THE RELIGION WITHOUT GOD=======================

Buddhism is the religion of wisdom, not blind faith and belief. Plus, you rely on yourself for your own
happiness, not God or any external conditions. Most importantly, Buddhism is all about being pure and
spiritually liberated, not being satisfied by the way of fulfilling your desires. According to the
Theravada Buddhism, you don’t have to wait until you die to see the perfect happiness or Nirvana. You
can realize it right here and right now.
First, you must ask yourself this key question: what do you consider to be the best form of happiness?
According to the Buddha, the best form of happiness is to be spiritually free or liberated! True
happiness must be about peace, freedom, independence, and without any remainder of conditioned
things period. If you still need to depend on something or someone to be happy, that happiness is very
questionable! Would you rather let something else or someone else control your happiness? If someone
told you that you had to depend on something else or someone else other than yourself to be truly happy,
that teller was none other than your real oppressor. For something to be the best form of happiness, it
must not be subject to any conditioned thing, mustn’t it? All are equal to acquire it at all times, but not
at one’s desires to control it. In another words, it must not depend on any external condition or factor
for its own freedom and happiness. It must be self-sufficient, self-comforting, and self-sustaining
instead. Therefore, don’t seek to depend on something else or someone else for your own happiness and
freedom. Dependencies are certain to make you weak and vulnerable to deceptions. The Buddha did
not expect any of his disciples to depend on him, as he once said: “rely on yourself for your own
happiness! Seek inward to return yourself back to your original root, which is pure and selfless, by the
way of complete detachment from all external conditions, including the five aggregates (physical form,
sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness).”
Second, what kind of freedom is the right form of freedom, if not the freedom from desires? Aren’t the
desires that make you depend on something else or someone else as their conditions? Moreover, when
talking about desires, the more you have, the less this world becomes perfect for you. The more desires you
have, the more you become dependent on your external conditions/factors, which are constantly uncertain
and changing. The more you become dependent on your external conditions/factors, the more you allow
them to control your freedom and happiness. The more you allow them or other people to control your
freedom and happiness, the more you will lose your freedom and happiness. Now, when talking about
losing your freedom, it is just the same as talking about you being in a prison or being a slave, isn’t it?
Moreover, all external conditions are considered to be impermanent, intolerable, and impersonal. Then,
if you desire to seek for a certainty, reliability, personality/control, or any extreme permanent
representation of fact/reality in such a phenomenon in such a phenomenon, you desire to seek for
something else that does not really exist, except for a disappointment or emptiness in return. Thus, all
types of desires to be happy are simply based on a bunch of false hopes and delusions. Without desires,
one is simply calm, peaceful, restful, free, and independent. This is the true and perfect happiness
according to the Buddha and the Four Noble Truths. That’s why the Buddha taught a strategy for us to
let go of the Khandhas or the 5 aggregates, because they are among the conditioned things to rely on
dependencies. The conditioned things block or cloud the unconditioned Dharma from being realized.
Once the Khandhas are spiritually detached, the unconditioned Dharma is finally revealed.
Third, for something to be the best form of happiness, it must be an intrinsic value rather than an
extrinsic one, mustn’t it? What do you think is the better option between the two? Therefore, in the
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Second Noble Truth, our responsibility is to eradicate “desires”, because they are the causes of Dukkha.
The purpose of desires is to have something else that you don’t already have intrinsically. The Truth,
that will set you free, is things as they really are according to their true natures, not according to what
you think or believe things are or should be. To see things as they are, it’s the same as to see your true
natures as you already have right in you or in front of you at all times (intrinsic value). Therefore, it’s
not the path to depend on desires to search for something else externally. Instead of looking outward for
something that you don’t already have to infinity, simply look inward and realize that you already have
the unborn and unchangeable root in you as well as in everyone. The reason the detachment is the path
in Buddhism is because we have been looking outward via desires and have accumulated a bunch of
fabricated conditions on top to cover up our original root throughout our countless rebirths. Those
fabricated conditions block and cloud us from seeing the common unborn and unchangeable root within.
By removing them one by one all the way (via detachments), you can return yourself back to the
ultimate reality at last. Looking inward is not considered a desire, because you already have that in you.
Why desire for something that you already have, right? It’s the process of letting go rather than taking
something new in.
Fourth, let’s explore some additional points of argument here:
1. Since the ultimate reality is at the perfect spiritual state of altruism without any remainder of
conditioned things, it must be marked with these signs of purity, inclusion, union, and embracement
thereof. All are equal to acquire it at all times, but not at one’s will to control it. That’s why the
Buddha said that our duty toward the Buddhist Second Noble Truth was to eradicate all types of
conditioned cravings/desires, because they were all about “control”. Moreover, exclusion and
discrimination are the signs of selfishness to exert control and discriminate, where only the few are
allowed to gain access, while the rests are left out. If there are two worlds, for example, where in
one world, all are allowed to become equally and inclusively happy, while in the other world, only
the few are allowed to be perfectly happy apart from many. Which world is a better world for one or
many to live in? According to Buddhism, the Buddha attained enlightenment and discovered
NIRVANA, which is considered to be the ultimate bliss. He taught others the ways to attain
NIRVANA too, which is the same level of happiness he got. He offered nothing less than what he
got in quality to others. This is the attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic view. Now in
your religion of God, can you be equally happy and equally pure like God?
2. When talking about the angle of being the easiest way, you may raise this question: “wouldn’t it be
much easier to just have blind faith and belief and let God take controls of the rests?” First, blind
faith and belief make people weak, ignorant, and vulnerable to deceptions. Buddhism is the religion
of the ultimate wisdom. Because of wisdom, one is awake, wise, and free! Would you rather be
wise and awake or blind, ignorant, weak, and vulnerable? When talking about being the easiest, you
can’t beat Buddhism either. Because of no desires, there is just nothing else to do or to think about
at all, but to simply rest, be calm, be still, and be with the perfect peace. In your religion of God,
don’t you have to wait anxiously for God to come to save you? God himself still has things to do,
such as to create a heaven and then to come to take you there. According to the Buddha, a heaven is
still the product of conditioned fabrications, not the unborn and unchangeable nature. The heaven is
also considered to be the external environments/conditions that people still have to depend on, which
is limited within its scope and confinement. According to the extrinsic paradigm, people then seek
nothing other than a world of better conditions to minimize their troubled minds. Being in their world
of better conditions, they contribute their times for nothing other than to indulge in any acquired sensual
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pleasure. If their world of better conditions is taken away, they are back to the same minds of troubles
again. They have not accomplished anything spiritually. Moreover, we see several missing keywords
from the heaven as well, such as freedom, independence, intrinsic value, and unconditioned things.
Then, how can it be the best form of happiness?
3. Several of you may raise this question: “since God is perfect and trustworthy, wouldn’t it be better to
depend on him instead of yourself who may not be so trustworthy and perfect after all?” Again, true
or perfect happiness must include these intrinsic peace, freedom, independence, and without any
remainder of conditioned things period. If any of the key words is missing, it becomes very
questionable! Moreover, the mainstream view about God does not seem to reflect any of these
questionable bullets I listed below here:
A. If your son comes up to you one day and says “Dad, I want to be equally as happy and
successful as you are.” Would you have a problem with that or give him 100% of your
supports? Why would someone have a problem with that? This is the attitude of someone who
upholds the altruistic view.
B. If your son comes up to you one day and says “Dad, I want to be more happy and successful
than you are.” Would you have a problem with that or give him 100% of your supports? Why
would someone have a problem with that? This is the attitude of someone who upholds the
altruistic view.
C. If your son comes up to you one day and says “Dad, I want to move out to live independently so
that I can be less of the burdens for you. In another words, I want to be liberated and free from
your care, because I can take a good care of myself now.” Would you have a problem with that
or give him 100% of your supports? Why would someone have a problem with that? This is the
attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic view.
D. If you discover a perfect happiness by yourself and are able to experience it anytime you wish,
would you offer the same perfect happiness to others, or rather offer less version of that
happiness instead, or offer none at all? Why would someone have a problem with offering the
same perfect happiness to others? This is the attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic
view.
E. If there are two worlds, for example, where in one world, all are allowed to become equally and
inclusively happy, while in the second world, only the few are allowed to be perfectly happy
apart from many. Which world is a better world for one to live in?
F. If you are a teacher, wouldn’t you rather want your students to do well and graduate from your
class once and for all, instead of wanting them to fail to retake the same class over and over
again?
G. If you are a doctor who cares and cures for many sick patients, wouldn’t you rather want to see
your sick patients to get well soon and get out from your cares to enjoy their freedoms out there?
H. Would you rather not imagine yourself to be a sick patient to be under a physician’s cares
without knowing your released date? One should not imagine himself to be under a physician’s
cares for an unspecified amount of time, should he? Isn’t the truth supposed to set him free
rather than confining him for eternity?
I. By saying that it is impossible to be happy or pure like God and at the same time believing that
God is omnipotent and compassionate, wouldn’t that person say something to conflict himself?
J. Who does not wish to be the happiest person in the universe right now, right? If there is such a
perfect state of happiness out there available right now, why should it be exclusive rather than
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inclusive? Why can’t one get it now, if there is omnipotent God who is kind and compassionate
to make it possible?
K. If one of my friends comes to me and says “Hi JP, with all the respects, I think my God is better
than your Buddha.” Do you know what I am going to say back to him? Here is what I will say:
“Congratulations my friend! I am really happy for you. Since your God is better than mine, I
would assume that you are better than me too, in terms of compassion/kindness/generosity, in a
good way. I rather see more good people in this world than bad ones so that this world would be
a better place for us.” This is the attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic view.
L. According to Buddhism, the Buddha attained enlightenment and discovered NIRVANA, which
is considered to be the ultimate bliss. He taught others the ways to attain NIRVANA too, which
is the same level of happiness he got. He offered nothing less than what he got in quality to
others. This is the attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic view.
M. If someone went to the Buddha and asked him for a way to become happier or happiest, he
would point out the steps and ways for that person to get there without any condition. If there
was a way to get it now, the Buddha would not hesitate to give an advice either. Moreover, if
someone came to the Buddha to say: “Hi Buddha, I want to become a better Buddha than you in
the future. My pure land will be bigger and more beautiful, will last longer, and there will be
more enlightened disciples than yours.” Do you know what the Buddha would say? He would
say: “You have a heart of immeasurable compassion! You have 100% of my supports. Let me
know anything I can do to help, son. We need more people like you, so that this universe will be
a better place for all sentient beings.” The Buddha would use his limitless psychic power to look
into the future to see if the man could achieve his wish. If the man could, the Buddha would give
him more words of encouragement and confirmation that he would be successful. If the Buddha
saw that he couldn’t be successful, he would not say anything to discourage him at all. This is
the attitude of someone who upholds the altruistic view.
It’s so obvious that a religion of God as a separate external agent was created by some men who do not
see the possibility of True happiness outside of the paradigm of dependencies upon something or
someone.
===================14-THE BUDDHIST RIGHT BATTLE FIELD=====================
Many of you may have already heard these terms: spy, espionage, social engineering, trader, betrayer,
and many more. Basically, they are the methods that your enemies use to infiltrate your defenses, by
approaching someone at your side to convert him to work for your enemies. That someone can easily be
you to work against yourself, without you knowing it. Therefore, your insecurities and dangers are
much closer to you than you are aware of!
According to the Buddha, there are 5 types of evilness that are working against your peace of mind: 4 of
them are internal and 1 is external. The 4 internal ones are your Kileshas (mental impurities or
defilements: greed, aversion, and delusion), your five aggregates (physical body, sensations,
perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness), your deceptive view about who you really are, and
death. All 4 use the same methods of infiltration listed above to work against you internally. Your
physical body is giving you nothing other than these: loathsomeness, pains, sicknesses, diseases, old-
age, decay, and death. These are the symbols of torture and betrayal in a nutshell! However, most
people don’t seem to realize that their bodies are betraying and torturing them at all times, because they
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spend most of their times focusing outward all day. Moreover, your sensations, perceptions, mental
formations, and consciousness are giving you nothing but a bunch of deceptions to mislead you into
greed, aversions, and delusions. Your five aggregates work together as a foundation to train you to
become a long-term trader to betray yourself and people around you. Because of your feelings and
perceptions, you start to see and treat things differently, via bias, discrimination, and exclusion.
Whatever that gives you a pleasant feeling, you classify that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful.
Otherwise, you classify it to be bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Because of your ego-centric view or world-
centric view, you prioritize your efforts and concentrations solely based on seeking physical properties
(pride, wealth, fame, and status) as the way to be happy by any mean, rather than seeking spiritual
properties (generosity, compassion, kindness, morality, truthfulness, and forgiveness) as the way to be
happy.
Because you are your own enemy, the battle is therefore within you; and, winning yourself is thus the
greatest victory above all victories. It’s your own personal battle that you have to fight your enemy
yourself. No one can come in to do that for you! The most anyone else can do for you is to show you a
way how; but you still have to do the fighting part yourself. Once you win your own personal battle,
your external enemies will not have any influence on you anymore.
Because you are your own enemy, it is very important for you to be mindful of your own mental
activities/thoughts/intentions/speeches/actions in order for you to avoid being deceived, misled, and
reprimanded. And because you are your own enemy, and everyone else also has a potential to be
dangerous toward everyone, you are not to trust yourself or anyone at all. Therefore, the Buddha taught
the Dharma (the methods of deliverance) not for people to have mere beliefs in his words, but he taught
the Dharma to challenge people to prove his words in the forms of practice/application instead. Over
2500+ years ago, the Buddha offered the Noble Eightfold Path to the world as the way to follow, so that
anyone can win that most difficult aforementioned personal battle by himself.
What which precede actions are mental activities; therefore, the “mind” is considered to be the chief as
supposed to the “body”. Then, you must have your unskillful view corrected first to have the
subsequent skillful understanding, thought, intention, effort, speech, action, and livelihood to follow.
What is the corrected view, if not the altruistic view only? This is the prerequisite for anyone to become
a stream-winner in Buddhism.
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=================================15-AVIJJA==================================
Buddhism has associated itself together with all sentient beings as a pair since time immemorial; and, it
will continue this same tradition into the future indefinitely. Therefore, there were countless numbers of
the Buddhas who already appeared in the world and many more yet to come continuously into the
future. Please note that there have been several reincarnations of the world up until now, because all
conditioned things are impermanent. Nonetheless, all periods of Buddhism always have few more
things in common as the following:
1. The stream of the Dharma always goes against the stream of the world.
2. Because of the #1 above, each period of Buddhism is always very short on earth. This current
period was predicted to last only 5000 years. Some prior periods lasted much longer, but none
exceeded beyond the range of 6-digit years.
3. Each Buddha always makes his teachings available to the masses to accommodate 6 major
habitual tendencies of mankind, but only a small number of people would receive the real
benefits from his teachings, because almost all of us are deeply trapped in the stream of the
world and much more.
What are the opposing factors/forces that work against Buddhism in mankind and celestial beings?
There are generally 5 as the following:
1. The stream of the world:
a. The wellbeing of this world, in terms of its peace and stability, depends entirely on
nothing other than a degree of our collective virtues! Therefore, one should be valued
based on nothing other than his degree of virtue alone, rather than his physical pride,
wealth, fame, or status. Where is his virtue, if not within his mind? The mind is
considered to be the chief as supposed to the body. Then, what is the most important
thing for one to seek if not to become a righteous/wholesome person? Everything else
should be a secondary nature, shouldn’t it? Nonetheless, this world has gone toward a
destructive path day by day, because people have prioritized their efforts and
concentrations solely based on seeking physical properties (pride, wealth, fame, and
status) rather than seeking spiritual properties (generosity, morality, compassion,
kindness, and truthfulness). A form of government has little to solve the problems in a
society. We have changed and gone through several forms of government in our history
already; so, let the real facts speak for themselves. Many may think that a democratic
form of government is the best. But if the majority of people are bandits in that
democratic society, the system is simply worthless, isn’t it? Even if the minority are
bandits instead, the system is still worthless, if the minority are rich, powerful, and
influential.
b. Since the days we were born, we have been trained by our parents, family members, and
societies to use our six sense faculties to always focus outward. Therefore, our
conditioned minds are always in various constant states of flux and outgoing
exuberances. We spend most of our times focusing outward all day, for examples:
working, watching TV, playing on smart phones, socializing, doing house works, going
shopping, cooking, searching on the internet, playing sports, and doing other hobbies.
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Even when we stay alone, we tend to daydream into the past or future. Thus, we always
overlook and forget about our present moments as well as our physical and mental
realities. How can we get an opportunity to notice our own physical and mental
sufferings, which always reveal themselves, when we always overlook at them?
c. According to the stream of the world, people have been attached to the same common
strategy used throughout our collective history to create philosophies/ideologies/religions
to follow in order to make their lives better. They first tried to define or figure out what
the absolute good was, so that they could use it as a model or a goal to achieve the
ultimate good in “life” and in “society”. It is the same as to figure out what the perfect
happiness should be first and then try to achieve it afterward. That’s the reason why
there are so many philosophies, ideologies, and religions out there and each is claiming to
be better than the others. Some examples include: conservatism, liberalism, utopia, the
Promised Land, socialism, communism, capitalism, and many more. As soon as one
becomes attached to one of them, he just creates another layer of self-identity on top of
many which he previously accumulated already. Therefore, this strategy is not the
strategy to set one free at all; it’s rather the strategy to trap one deeper into another form
of slaveries instead. Many people are then proud to call themselves socialists,
communists, conservatives, liberals, capitalists, Christians, Buddhists, and many more.
Then, they tend to argue against one another, and sometimes, to a point of extreme
anger/violence. This is another ignorance that the Buddha was talking about! When the
Buddha was asked who he was, he simply answered: “I am awake”, rather saying that he
was nobody or somebody unique, special, or important.
In Buddhism, there was a monk who followed the same common strategy above by trying
to figure out what were right first, so that he could become right after that. But after so
many years of searching and trying, he did not make any progress in his endeavor. Later
the Buddha told him that he used a wrong strategy. According to the Buddha, his search
was based on a bunch of assumptions or hypotheses which were subject to changes and
restlessness. The Buddha said: “the Truth is things as they really are according to their
true natures, not according to what you think or believe they are or should be.” The
Buddha told him that the right strategy was to realize what were wrong or unskillful first
rather: “once you identify and realize what are wrong or unskillful and then stop doing
those wrong/unskillful actions, speeches, and intentions completely, you are
automatically right.” By exploring the opposite side of the absolute Truth completely,
the Truth would simply reveal itself! The absolute Truth is indescribable and
incomprehensible and it cannot be approached directly. This is the reason why the
Buddhist start by looking at “suffering” first instead of “happiness”. By discovering the
cause(s) of suffering and eradicate its cause(s), the end of suffering simply discloses itself
automatically. It is the strategy of letting go of self-identities rather.
In Buddhism, the attitude of a wise man is not to seek outward to control/fix what is
perceived to be wrong to make it right, but rather, to seek inward to stop practicing what
is unwholesome or abusive instead. Now when the unwholesomeness is not to be seen
from his actions, speeches, and intentions; then, he is simply righteous and wholesome in
a nutshell. The minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and sufferings in this
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world! Without a mind of trouble, one is certain not to cause any more trouble or
destruction regardless of space and time. When he can no longer do no wrong, he is
simply seen to be spiritually perfect in a nutshell. This is how one achieves the spiritual
perfection in Buddhism. Because of such a danger from having an
ideology/concept/idea/thinking, the Buddha said little about the absolute Truth, Nirvana,
or the Buddha-Nature to prevent people from making any misleading speculation about
them.
2. The default abnormal perceptions:
a. Our mundane perceptions are not in congruence with these three universal characteristics
of all conditioned phenomena--impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. Because
we perceive things to be permanent or reliable, we then cling on to things and have
difficulties letting them go; because we perceive things to be satisfactory, we allow
ourselves to follow our sensual desires and desires for existences; and because we perceive
things to be in our possessions, we then manage to exert control to manipulate situations and
external conditions to fulfill our desires. Our living activities are then no better than the
battles to manipulate and control our surroundings to achieve the unachievable goals
(certainty, reliability, and personality/control). Why should one continue to struggle in
trying to fix or control a conditioned thing to make it right or perfect via his cravings?
This is clearly not the way for the wise, isn’t it? These are the reasons for conflicts and
disappointments to exist in his life. What a worthless and restless life he has! One after
another has produced himself this way to be no better than a debtor or a loser countlessly
and endlessly in this world; consequently, all we see in societies are the rises of more and
more people putting any abusive pressure on one another. If getting what he wants is going
to cause troubles, it is simply better to be with his original mind of not wanting it at first! It
may be important in getting what he wants, but there is nothing more important than to
maintain his mind from all troubles. The minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and
sufferings in this world. Ultimately, it is best to be with his mind of not having to maintain
it from all troubles at all, which is transcendent in nature.
b. Our common habitual tendency is superficial by default. Therefore, we only see a beauty
of a book by judging on its external appearance or its cover only. We allow ourselves to
love our physical bodies utterly and be attracted to the opposite sexes, because we only
see and judge based on the external appearance of our skins. But in reality, our physical
bodies are considered to be so gross/filthy/loathsome, and so are the foods we eat.
c. Because all sentient beings use their abnormal perceptions/feelings as the standard of
measurement, they have created this whole existing of conventional reality to live in,
based on the conditioned ideas of comparison/differentiation/discrimination according to
the suppositions of right/wrong, good/bad, content/discontent, hot/cold, high/low,
short/tall, black/white, beautiful/ugly, clean/filthy, winning/losing, and much more,
known as duality/dualism or plurality/pluralism. But in the ultimate reality, everything
is ONE and the same all across because everything is part of the same nature of purity.
Because of this false standard of measurement, one starts to see and treat beings/things
differently according to his biased feelings, perceptions, and views. Whatever that gives
him a pleasant feeling, he classifies that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful.
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Otherwise, he classifies it to be bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Therefore, whoever transcends

his feelings and perceptions, also transcends the conventional reality of Dukkha. With
the feelings of satisfaction, life is conditioned to have the craving for sensual pleasures or
the craving for ownership (craving for existence); on the other hand, with the feelings of
dissatisfaction, life is conditioned to have the craving of rejection (craving for non-
existence). These are the two opposite extremes, as supposed to the MIDDLE WAY to
treat everything equally the same! Because of contacts, feelings arise; because of
feelings, cravings arise; because of cravings, clinging arises; because of clinging, habitual
tendency to control and manipulate beings and things arises. Then, where do these three
types of defilement/impurity (greed, aversion, and delusion) come from, if not from the
feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction as their conditions? With the feelings of
satisfaction, life is misled by the mental delusions to be greedy, to like, or to have. This
is the side that represents right/good/content suppositions. With the feelings of
dissatisfaction, life is misled by the mental delusions to be angry, to hate, to reject, or to
dislike. This is the side that represents wrong/bad/discontent suppositions. Therefore,
greed/aversion/delusion or the mental impurities can manifest themselves in our habitual
tendencies to control and manipulate beings and things in the forms of
thoughts/ideas/views. Then, the five aggregates of life (physical form, sensations,
perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness) are the foundations to accumulate
suppositions (conditioned thoughts/ideas/views) to cover, cloud, and blind us from seeing
things as they really are according to their true nature of ONENESS and PURITY.
3. The wrong view: people also see, perceive, and apply a standard of measure based on their
selected view(s). In addition, they develop their attitudes toward what they
see/hear/touch/learn/think/feel based on their selected view(s). Nonetheless, there are three
general types of view in this world: ego-centric view, altruistic view, and popular-centric
view/majority-centric view/world-centric view.
a. Ego-centric view: a view that is based on one’s own perspective that is driven by his
sense of self-identity. People with this kind of views tend to bend the truths to fit their
views and needs and reject any view that they dislike.
b. Altruistic view: a view that is based on one’s notion of altruism or selflessness. People
with this kind of views tend to adjust themselves to see beings and things as they really
are according to their true natures, not according to what they think or believe the truths
should be.
c. World-centric/popularity-centric/majority-centric view: a view that is based on an
inherited and shared custom, tradition, convention, doctrine, belief, or religion. People
with this kind of views tend to be very uncritical and can be easily manipulated via the
methods of blind faith and belief.
The ego-centric view and the altruistic view are mutually exclusive. The Buddhist teachings are
based the altruistic view. The Altruistic view is more about the ideas of impersonality, equality,
inclusion, and embracement; whereas the ego-centric view is more about selfishness,
repression/control, exclusion, and discrimination. According to the altruistic view, a person is
valued based on a degree of his virtue, compassion, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom,
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vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, kindness, and equanimity. Skillful or unskillful

individual is measured by how much or how less of his ego or selfishness he is able to let go of,
or how much or how less of his strength he is able to resist any pressure to serve his self-
interests. Therefore, he must abandon any view that belongs to an exertion to control and to
manipulate facts, and adopt a view to culminate wisdom in these five incremental steps instead:
knowing, understanding, realizing, mastering, and transcending. It is one’s wisdom that will
allow him to see things as they really are, so that he can embrace them without any resistance.
Then, this adopted view is nothing other than the aforementioned altruistic view. But in reality,
99.99% of people are considered to belong to the groups of either the ego-centric or world-
centric type.
4. The ignorance of NOT realizing the Buddhist Four Noble Truths (AVIJJA):
In a world of causality, there are four major phases to address a problem. First is to know what
the problem is; second is to discover its cause(s); third is to identify the best alternative
approach/solution or to identify the end result(s)/deliverable(s); and fourth is to implement the
selected approach/solution. This 4-truth strategy is the universal scientific methodology that
relies on “wisdom” throughout all the phases. The Buddhist Four Noble Truths directly conform
to and reflect this universal 4-truth strategy to address to problem of rebirths with sufferings.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that Buddhism is the only religion of the ultimate wisdom and
solution of life. Based on the relationship between the Buddhist Four Noble Truths and the
universal 4-truth strategy here, we can see our responsibilities toward each of the Four Noble
Truths as the following:
I. If our first responsibility is about “to know what the problem is”, then the right attitude
toward sufferings is to know them according to their true natures, not to reject, abandon,
avoid, destroy, or run away from them. But according to the stream of the world, nobody
likes sufferings period. Therefore, as soon as there is an obvious suffering occurring with
someone, he is immediately conditioned by this third type of desires: the desire for non-
existing, which shows the expectation to be without the suffering ASAP. The outcome of
this type of desires is an attitude marked by an aversion, which is a form of
rejection/refusal/denial. This is the ignorance that the Buddha was talking about!
II. If our second responsibility is about “to discover its cause(s)”, then the right attitude
toward the cause(s) of sufferings is to uproot the cause(s), so that there won’t be any
result to follow. According to the Second Noble Truth, the cause of the sufferings is
“desire/craving” which is to be eradicated to attain the cessation of sufferings. But
according to the stream of the world, as soon as one has a desire, he is conditioned to
seek outward to either get his desire fulfilled positively on one extreme or to react
negatively on the other extreme, instead of getting it removed properly. This is another
ignorance that the Buddha was talking about!
III. If our third responsibility is about “to identify the end result(s)/deliverable(s)”, then the
right attitude toward the end goal, namely Nirvana, is to make it completely disclosed,
because it is already there within and in front of everyone at all times (the unborn and
unchangeable nature). But according to the stream of the world, people are conditioned
by their mental delusions to follow these THREE types of desires to fulfil them by the
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ways of fabrications and external dependencies: sensual desires, desires for existence,
and desires for non-existence. Sensual desires are for those who seek outward to indulge
in any supposed pleasant experience given by any fabricated material or immaterial
realm; desires for existence are for those who seek outward to become somebodies
important and special via any acquisition of fabricated wealth, prides, statuses, fames, or
personalities; desires for non-existence are for those who seek outward to be without any
unpleasant experience via any fabricated form of rejection/refusal/denial. This is
another ignorance that the Buddha was talking about!
IV. If our fourth responsibility is about “the implementation of the best selected
approach/solution”, then the right attitude toward the path is to cultivate and culminate
wisdom by the way of the Noble Eightfold Path or the Middle Way. The Buddha said
that one could attain the cessation of sufferings at any one of these three connecting
chains of the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination: by the abandonment of
clinging, by the eradication of desires, or by the complete removal of our mental
ignorance/delusion. Besides, all three rely on the same nutriment, namely ego, to
sustain their existences. Then, the most efficient way for one to attain the cessation of
sufferings is to simply cut off this primary source of nutriment or ego in a nutshell. But
according to the stream of the world, people have prioritized their efforts and
concentrations solely based on seeking physical properties and the pursuit of personal
interests (pride, wealth, fame, and status) to feed into their endless egos in
building/expanding their self-empires, rather than seeking spiritual properties (generosity,
morality, compassion, kindness, and truthfulness). This is another ignorance that the
Buddha was talking about!
Because nobody likes sufferings, it is therefore the only condition or reason for everyone to be
able to let go of something completely. The purpose of the First Noble Truth is intended to just
do as that, by allowing people to see sufferings which are deeply embedded throughout their
whole conditioned bodies and minds clearly, so that they can automatically let go of the five
aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness). As
the Buddha once said: “one who sees Dukkha also sees the Dharma. And by realizing any single
one of the Four Noble Truths, the other 3 would reveal themselves automatically as one
package.” The Buddha also said: “there is no other way out of sufferings, besides the Four
Noble Truths.” So far, I have not seen any other religion out there that taught/teaches The Four
Noble Truths yet, besides Buddhism. Nonetheless, they claimed to have some enlightened
beings in their religions though. That’s not all, the majorities of people seem to be more
attracted to those false enlightenments than the true one. The Buddha once said: “Avijja (mental
delusion) stands for the ignorance of not realizing the Four Noble Truths.”
People are afraid to let go of their bodies and minds, because of their strong views and
perceptions of self-identities. They would wonder how they would exist without the five
aggregates. Instead of letting them go, they would desire that sufferings will go away or turn
into happiness for them some days. It’s the same as an attempt to extract sweetness out of salt,
isn’t it? This is the ignorance that the Buddha was talking about!
5. People’s past and current bad Karmas:

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Some examples include: physical/mental disabilities, ill-will/ill-intention toward the Buddha or

his teachings or his noble disciples, jealousy, close-minded attitude, and many more.
Conclusion
What do we need to have to realize the truths/Truth, if not by the way of pure wisdom? But, pure
wisdom can only be derived from having the normal perceptions and the right view to begin with, to
allow ourselves to see beings/things as they really are according to their true natures or according to
facts/reality without a distortion.
As the result, the Buddha provided at least 40 different techniques of meditation in his teachings, which
were divided into 4 major groups of 10 each. Within the first primary group of 10, the Buddha provided
the following meditation techniques to practice frequently to cure our abnormal perceptions and wrong
views. You won’t see these in other religions:
 Contemplation of the loathsomeness of foods before eating them at time.

 Mindfulness of Death to see its true nature of uncertainty
 Mindfulness of the Physical Body to prevent the mind from wondering to allow it to see its true
natures of filthiness/loathsomeness/sicknesses/diseases/discomforts and these three common
characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. This is one of the four
Buddhist Satipattanas (Mindfulness of the body/feelings/mind/the Buddhist Dharma).
 Contemplation of a corpse to suppress lust in 10 different stages:
o Contemplation of a corpse that is bloated
o Contemplation of a corpse that is livid (has patchy discoloration)
o Contemplation of a corpse that is festering (trickling with pus in broken places)
o Contemplation of a corpse that is cut up
o Contemplation of a corpse that is gnawed
o Contemplation of a corpse that is scattered
o Contemplation of a corpse that is hacked and scattered
o Contemplation of a corpse that is bleeding
o Contemplation of a corpse that is worm-infested
o Contemplation of a corpse that is a skeleton
 Analysis of the four physical elements (earth, water, air/wind, fire) which make up our physical
bodies to see that our physical bodies are the products of the borrowed properties of the earth
which are out of our controls.
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=========================16-THE BUDDHIST VIPASSANA========================

For the majority of people, not all sufferings are created equal. Some forms of sufferings are obvious,
such as the physical and mental pains, irritations, or discomforts. This type of sufferings can be
accepted easily as undesirable. But for the obscure sufferings, they are experienced to be very pleasant,
and some can even be lengthy in times. Therefore, the majority of people are often mistaken them as
“happiness”. Some examples of the obscure sufferings include: some aspects in human realm, the 8 jhana
states of meditations, 6 heavenly realms, and 20 Brahma realms. It is this obscure type of sufferings that
makes people blind and trapped in the cycle of rebirths, due to their mental delusions and attachments.
Although these realms seem to be very pleasant to experience, but they’re still impermanent. The Buddha
offered several combined Samatha and Vipassana meditations to allow a practitioner to see that all
sufferings were actually created equal. It’s like a form of slavery: no matter how good and comfortable
your slave master makes you feel at his home (not your home), you are still a slave! The temporary
good and comfortable life with no freedom and independence is nothing other than an enticement to trap
an ignorant victim rather.
The word “Vipassana” means seeing or realizing things with one’s pure wisdom, and the objects of
realization are the five aggregates of conditioned fabrications (physical body, feelings, perceptions,
mental formations, and consciousness). The Buddha listed 9 angles of Vipassana to display all the
drawbacks from clinging to the five aggregates as the following. These 9 angles of Vipassana are the
proprietary products of Buddhism:
1. See clearly how a physical or mental conditioned phenomenon arises and ceases, according to its
true nature, in relations to some other influential factors. Some meaningful words of wisdom
include: vibration, formation, growth, maturity, decline, friction, conflict, intolerability,
impersonality, and impermanence.
2. See clearly only the side of ceasing or disappearing of the physical or mental conditioned
phenomenon. Soon, nothing is left to hold on to, including both the subject(s) and the object(s).
3. See clearly the terrors of what the five aggregates have to offer that you should be fearful of.
Some meaningful words of wisdom include: sickness, disease, old-age, death, pain, irritation,
discomfort, torture, anxiety, uncertainty, unreliability, disappointment, loathsomeness, filthiness,
and gross.
4. See clearly the detriments or harmfulness of what the five aggregates have to offer that should
make you hesitate to get involved. Some meaningful words of wisdom include: poison (physical
impurity and mental defilements) and danger/risk from bad heredities/environments/Karmas.
5. See clearly what the five aggregates have to offer to make you sick and tired of. Some
meaningful words of wisdom include: betrayal, nonappreciation, pointlessness, unprofitability,
and disobedience.
6. See clearly what the five aggregates have to offer to make you wish to abandon them completely.
Some meaningful words of wisdom include: suffering, burden, worthlessness, waste, stench, and
garbage.
7. See clearly what the five aggregates have to offer to make you find a way to abandon them
completely. All conditioned phenomena are intolerable and empty of any essential value. How
does one transcend them to be free?
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8. See clearly the way to make you become no longer troubled by the five aggregates. It’s the
Middle Way to see all conditioned things equally the same based on their 3 universal
characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. Good and bad feelings are
equally the same, because they are subject to the same 3 universal characteristics above.
Because of one’s mental delusions, he is misled to perceive that there is happiness out there as
another distinction to strive for, besides suffering. Then, he starts to see and treat things
differently according to his biased feelings, perceptions, and views. This leads to the
suppositions of conditioned duality (good/bad, right/wrong, happy/sad, beautiful/ugly), despite
the ultimate reality of non-duality (purity). Whatever that gives him a pleasant feeling, he
classifies that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful. Otherwise, he classifies it to be bad,
wrong, sad, or ugly. Moreover, with the pleasant experience, he is conditioned to be greedy by
having a sensual desire or desire for existence. Otherwise, he is conditioned to dislike it by
having the desire for non-existence. Therefore, whoever transcends his feelings and perceptions,
also transcends the conventional reality and Dukkha.
9. See clearly the Four Noble Truths and the combined 1-8 above.
All conditioned things are considered to be universally impermanent, intolerable, and impersonal by
design. Therefore, if one desires to seek for a certainty, reliability, or control in such a phenomenon, he
desires to seek for something else that does not really exist, except for a disappointment in return. Thus, all
types of desires to be happy are simply based on a bunch of false hopes and delusions. The way of life is
the spiritual freedom via detachment instead!
===============================17-SUMMARY=================================
To play a big and complex puzzle game successfully, one needs to have a sense of the whole and
complete picture in his head first, right? The same is true in Buddhism. The teachings of the Buddha
are broken down into pieces as the pieces of the puzzle game. Therefore, it could be a challenge for
many to put together the pieces correctly to form a whole big elephant. However, there are some clues
that a practitioner can use to help in the process, which include scope, benchmarks, and constraints in
the following:
Scope: the central theme of the Buddha’s teachings is the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha said that all
of his teachings could be mapped and traced back to their single source, which was the Four Noble
Truths. The scope of life or Samsara is all about suffering and the end of suffering, and so is the scope
of Buddhism. Nonetheless, one other popular scope is often used: the Twelvefold Dependent
Origination, which defines the entire life cycle of causes and conditions in Samsara.
Benchmarks: in Buddhism, a person is valued based on a degree of his spiritual qualities of worthiness
only, which include generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution,
compassion/kindness, and equanimity. These are the 10 perfections (Paramitas). One other popular
benchmark is often used: the 10 mental fetters of selfishness, which define the 4 stages of
enlightenment. However, this latter benchmark is only applicable to the disciple path, not the
Bodhisattva path, whereas the former is applicable to both. In short, skillful or unskillful individual is
measured by how much or how less of his ego or selfishness he is able to let go of, or how much or how
less of his strength he is able to resist any pressure from his desires to serve his self-interests.
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Constraints: without one’s clear understanding of the following constraints, he can easily misinterpret
the Sutras in the Tipitaka. In several Sutras, there are key words used by the Buddha to always point
back to these constraints.
 Buddhism is the religion of wisdom, not blind faith or belief. There are faith and belief in
Buddhism, but they are not in the front of the line of the prerequisites, like some other religions.
Instead, faith and belief come after one’s practice to arrive at a point of his realization which is in
agreement with the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha was here only to point out the way to one’s
spiritual freedom and liberation. To know whether he was right or wrong, an individual must
prove to himself by following the given instructions to become a stream-winner at least. Then,
that person can come to his conclusion to believe and have faith in the Buddha.
 In Buddhism, it’s not about being good, being great, or being right; but it’s all about being
spiritually pure only. We often take the words “good” and “bad” for granted in our
speeches/writings, but they don’t really exist in the Buddha’s teachings. People’s hearts are not
as simple as being good or bad; the world is not as simple as being white or black. Therefore,
the words “good” and “bad” often misrepresent the realities. The definitions of good and bad
often lead people to mistreat and discriminate against each other, due to their attachments to the
misrepresented meanings. For an example: if you call someone “a serial killer or a rapist”, you
also perceive that he is permanently a serial killer or a rapist. Nobody is permanently good or
bad. In fact, it’s just that people’s thoughts/actions are sometimes skillful or unskillful or
between the two, but not always. Thus, the more skillful one is, the less mistakes/troubles he
will make. In Buddhism, we prefer to use the word “skillful” instead. Moreover, being good or
great can only take one to a heaven realm or a Brahma realm. He has to be spiritually pure to
experience Nirvana.
 Buddhism is the religion that mainly focuses on the survivor of the mind or the chitta, not the
body. Since any physical body will eventually die, therefore it’s not the main focus or concern
in Buddhism. Nonetheless, there is not a permanent unchanging soul in Buddhism either. But,
there is a bunch of continuous cumulative mental variables for each individual chitta to pass on
information from birth to birth. That continuous cumulative mental variables get updates and
impacted by the 3 mundane factors of heredities, environments, and karmas, until he reaches the
enlightenment. This constraint is often used to observe a practitioner or a monk to check if he is
on the right path. If he still shows an interest in these sensual pleasures, prides, statuses, fames,
or wealth, which are directly tied to his physical ornaments, he is considered to be unworthy. Or,
if the monk uses his religion to make a living mainly for the survival of his body rather than his
chitta, he is considered to be unworthy.
 The Buddha said: “all Dharmas have the “mind” as their chief and principal where all things are
to be investigated and discovered.” In Buddhism, people are to be judged by their views and
intentions, not merely by the appearances of their words or actions. For example, if you see a
monk taking money or doing a holy water, don’t rush to judge that what that monk is doing is
inappropriate, bad, or wrong. Find out his intention(s) first.
Buddhism is the religion for the masses. The Dharma is simply the method of deliverance. But why are
the teachings of the Buddha so vast and numerous? This is because people have different backgrounds,
talents, potentials, and habitual tendencies which they have accumulated throughout their countless
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rebirths in Samsara. Thus, the Buddha provided a variety of techniques suitable for 6 different habitual
tendencies. Once a suitable technique is adopted for one’s habitual tendency, he will progress quickly in
his spiritual training and practice. Therefore, if a particular set of techniques is not good or workable for
you, it does not mean that it is not good or workable for the others. Instead, it may just be the opposite.
It depends, right? A habitual tendency is considered to be a main weak or strong point of an individual
that needs to be reversed or aided. For examples, if a person is often seen to have bad tempers, he will
need to practice a loving kindness meditation or color Kasina meditation. For a person who has
tendency toward faith, he can chant a script to praise the Buddha and his noble disciples in his
meditation.
==================================18-Q&A===================================
Q: How can a human being become an omniscient Buddha?
A: Buddhism has associated itself together with mankind as a pair since time immemorial; and, it will
continue this same tradition into the future forever. Therefore, there are countless numbers of Buddhas
who already appeared in this world and many more yet to come continuously into the future.
According to the scripts, it first started with the first Buddha of the world from several trillions eons
ago. Since he was the first man who wished to become the first omniscient Buddha in order to help
beings escape Samsara, it took him twice longer than usual to accumulate good deeds and merits (10
Paramitas), with lots of tries and errors, to succeed, which was about 40+ asankhyas in time as the first
wisdom Buddha. After he became the first Buddha, he then established a foundation, known as the
“Buddhahood University”, to make it easier and faster for all subsequent bodhisattvas to attain
Buddhahood. Each Buddha would inspire more people to become bodhisattvas and also lay the same
foundation for others to succeed the goal of Buddhahood.
The Buddhahood University has three major branches: the fastest path--wisdom (Pannathikha), the
medium path--faith (Sattathikha), and the longest path--diligence (Viriya). However, all bodhisattvas
have to accumulate the same good deeds and merits (10 Paramitas) by perfecting the ten perfections
completely (generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, metta,
and equanimity). Each perfection is threefold: from gross, subtle, to the ultimate level; therefore, there
are 30-fold Paramitas in total. Therefore, each bodhisattva would go through his countless billions of
rebirths to accumulate all needed good deeds/merits to attain Buddhahood. All the ten perfections are
the tests that would work all around to cleanse away one’s
ego/selfishness/ignorance/delusions/weaknesses to the final point of complete
altruism/purity/enlightenment/perfections. It is required for a Buddha to be foremost and un-surpassed
in every angle and dimension, whether physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Every Buddha who
appears to teach needs to declare that he is the Buddha. After the declaration, the Buddha has to prove
that he is worthy of being the Buddha for the rests to follow. Therefore, the Buddha is not a person who
would be intimidated by any powerful god or being.
Since Buddhism is the religion of an Omniscient teacher, we can see the same traditions and
consistencies among all the Buddhas. There can’t even be a slice of inconsistency or disagreement
between the Buddhas. One of the traditions that is practiced by every Buddha is to perform several
unmatched miracles and supernatural powers, along with providing the un-surpassed teachings from the
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basics all the way to Nirvana. Please note that everything every Buddha did came out of their limitless
compassion and kindness toward all beings for their own benefits and welfare, not to show off.
The wisdom path would take a bodhisattva about 4 asankhyas plus 100,000 maha kalpas of the official
time, after his first official forecast from a Buddha. However, the wisdom bodhisattva would normally
spend about 16 asankhyas of his time before he receives his first official forecast; therefore, it takes 20
asankhyas plus 100,000 maha kalpas from start to end (4 and 20). The faith path would double the time
of the wisdom path (8 and 40), and the diligence path would double the time of the faith path (16 and
80). Because of the first Buddha, it took much less time for all subsequent successors to attain
Buddhahood. For the wisdom path, for example, the time was cut down in half to 20 asankhyas from
the original 40 asankhyas. Each Buddha, past or future, would discover and teach the same things (the
Twelvefold Dependent Origination and the Four Noble Truths) and would follow the same traditions all
along.
Moreover, some Buddhas took it even further by creating their own long-lasting celestial pure lands of
the ultimate bliss for their disciples. Normally, we call these Buddhas to be Mahayana Buddhas, for
example, the Amitabha Buddha or the Bhaisajyaguru Buddha. Our current Buddha (Shakyamuni) is
considered to be a Theravada Buddha who followed the wisdom path. Theravada Buddhas normally do
not create their celestial pure lands. Everyone, who walks the disciple path, is encouraged to wish to be
born in one of the celestial pure lands of his choice to avoid further and risky rebirths in Samsara. Each
celestial pure land of the ultimate bliss would guarantee its disciples “Arahantship” there, without a
further reincarnation. In another words, it would be one’s last rebirth there until he attains Arahantship.
Q: How did the prince Siddhartha Gautama bodhisattva take the middle way all the way to his final
enlightenment 2500+ years ago?
A: The sunlight can still be blocked, but the light of the unconditional/limitless compassion can’t be
blocked at all. All the Buddhas, whether about those who already appeared in this world or will appear in
the future, came or will come with only one purpose in their hearts--that is to bring unconditional benefits
and welfares to all beings at all levels. Nonetheless, how can those of different interests and appearances
be happily embraced by someone though?
They can only be accepted/embraced at the way they will be treated equally the same themselves. Then, the
way that all will be treated equally the same is simply the middle way of maintaining the same distance
between those of the differences themselves. It is the way for one to be above all conditioned influences,
and is where the truth of embracement/inclusion is and has always been. This is the very heart of the
Buddhist non-duality.
One, whose heart is completely detached from all conditioned things, is in one with the non-duality. When
he maintains the same distance between everything without preferring this more and the others less, he
becomes like those who see and treat things and beings equally the same which consequently lead him to
be free from a mind of discrimination toward his original essence of equanimity. This means that, with an
unbiased mind, he has become thoroughly equanimous. Equanimity is because there are no conflicting
forces marked by conditioning to pull or push against each other that will cause something to arise and
cease. Then, he definitely acquires the certainty that “conditioned phenomena” do not arise from within at
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all; and, since his mind is no longer troubled by objects and notions, he is certain to pursue an irreversible
career and to attain the final enlightenment rapidly.
These are the three common incremental steps within the last phase of attaining the final enlightenment
to become a new Theravada Buddha: after acquiring the fourth jhana in his Samatha meditation which sets
his intuitive/knowing mind to be perfectly stationary and neutral, he rapidly acquires the ability to recall
several of his own previous lives as far as he wishes. Next, he turns around to check if all other beings have
been going through the same things as he has; and sure enough, they are the same as well. Then, he
acquires the second ability to discover the law of karmas, which defines the endless universal life cycle of
rebirths in all levels of Samsara. Finally, he captures the knowledge of the “Twelvefold Dependent
Origination”, tracing all the way back to “Avijja” or “Ignorance/delusion”, and then uproots the Avijja
completely.
With the complete eradication of his delusions/defilements/egoism/weaknesses, he now has come to
experience immense peace/tranquility/calmness/joy/equanimity/restfulness/restfulness bursting outward
from within to display their combined intensity of illumination in all directions. Without being aware of his
spiritual radiations, he is expanding his limitless/unconditional compassion consistently as far as the
extension of phenomena. He then exclaims that the spiritual qualities of his worthiness are to be based on
nothing other than these ten perfections alone: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience,
truthfulness, resolution, kindness, and equanimity. Then, he summons his abilities to change forms and
teach according to the dispositions of his hearers.
Speaking of his final ceremony, he receives from the previous Buddhas' hands the consecration in
omniscience which will make him the equal of the Buddhas. Immersed in ineffable mystic
equanimity/compassion and endowed with limitless psychic powers, clairvoyance, and telepathy; the new
Buddha mechanically and without being aware of them ensures the benefits/welfares/happiness of all
beings in several cosmic systems at once. Perfect altruism is that of which one is transcendent!
Q: What is a Buddhist bodhisattva?
A: In Buddhism, there are two major traditions: one is called “Theravada” and the other is called
“Mahayana”. A bodhisattva is someone who wishes to become a future Buddha to help beings cross
from the side of suffering to Nirvana. A Mahayana Buddha is known to create his private pure land for
his disciples to be with him. In his pure land, his disciples would have near eternal lives so that they can
have all the opportunity to become enlightened later. A Theravada Buddha normally does not create a
pure land for his disciples. Our current Buddha is a Theravada Buddha.
All bodhisattvas seem to follow the same tradition. As they go through the cycle of rebirths to
accumulate 10 Paramitas in Samsara, they, at the same time, try to collect followers to go with them as
many as they can. Some followers would remain royal and faithful until the end, but some may get tired
of waiting too long and decide to go with a Buddha right in front at the time. Each bodhisattva may
have his unique vows to help others differently, due to his unlimited compassion toward all beings.
It’s very normal to see a bodhisattva going through a great deal of suffering and giving up his life
to save others. All bodhisattvas have to accumulate the same good deeds and merits (10 Paramitas) by
perfecting the ten perfections completely (generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience,
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truthfulness, resolution, kindness, and equanimity). Each perfection is threefold: from gross, to subtle,
toward the ultimate level; therefore, there are 30 folds in total. For example, in giving, he would start
from giving up his material possessions, blood, organs, and life, and much more to help others. Thus,
each bodhisattva would go through his countless trillions of rebirths to accumulate all needed good
deeds/merits to attain Buddhahood. All the ten perfections are the tests that would work all around all
angles and dimensions to cleanse away one’s ego/selfishness/ignorance/delusions/weaknesses to the
point of complete altruism/purity/enlightenment/perfections. At the end, a bodhisattva will attain the
omniscient enlightenment and become a Buddha.
There are over 20+ billions pure lands, created by previous Mahayana Buddhas, out there in the
universe already; and, it takes so many trillions of years for one to become a Buddha. As you can see,
there have been countless numbers of incarnations (formation-to-destruction) of this earth in the
universe up to this point. Samsara has been around for so long since time immemorial. Nonetheless, a
pure land makes it easier for a follower to attain a deep and long-lasting mediation, without having to
worry about his physical limit, in terms of pains, starvations, and death. Plus, he has a Mahayana
Buddha and the noble disciples there to accompany him in each step of the way. In a pure land, each
celestial being is guaranteed to become fully enlightened by the Buddha. Once he enters one of the
pure lands, he is considered to already escape Samsara by default.
Just wish to be born in one of those pure lands utterly coupled with adhering to some basic rules of
morality (the 5 precepts); it would be sufficient! In the Theravada way, one has to be a non-returner (the
third stage of the Buddhist enlightenment) to not worry about more future risky rebirths in Samsara, and
it’s very difficult for one to become a non-returner. After one gets to a pure land, he will have near
eternal life with no physical sufferings; then, he can talk about working on attaining enlightenment later,
and he can take his time as long as he likes. Even that, the longest time for one to attain Arahantship in
a pure land is 90 kalpas, which is very fast. In the Theravada way, the shortest time for one to attain
Arahantship is 100,000 maha kalpas with risky rebirths in Samsara.
Even after one becomes an Arahant (an enlightened one) in a pure land of his choice later, he does not
have to enter Nirvana yet. Most Arahants there still hang around with their Buddhas in their pure lands,
because those pure lands are more blissful than any heaven and Brahma realms and they last much
longer as well. One can come back to visit his family members or friends (from his previous lives) in
the public heavens or on earth to teach them the Dharma as he likes. Since he has a celestial body,
human beings will not see him. He will have to transform to appeal for their eyes so that they can see
him.
Theravada Buddhism provides more difficult paths, since there is not a pure land as a buffer or a staging
place. Although each Theravada Buddha made Buddhism available for the masses to accommodate 6
major habitual tendencies, but to attain Nirvana in this very lifetime directly is still a very difficult goal
for anyone. Plus, life is very short, not to mention several other physical limitations and external
obstacles. Therefore, not so many people can achieve such a difficult goal—just a few rather. That's
why the Mahayana Buddhas offer their pure lands to everyone to address these disadvantages.
For the Mahayana Pure Lands of Buddhism, they need the Theravada Buddhas to declare the existences
of the pure lands to people in this world to follow. Without the appearances of the Theravada Buddhas
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in this world, there wouldn’t be Buddhism in this world at all. Therefore, the messages about the Pure
Lands of Buddhism would be suppressed completely. As you can see, both traditions seem to work
alongside each other to support each other to make Buddhism perfect, by addressing each other’s
disadvantages to the full extends. Most importantly, since Buddhism is the religion of wisdom, not mere
faith and belief, Buddhism has to exist in this world also to provide answers to those who wish to prove
the teachings that the end of suffering can be realized regardless of place, space, and time. That’s the
reason for the Theravada Buddhism to be here on earth as well.
Q: Why are the Buddhist Four Noble Truths the most important? What do they reveal about the
reality?
A: Life is considered to be each conscious and experiencing being rather than a misleading self or soul.
Within each life, there are these public, protected, and private domains/properties, similar to the concept
of the object-oriented design in the Information Technology field. They are similar because the inventor
of the object-oriented design simply adopted these features from the natural objects in the real world. In
nature, the two things which are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the
Karmic imprint (habitual tendency). This is the reason why all beings are not currently equal in terms
of skill, ability, talent, knowledge, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, generosity, morality,
renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion, kindness, and equanimity.
It seems like each being is in a different stage of its own development, doesn’t it? Because of this actual
fact, we can see that John cannot go to a school in place of Mike to make Mike knowledgeable, right?
Mike has to go to the school for himself to be knowledgeable, even though the knowledges are available
to the public. Because life is the journey of a restless process to reach its final goal of transcending the
perfect happiness or the absolute Truth, it never sits still in one place. Moreover, it is always full of
needs/desires/cravings/expectations to move from one place to another to seek better happiness. Thus, it is
seen to be discontent and restless. As you already know that nobody wants to be in a prison. Then, it’s
compatible to say that any place where one does not want to be, is considered to be his prison. Moreover,
when talking about desires, the more he has, the less this world becomes perfect for him. The more desires
he has, the more he becomes dependent on his external conditions/factors, which are constantly uncertain
and changing. The more he becomes dependent on his external conditions/factors, the more he allows them
to control his happiness. The more he allows them or other people to control his happiness, the more he
will lose his happiness and freedom. Now, when talking about losing his freedom, it is just the same as
talking about him being in a prison or being a slave, isn’t it? Therefore, the real purpose or meaning of life
is more about being spiritually free or liberated than being satisfied, isn’t it?
Then, the real purpose or meaning of life is to realize the Truths of life and be re-united with its Truths,
not to be satisfied by fulfilling one’s desires. Aren’t the Truths of life that will set you free? This makes
the Truths of life the most important things in life. The Buddhist Four Noble Truths have been called
the Truths of life because they are based on the actual facts and reality that everyone can see in
beings/things as they really are, according to their true natures. The general definitions of Truth/truth(s)
found in many dictionaries include:
 Conformity with fact or reality
 A verified or undisputable fact
 Actuality or actual existence
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 The true or actual state of matter

They share the same definitions as we see in the Buddhist Four Noble Truths and in the norm of
scientific principles. The Buddha did not just make up the Four Noble Truths from nowhere; instead,
he extracted them from seeing the actual reality clearly, which everyone can prove them to
himself/herself. This is the reason why Albert Einstein (the smartest man on earth) approved Buddhism.
Yet, what do we need to have to realize the truths/Truth, if not by the way of wisdom? This makes
Buddhism the only religion of the ultimate wisdom by default.
The Buddha once said: “regardless of whether a Buddha appears in this world to teach the Dharma or
not, the Truth is still the Truth, and things are still the same ways as they have always been according to
their true natures.” The Dharma is not a hypothesis or a philosophy; but instead, the Twelvefold Chain
of Dependent Origination is the real representation of the conventional reality which can be unfolded to
reveal the entire life cycle of causes, conditions, and effects of all beings. Therefore, the Buddhist
enlightenment is all about the matter of switching from having the abnormal perceptions to having the
normal perceptions, from having the wrong view to having the right view, from being spiritually
unskillful to being spiritually skillful, from being spiritually unawake to being spiritually awake, from
being spiritually impure to being spiritually pure, or from being selfish to being altruistic. So, it’s
clearly not about being somewhere, being nobody, or being somebody special/unique/important at all.
That’s why when the Buddha was asked who he was, he simply answered: “I am awake”, instead of
saying that he was nobody or somebody special/unique/important.
The Buddha even made a comparison in a parable by saying that if you were shot by a poisoned arrow
which put you in the position of massive pains, sufferings, and certain death in minutes; what would be
the most important and urgent thing(s) for you to do first? Several answers were provided, such as:
- Remove the arrow and apply some medications
- See a doctor
- Find the person who shot you and bring him to justice
- The combinations of the above in the sequence
The Buddha said that none of these given answers were the most important and urgent thing to do first;
instead, knowing and realizing the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism were, since you were going to die
anyway regardless.
In other religions, people always ask these questions:
- Where do we come from?

- Is there a God?
- What is the absolute good or happiness?
But in Buddhism, we ask these questions instead:
- What are the truths of life?

o Answer: they are the Four Noble Truths
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- What is the most important thing in life?

o Answer: To realize the Four Noble Truths.
According to the Twelvefold Dependent Origination of Buddhism, the universal and ceaseless life cycle
of causes and conditions is considered to be impersonal by nature. A conditioned phenomenon arises in
common characteristics of impermanence, intolerability, and impersonality. In another words, what all
the conditioned things do is to simply enforce the rules of conditioning upon each other through the
links of their relationships and communications. The rules of conditioning are made up of some inherent
conflicting forces to pressure/squeeze/pull/push against the interrelated object(s) or component(s) through
their interfaces, similar to a mechanical car engine or the ocean waves that fluctuate constantly. Friction
and change are their two obvious inherent properties. All natural events which arise and cease in series are
the end results of complex systematic causes and effects which are backed by nothing by the rules of
conditioning alone. Therefore, all conditioned things are subject to this same universal life cycle of
formation, growth, maturity, and decline. The mental aggregates of each being which are parts of the
five aggregates are also called the “conditioned mind” as well. Therefore, if an individual being desires
to seek for a certainty, reliability, personality/control, or any extreme permanent representation of
fact/reality in such a phenomenon, he desires to seek for something else that does not really exist, except
for a disappointment or the emptiness in return, right? Then, all types of desires are simply based on a
bunch of false hopes and mental delusions, and any fabricated condition to fulfil the aforementioned
desires are nothing other than a bunch of illusions all together. Did you see that we just shot 4 birds
with one arrow here? The first bird represents things as they really are as mentioned above
(intolerability or the Buddhist First Noble Truth). The second bird represents the flaws within all types
of desires. Therefore, it is very reasonable to say that “desires/cravings” are the causes of Dukkha and
any unskillful action, speech, and intention (the Buddhist Second Noble Truth). The third bird
represents the freedom from desires as the Buddhist Third Noble Truth or Nirvana. As the result, the
end of suffering must be about something that stands in contrast to “change” or “conditioned things”,
be avoided (the Buddhist Middle Way or the Buddhist Fourth Noble Truth). Now, don’t you just
witness how the Buddhist Four Noble Truths reveal the entire reality here? Yet, do you see any other
religion out there who taught/teaches the Four Noble Truths, except Buddhism?
By understanding the universal life cycle of causes and conditions of beings and things, the truths of life
will come into one’s insight as well. Life is simply a systematic collection of names and forms, marked
by needs and desires to close its gap between its two states of “as is” and “to be”. Therefore, we can
look at “life” as a process that consists of several moving parts (embedded objects, properties, and
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journey) and the end of suffering (its final restful state). That’s why the scope of Buddhism is all
about sufferings and the end of sufferings or the Four Noble Truths only. Therefore, there are two
parts to the Truth. First is the conventional reality that defines the journey of life, and second is the
ultimate reality that defines the final goal of its complete and permanent restfulness. Then, this final
goal should also mean the cessation of all conditioned things and sufferings as well. That’s where
Nirvana is! We call them both the realities because they are actually real and need to be respected
accordingly. The conventional reality and the ultimate reality are just the two sides of the same coin.
Therefore, attaining the enlightenment is nothing other than flipping the coin to see both sides.
Nonetheless, one should not apply the standard of the ultimate reality against the conventional reality,
such as the rejections of the law of Karmas, reincarnations, heavens, hells, and Brahma realms.
Although they cease to exist in the ultimate reality, but they do exist in the conventional reality. The
Buddha never taught us to ignore the conventional reality and its rules/standards. Instead, he taught us
to see, respect, and treat them accordingly while we are still trapped in that reality. This is the first
universal rule of all common senses. For an example, we can’t just ignore the rules of laws or disobey
the traffic lights in our societies, without expecting to have any consequence, can we? Does this sound
like a great common sense to have? At this point, one may argue that there is only ONE reality, not two
or many. This argument is not applicable here either, since we are talking about ONE coin with two
sides rather than two different realities. Because it is just ONE coin, it shows that the final goal is
simply the matter of the intrinsic paradigm, instead of the extrinsic one. Yet, both sides of the same coin
have ONE thing in common, which is the Middle Way. Therefore, the Middle Way is the Universal
Path of all, and is the angle where the Buddhist non-duality is to be discovered.
In a world of causality, there are four major phases to address a problem. First is to know what the
problem is; second is to discover its cause(s); third is to identify the best alternative approach/solution or
to identify the end result(s)/deliverable(s); and fourth is to implement the selected approach/solution.
This 4-truth strategy is the universal scientific methodology that relies on “wisdom” throughout all the
phases. The Buddhist Four Noble Truths directly conform to and reflect this universal 4-truth strategy.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that Buddhism is the only religion of the ultimate wisdom and solution.
The Four Noble Truths are:
1. Life, with a restless state of mind, is suffering.

2. The cause of suffering: cravings/desires that keep one’s mind in the restless state of struggling
and enduring.
3. The cessation of suffering: with the total freedom from cravings/desires to search for the Truth,
one simply becomes calm and restful.
4. The way out of suffering: the Middle Way or the Noble Eightfold Path.
Based on the relationship between the Four Noble Truths and the 4-truth strategy above, we can see our
responsibility toward each of the Four Noble Truths as the following:
1. If our first responsibility is about “to know what the problem is”, then the right attitude toward
sufferings is to know them according to their true natures, not to reject, abandon, avoid, destroy, or run
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away from them. By trying to reject/abandon/avoid/destroy/run away from suffering, it’s just an act of
covering it up or forgetting about it temporarily. Any conditioned mental state of outgoing exuberance is
the perfect example of these kinds of distraction. That’s why the Buddha taught the 4
domains/foundations of mindfulness (Satipattana) to redirect our awareness back to our bodies and
minds. Even outside of Buddhism, people already know that not getting what one desires for is a
disappointment or suffering. Some wiser people even realize that the cause of suffering is “desire” to
begin with, regardless of having a disappointment or not. They both just don’t know how to deal with
“desire” properly. On one extreme, they simply find ways to satisfy their desires to stop the cravings.
This leads to the creation of several external worlds of better conditions to live in, such as heavenly or
Brahman realms. This freedom of desires is the typical way of the triple worlds, and it only works to
stop the cravings temporally. Therefore, life is still seen to be restless and trapped in Samsara. On the
other extreme, they simply find ways to treat desires as their enemies, by disallowing themselves to give
in to the pressures of cravings. This is known as the negative responses. For example, if their bodies
want to sleep on comfortable beds, they just go to sleep on some nails; if their bodies want to be in a
warm weather, they simply sit out in a cold meditating. By refusing to be enslaved by the desires at all
costs, the practitioners appear to look very determined and spiritual. Yet, the desires do not seem to
disappear after all. The negative responses still show that one is still troubled and following the
influences of the desires, but in the negative manners. Therefore, by seeing the flaws within these two
extremes, the Buddha discovered the Middle Way—suffering can only be stopped permanently by
realizing its true natures and uprooting its cause all the way to its root (mental delusion).
2. If our second responsibility is about “to discover its cause(s)”, then the right attitude toward the
cause(s) of sufferings is to uproot the cause(s); since without the cause(s), there won’t be any result to
follow. But, how do we eradicate “desire/craving”? There are 3 types of desires: sensual desires, desires
for existence, and desires for non-existence. The first two types of desires are the products of greed,
while the third type of desires is the product of aversions/dislikes/hates. Both greed and aversion are the
products of our mental delusions. Because of the mental delusions, people become abnormal in their
mental states. Then, they are conditioned to reject any normal thing, such as pain, sickness, old-age, and
death. Because of the mental delusions, people are misled to perceive that there is happiness out there, as
another option, to strive for, besides suffering. Then, they are misled to see and treat things differently
according to their bias feelings, perceptions, and views. This leads to the suppositions of duality
(good/bad; right/wrong; happiness/sadness), despite the fact of non-duality (purity). Whatever that gives
them a pleasant feeling, they classify that thing to be good, right, happy, or beautiful. Otherwise, they
classify it to be bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Therefore, whoever transcends his feelings and perceptions,
also transcends the conventional reality and Dukkha. With the feelings of satisfaction, life is conditioned
to have the craving for sensual pleasures or the craving for ownership (craving for existence); on the
other hand, with the feelings of dissatisfaction, life is conditioned to have the craving of rejection
(craving for non-existence). These are the two opposite extremes, as supposed to the MIDDLE WAY to
treat everything equally the same!
In Buddhism, there is no true happiness in a world marked by conditionings and impermanence. This is
because there are inherent conflicting forces of conditionings to constantly enforce the rules of
conditions against each other to always cause something to arise and cease, which always contribute
these eroded signs of exclusion/discrimination/change into their corresponding environment(s). The
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accumulation of these destructive signs would gradually increase to reach the final point of annihilation
eventually. Therefore, all conditioned things are subject to the same universal life cycle of formation,
growth, maturity, and decline. Now, if one desires to seek for happiness in such a world, he desires to
seek for something else that does not really exist. The 3 types of desires to be happy via dependencies
are all based on this same false hope. This is the subtlest form of the mental delusions. Once this
ignorance/delusion is exposed completely via the culmination of one’s wisdom, the time has come for
him to embrace the First Noble Truth (Dukkha). This is the point of his awakening! When he sees that
there is only ONE option (suffering), the desires/cravings to search outward for happiness simply
disappear on their own automatically. What then remains after is the perfect spiritual state of complete
calmness, peace, and restfulness at last! This marks the end of his restlessness!
There are two major types of sufferings. The first type is referred to as the obvious sufferings, such as
these physical/mental pains, illnesses, agonies, torments, tortures, miseries, disappointments, grieves,
and sorrows; whereas, the second type is referred to as the obscure sufferings, such as some aspects in
human realm, the 8 jhana states of meditations, 6 heavenly realms, and 20 brahma realms. This second
type of sufferings can only be realized through the Buddhist Samatha and Vipassana meditations.
Although these realms seem to be very pleasant to experience, but they’re still impermanent. Anything
that has to do with the erosion, decomposition, and disintegration is obviously an intolerable thing, isn’t
it?
Because one does not see sufferings through his pleasant experiences, he inclines to gratify and cling on
to them. Then, he is marked and conditioned by his mind of delusions, by perceiving that there is
happiness. Therefore, when the sufferings are obscure, he is conditioned by the cravings to be united
with the pleasant experiences. On the other hand, when the sufferings are obvious, he is conditioned by
the cravings to reject the unpleasant experiences. The struggles between these two types of cravings can
easily trap him into greed on one hand and aversion on the other hand. Why should he continue to
struggle in trying to fix or control a conditioned thing to make it right or perfect via his cravings? This is
clearly not the way for the wise, isn’t it?
Because of clinging, he has involved himself with another “desire to grasp” or “desire for existence” to
accumulate a bunch of conditioned names and forms to become somebody important and special,
supported by his strong ego, without even realizing that there are several hidden burdens and dangers
which come together along with the process of becoming. As the Buddha once said: “because of birth,
there are sickness, old-age, death, and the whole masses of suffering to follow.” It is this obscure type of
sufferings that makes people blind and trapped in the cycle of rebirths.
the cycle of rebirths, rather than to celebrate “life” as the most wonderful thing as those who believe in
God as the separate external entity.
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Because nobody likes sufferings, it is therefore the only condition or reason for everyone to be able to
let go of something completely. The purpose of the First Noble Truth is intended to just do as that, by
allowing people to see sufferings which are deeply embedded throughout their whole conditioned bodies
and minds clearly, so that they can automatically let go of the five aggregates (physical form, sensations,
perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness). By realizing the first noble truth, taught by the
Buddha, he can now see sufferings permeated in both of his pleasant and unpleasant experiences
undoubtedly. There is no real happiness to be seen at all! The suppositions of happiness, based on the
obscure sufferings, are all fake and illusive. By accepting the truth and embracing all sufferings as they
really are, it’s simply useless for him to have the two distinguished cravings any longer, since both
sufferings have now become equally undesirable and uncontrollable. There is nothing he can do to
change sufferings into happiness either, except his view and attitude alone. Then, what is left for him to
desire for? Nothing is what he really desires for now! Therefore, the time has come for him to simply let
go of the two distinguished cravings automatically. By neither being swayed to take delight in his
pleasant experiences nor being driven to deny his unpleasant experiences, he simply takes The Middle
Way firmly at each present moment. This is how one transcends Dukkha. Now, with the cessation of
cravings, it also comes the cessation of clinging. This is how the automatic mental detachments are
achieved! As he is also cleared from his mental delusions, greed and aversion do not arise either. This is
how the spiritual state of peace, freedom, independence, calm, and restfulness is achieved! By following
his new skillful view and attitude, the remedy for his illnesses does not lie within a controlled procedure
to cure anymore, but rather lies within his unconditional intention to care for the sick, including himself
instead. The noble path is not to concentrate on curing the impossible, but to concentrate on caring for
the sick instead! Thus, one who sees sufferings also sees kindness, compassion, and virtue! As the
Buddha once said: “one who sees Dukkha also sees the Dharma. And by realizing any single one of the
Four Noble Truths, the other 3 would reveal themselves automatically as one package.” The Buddha
also said: “there is no other way out of sufferings, besides the Four Noble Truths.”
3. If our third responsibility is about “to identify the end result(s)/deliverable(s)”, then the right attitude
toward the end goal, namely Nirvana, is to make it completely disclosed, because it is already there
without birth/beginning/changeability. That revelation face-to-face will come after the complete and
permanent disappearance of the 3 fabricated types of desires/cravings, which should happen
automatically as stated above.
The Buddha said that one could attain the cessation of sufferings at any one of these three connecting
chains of the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination: by the abandonment of clinging, by the
eradication of desires, or by the complete removal of ignorance/delusion. Besides, all three rely on the
same nutriment, namely ego, to sustain their existences. Then, the most efficient way for one to attain
the cessation of sufferings is to simply cut off this primary source of nutriment or ego in a nutshell.
Since desires are more apparent for one to notice, they were labeled as the apparent causes of sufferings
in the Second Noble Truth instead. Moreover, desires would allow a Buddhist practitioner to trace back
to the other two connecting chains as well.
4. If our fourth responsibility is about “the implementation of the best selected approach/solution”, then
the right attitude toward the path is to cultivate and culminate wisdom by the way of the Noble Eightfold
Path or the Middle Way.
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In another words, the Middle Way can be seen as the acceptance of beings/things without any
control/manipulation at all, which also means the acceptance without any attachment at the same time.
By adjusting his view, thought, intention, effort, concentration, speech, action, and livelihood to be in
congruence with the most skillful way to treat things and beings properly without a practice of
control/manipulation over anything, then, he simply upholds the Noble Eightfold Path in a nutshell! This
is the true definition of the word “spiritual purity”, which stands in contrast with these words: alteration,
modification, manipulation, fabrication, control, and dishonesty. In so doing, conflicts and resistances do
not arise from his mental aspects, speeches, and deeds. What a peaceful and perfect life he has!
longer lives for the fulfillments of his desires, but rather for the benefits and welfares of all beings
Therefore, in Buddhism, true happiness must be about peace, freedom, and independence, without any
remainder of conditioned things period. In another words, it must not depend on any external condition
or factor for its own freedom and happiness. If you still need to depend on something else or someone
else other than yourself to be happy, that happiness is very questionable! Would you rather let
something else or someone else control your happiness? Then, what kind of freedom is the right form of
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freedom, if not the freedom from desires? Aren’t the desires that make you depend on something else or
someone else as their conditions? For something to be the best form of happiness, it must be an intrinsic
value rather than an extrinsic one, mustn’t it? It must be self-sufficient, self-comforting, and self-
sustaining instead. Therefore, don’t seek to depend on something else or someone else for your own
happiness and freedom. Dependencies are certain to make you weak and vulnerable to deceptions. The
Buddha did not expect any of his disciples to depend on him, as he once said: “rely on yourself for your
own happiness! Seek inward to return yourself back to your original root, which is pure and selfless, by
the way of complete detachment from all external conditions, including the five aggregates (physical
form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness).” Without desires, one is simply
calm, peaceful, restful, free, and independent. This is the true happiness according to the Buddha and the
Four Noble Truths. That’s why the Buddha taught a strategy for us to let go of the Khandhas or the 5
aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness), because they
are among the conditioned fabrications to depend on external conditions. The conditioned things block
or cloud the unconditioned Dharma from being realized. Once the Khandhas are spiritually detached, the
unconditioned Dharma is finally revealed.
Since all conditioned things cease to exist spiritually there at Nirvana, then nothing arises. In another
words, there is not even a slice of activity or movement to be detected there period. Thus, there is
nothing for one to become aware of at all. It’s just the perfect spiritual state of oneness and
transcendence by nature. Since nothing arises, one cannot speak of its origin. Therefore, it is
considered to be the unborn and unchangeable fundamental nature for all. Since nothing arises, it is
completely still, restful, calm, and unconditional, which can be acquired by all at all times, but not at
one’s conditioned desire to control it. Then, to be with the absolute Truth face-to-face, it is the same as
to be completely restful, calm, and peaceful, isn’t it? This complete restfulness in itself is the ultimate
bliss and freedom! Therefore, the attitude of a wise man consists of no longer thinking of anything, as
supposed to the conditioned mental thoughts of outgoing exuberances: that’s the secret of peace,
tranquility, and equanimity!!!
Because of the cessation of all conditioned things there at Nirvana, we therefore cannot use our
original mental essence is uncovered to appear visibly. This pure original mental essence is our pure
knowing essence that can experience Nirvana directly, because they are purely compatible. It is the all-
embracing essence, which encompasses everything but retains nothing (detachment). This pure
knowing nature permeates everything like the emptiness (Maha Sunyata) which has no boundary. Yet,
it is one vital reality (non-dual). The Mahayana Buddhist called this pure knowing essence: “the
Buddha-Nature.”
Q: What are the differences between the TRUE and FALSE Enlightenments?
A: In Buddhism, there are two parts to the Buddhist enlightenment: the first part is to answer the
question of what to let go of, and the second part is to answer the question of how to let go of. We seem
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to share the common ground for the first part only between Buddhism and several other Eastern
religions. You might have seen several answers given to the first part from many other non-Buddhist
yogis/meditators/practitioners by saying these quotations, such as: “removing the ‘I’”, “removing the
‘ego’”, “the disintegration of the separate ‘self’”, and many more similarities. I have seen many
Buddhist rushing themselves to agree with many messages posted on this website regarding the
aforementioned quotations. But, be mindful that when it comes to answer the second part of the REAL
enlightenment, the other non-Buddhist yogis/meditators/practitioners have gotten all wrong or
inadequate. This is the part that most Buddhist are not properly informed about. According to the
Buddhas, there is no other way out of Samsara/suffering without The Four Noble Truths. The Buddha
once said that whichever religion it might be, as long as they taught the Noble Eightfold Path, there
would be these four types of enlightened beings in that religion without a doubt: the stream-winner
(Sotapanna), the once-returner (Sakadagami), the non-returner (Anagami), and the Arahant. So far, I
have not seen any other religion out there that taught/teaches The Four Noble Truths yet, besides
Buddhism.
In the conventional reality (Samsara), there are 31 public conventional spheres of existence known as
the triple worlds (Trailokya): the worlds of desires, the worlds of form, and the worlds of
formlessness. The worlds of desires consist of the first 11 realms of the hierarchy: hell born, preta,
animals, ghosts, humans, and those six levels of heavenly realms. The worlds of form are reserved for
those who have attained one or more level(s) of meditation (between the first to the fourth Jhana states),
which were designated from 12th to 27th realms of the hierarchy (Rupa). The last four levels of the
hierarchy (Arupa) are for those who have attained one or more level(s) of meditation, from the 5th to 8th
Jhana states. Therefore, there are 8 levels deep in the Samatha meditation, in terms of the mundane
Jhana states. Have you noticed that out of the 31 realms in total, 20 are for those who practice
meditations? It is more than half, isn’t it? Please also note that several mundane medication techniques
have been known to exist since time immemorial. There are more than half because people can easily
get lost, misled, and deceived in meditations. While a yogi/meditator/practitioner rests/settles in a
refined Jhana state, it’s so difficult to detect a flaw (intolerability) within it. He rather spends all the
time to enjoy the blissful state as much as he can, rather than to look for a flaw within it anyway.
Moreover, some deeper Jhanna states allow the yogi/meditator/practitioner to obtain some super human
skills which include the following: psychic powers, divine eyes/ears, super natural powers, clairvoyance,
and telepathy. These super human abilities make him even more delusional in his special/superior mind.
After his death, he would be born in one of those 20 aforementioned Brahma realms, according to the
fruition of his meditation. Then, he would be so surprised to discover his new home, which is more
refined, joyful, and blissful than all the lower realms. Plus, it lasts much longer as well. Some of them
even forget about time. These qualities make those 20 Brahma realms the perfect traps/deceptions for
those who seek happiness to begin with. Therefore, the enlightenments according to those non-Buddhist
yogis/meditators/practitioners are nothing other than the delights of being trapped in one of those 20
aforementioned Brahma realms. And, without an appearance of a Buddha, the cycle of rebirths within
the big Samsara is considered to be inescapable for all period.
Even in Buddhism, only a very few practitioners were able to break away from the cycle of rebirths
completely to escape the big Samsara. A venerable Thai monk, namely Luang Pu Dulaya “Dun” Atulo,
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told his disciples that the majority of those well-known/well-respected Thai monks, who were
considered to be on top of the list, were the non-returners (Anagamis) instead of the Arahants. This is
because at this third spiritual state of the Buddhist enlightenment, the mind seems to be very perfect with
the incredible degrees of calmness, joyfulness, blissfulness, restfulness, brightness, and purity. It seems
that any flaw does not exist at all. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for anyone to let go of such a mind
that possesses these incredible spiritual qualities. Luang Pu Dun also told his disciples to kill such a
mind, in order to become the Arahant(s). It is this obscure type of sufferings that makes people blind and
trapped in the cycle of rebirths.
Another deception worth mentioning here is the spiritual state of silence or emptiness. It is often used
by many Zen followers or students. Most of them use it without providing any explanation of what they
mean by being silent. Some of them told me that it was about the suppression/absence of
thoughts/words. It sounds good on the surface appearance only and here is why: the only real/true
silence/emptiness is the Maha Sunyata or Nirvana and it is for the Arahants only. Anything other than
this is still a form of fabricated silence/emptiness from one of those aforementioned Arupa Jhana states,
which is the result of a Samatha meditation only. Moreover, if one becomes addicted to/trapped
in/attached with one of these fake/fabricated silent/empty spiritual states, he is considered to be in the
most difficult situation for anyone to rescue him to safety. So, you can’t just tell people to be silent. It’s
a very misleading statement to use. Even one does not say anything from his mouth, but his mind is
never silent. In addition, any practice to suppress your thoughts is considered to be unskillful in
Buddhism. The Buddha never taught that. Instead, the Buddha taught the Satipatthanas or the
mindfulness meditations to be used either by themselves as the stand-alone version or by coupling them
with one of the other 40 meditation techniques of Buddhism. The mindfulness meditations represent the
non-interference or non-control modes of the Buddhist Middle Way. Therefore, allow you mind to think
or work freely according to whatever pursuant causes/conditions which trigger it, yet only be mindful of
your mental activities as an independent observer instead.
As a mental formation arises in front of you at the present moment, its presence should be noted without
an interference; then, when it fades away, a note should also be made of its disappearance without an
interference as well. Then, after noting its presence, its identification of its uniqueness is also
recognized at the same time. The same exercise has to be done repetitively until one’s awareness is
automatically triggered, when the same mental formation appears in the future again. This is how one
can achieve the spiritual faculty of the automatic mindfulness!
Once he becomes skillful enough to grasp hold of each movement of his mental formations with his
automatic mindfulness, his knowing mind is automatically detached free from his fluctuated thoughts,
moods, and emotions to stand out by itself. This allows his knowing mind to settle down into a firmed
and unbiased anchor as an independent and separate stationary observer. This is how one can achieve
the spiritual faculty of Samadhi! This kind of Samadhi is the proprietary product of Buddhism. As
the results of this automatic detachment of the knower, the experiences of these mental freedom,
relaxation, energy, and joy become prominent naturally. They are the intrinsic rewards that reinforce the
diligence and persistency elements according to the 7 factors of enlightenment. As the diligence and
persistency elements get reinforced even further, his Samadhi becomes more skillful and refined
incrementally as well.
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This awakened and detached knowing mind is the CORE element of the Buddhist Vipassana to discover
how a mental formation arises and how it can be matured, according to the Twelvefold Chain of
Dependent Origination. This investigation process is meant to sort out what are considered to be
unskillful/skillful thoughts, intentions, moods, and emotions. This is how one can achieve the spiritual
faculty of wisdom! However, the similar investigations have to be done repetitively to sharpen his
wisdom, so that it can rip open his mental fetters of selfishness (Kileshas) at the end (ariyannamuck).
When he arrives at an automatic mode of practice which skillfully blends his mindfulness, Samadhi,
and wisdom together; that is considered to be the final stage of his spiritual training. At this final stage,
his clear wisdom quickly relaxes away any destructive/unskillful mental condition to prevent it from
arising further to take control of his mind/speech/action. What a relief to experience relaxation a lot! As
the results, he can experience some additional intrinsic rewards being generated incrementally from the
tranquility factor, to the concentration factor, and finally toward the equanimity factor.
When referring to the skillful effort in the Noble Eightfold Path, it’s all about the fourfold effort to
cleanse one’s mind from any existing unskillful mental activity, and to prevent it from arising back
again. Some examples of the unskillful mental formations are: greed, sensual desire, aversion, dullness,
drowsiness, restlessness, worry, fear, and doubt. On the positive side, it’s about maintaining and
increasing several skillful means of liberation, according to the 10 Paramitas: generosity, morality,
renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion/kindness, and equanimity.
There is also a scale-down version which is more suitable for the majority, namely the 4 Brahmaviharas:
loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.
Because of the six sense faculties, there are contacts; because of contacts, feelings arise; because of
feelings, desires arise; because of desires, clinging arises; because of clinging, habitual tendency to
control and manipulate situations arises. Since the six sense faculties are the gates, the Buddha pointed
out the need to have the main gatekeeper there at the mindfulness. It is a delight in a pleasant feeling
that leads a sentient being to be greedy via having a sensual desire or a desire for existence; it is an
aversion in an unpleasant feeling that leads a sentient being to have a desire for non-existence to get rid
of the unpleasant experience. Both the delight and the aversion are the products of one’s mental
delusions to deceive himself into bias, discrimination, and exclusion. Without any mental delusion, both
the delight and the aversion do not arise; without both the delight and the aversion, desires do not arise.
Thus, by neither being prone to take the delight on one extreme nor being troubled to take the aversion
on the other extreme, he simply takes The Middle Way firmly at each present moment. Therefore, the
equanimity factor is the last factor in The Seven Factors of Enlightenment.
The MIDDLE WAY is about being neutral by transcending one’s own sensory contacts or feelings.
Therefore, the Middle Way is the way for one to be no longer troubled by objects and notions. The
minds of troubles are the causes of all troubles and sufferings in this world! Without a mind of troubles,
one is certain to cause no more troubles and destructions regardless of space and time, which therefore,
spiritually transforms himself to become a respected noble and altruistic Arahant! When he can’t no
longer do no wrong, he is simply seen to be perfect in a nutshell. Therefore, it’s a false statement to say
that a human being cannot be perfect. There are such persons in Buddhism, namely the Arahants.
Nonetheless, the Buddhist way of perfection is not to be expressed through a physical or psychological
dimension, but rather to be expressed through the ultimate spiritual dimension instead!
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Middle Way or the Noble Eightfold Path is the way of the absolute and universal Truth found in natures
by the Buddhas. Therefore, by following the path, one is certain to be re-united with the absolute Truth
at last. According to the Buddhas, there is no second other way besides this or there is no other way out
of Samsara without The Four Noble Truths. So far, I have not seen any other religions that taught/teach
The Four Noble Truths yet, besides Buddhism. Nonetheless, they claimed to have some enlightened
beings in their religions though. Moreover, the majorities of people seem to be more attracted to those
fake enlightenments than this real one.
Q: What are the hidden and unknown truths behind the Buddhist enlightenment that the majority
do not realize?
A: One of the ultimate insights that came out of the Buddha’s supreme enlightenment was the ability to
recall his own previous lives in Samsara without limit. That was not all, he also turned around to
observe all beings to see if they had gone through the same cycle of rebirths as he did. Sure enough,
everyone was trapped in the same endless cycle of rebirths in Samsara as well. After the Buddha was
able to break free from this universal cycle of rebirths in Samsara, he realized that without an
appearance of a Buddha, the cycle of rebirths within the big Samsara was considered to be inescapable
for all period. Then, if you don’t do anything skillful about your spiritual liberation according to the
Buddha’s teachings, you will continue to be the same ignorant being from rebirth to rebirth indefinitely.
Therefore, don’t even think that you’re already enlightened or the do-nothing meditation technique is
going to set you free without the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path!
A non-Buddhist says that nobody gets enlightened, because there is nobody; or, enlightenment is not an
event that could happen to any individual person; all are already enlightened; therefore, all don’t need to
follow any strategy to become enlightened. He even rejects the laws of Karmas and rebirths. In
Buddhism, these short statements are considered to be contrary to facts and realities period. Based on
some good common senses, what is the point for the man to be on this website and tries to explain this
or that, if all are already enlightened? Why does he still think that he knows more than those who are
already enlightened? Plus, why are there good and evil people in societies, if all are already
enlightened? There are causes and conditions behind all of these inequalities, because we live in the
world of causality. So, does the man think that any causes and conditions in natures are
fictitious/illusionary as well? For the rejection of rebirths, isn’t he an example of a human being who
was born into the human realm? All of these disputable statements will be addressed as you continue to
read through the end.
Besides these short disputable statements given above, the man did not provide any sufficient
explanations based on any acceptable scientific knowledges, philosophies, reasons, and common senses
to support his claims at all. Moreover, any of these disputable statements is not applicable to the
Buddha’s reference to each being or life either, since each being or life according to the Buddha, is
rather an evolving, changing, cumulative, and private process to become spiritually skillful and
perfectly wise; and there is no reference to the concept of having the permanent and unchanging
agent/self/soul in each being from rebirth to rebirth either. The Buddhist enlightenment is all about the
matter of switching from having the abnormal perceptions to having the normal perceptions, from
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having the wrong view to having the right view, from being spiritually unskillful to being spiritually
skillful, from being spiritually unawake to being spiritually awake, from being spiritually impure to
being spiritually pure, or from being selfish to being altruistic. So, it’s clearly not about being
somewhere, being nobody, or being somebody special/unique/important at all. That’s why when the
Buddha was asked who he was, he simply answered: “I am awake”, instead of saying that he was
nobody or somebody special/unique/important. Most importantly, the Buddhist enlightenment does not
alter the fact of having the private domain/property within each individual process/being/life
either. And, it has nothing to do with whether there is no separate self or not. This was why the Buddha
remained silent when he was asked whether there was a self or not, because this question did not
conform to the Middle Way of the absolute and universal Truth, which all beings/things are to revolve
around. Moreover, if all are already enlightened, life/being wouldn’t be called an organized systematic
process, would it? The main reason for an organized system or a process to exist in the universe is
because there is at least a goal for it to attain, right? What do you think the final goal is, if not the
Buddhist enlightenment? Yet, whether that final goal is the matter of the intrinsic paradigm or the
extrinsic one is another topic of discussion though.
The Truth is beings/things as they really are according to their true natures, not according to what you
think/believe they are or should be. Therefore, the attitude of the truth-winner is to just see and accept
beings and things the ways they really are completely without any resistances and interferences. There is
somebody on this website who tries to explain the reality and enlightenment via the extreme approach of
“non-self” vs “self”. The Buddha used “non-self” as one of his strategies of awakening only to allow
people to detach from the five aggregates (physical form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations,
and consciousness), but not to be accepted as the absolute Truth. All Buddha’s teachings must conform
to the Middle Way and facts. In fact, a conditioned phenomenon arises in dependence upon some other
influential factors that coexist relatively by the way of enforcing the rules of conditioning against each
other to always cause something to arise and cease. Therefore, a being is considered to be a specific
natural event or impersonal process instead. What the Buddha rejected was the concept of having the
permanent and unchanging agent or self/soul in each being from rebirth to rebirth. However, this does
not mean that there is not an evolving, changing, and cumulative process in each private being, during
its journey, to merge with Nirvana at the end. Then, what has become after this is considered to be
permanent and unchanging forever for that private individual being. So, the Truth is the Middle Way
between the two extremes of non-self and self rather.
misleading self or soul. Within each life, there are these public, protected, and private
domains/properties, similar to the concept of the object-oriented design in the Information Technology
field. They are similar because the inventor of the object-oriented design simply adopted these features
from the natural objects in the real world. In nature, the two things which are always parts of the private
domain are the enlightenment and the Karmic imprint (habitual tendency). This is the reason why all
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beings are not currently equal in terms of skill, ability, talent, knowledge, loving-kindness, compassion,
sympathetic joy, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution,
compassion, kindness, and equanimity. It seems like each being is in a different stage of its own
development, doesn’t it? Because of this actual fact, we can see that John cannot go to a school in place
of Mike to make Mike knowledgeable, right? Mike has to go to the school for himself to be
knowledgeable, even though the knowledges are available to the public. The enlightenment is not an
exception to this universal rule either. When the prince Siddhartha Gautama bodhisattva became the
enlightened Buddha around 2600+ years ago, he had to teach the ways to allow others to become
enlightened after him. The rests of the people did not automatically get the direct benefits from his
omniscient enlightenment at all. Every Buddhist disciple had/has to adopt the Four Bases of Power
(Iddhipada), such as the intrinsic motivation, diligence, persistency, and investigation to become an
Arahant without an exception.
Now, have you ever heard of a non-Buddhist person speaking of his past experience about ripping open
his mental integuments, which enwrapped his mind, to witness the ultimate spiritual freedom for a
couple of seconds, before the mental integuments closed themselves back up forcefully to enwrap his
mind again? Do you even know that your mind has the mental integuments similar to an egg shell of an
egg? Nobody knows until he experiences the process of ripping open the mental integuments by himself,
right? This process of ripping open the mental integuments is called: “ariyannamuck” in Buddhism. I
had this ripping open experiences twice in my life several years ago, which was equivalent to being
once-returner (Sakadagami). This is how one attains a level of the Buddhist enlightenment. At the
fourth time of ripping open one’s mental integuments, it would be the final and permanent disintegration
of the mental integuments. In Buddhism, these conditioned mental layers are the mental fetters of
selfishness which cloud and enwrap our original pure mental essence to the extent that they manifest
themselves throughout our thoughts, intentions, speeches, and deeds--by making them all impure,
unskillful, and unwholesome. Because of our mental integuments, our spiritual freedoms are confined.
The other name for the mental integuments is: “Kileshas”. The Kileshas are made up with these 4
pillars of attachments: sensual desires/pleasures, delight in becoming/prides, self-
identities/personalities/conceits, and the ignorance of not realizing the Four Noble Truths (AVIJJA).
You will notice that your mind is confined and wondering within the scopes of these 4 pillars only, like
being in 4 cells of a prison. Let’s look at this one easy example for the sensual desires/pleasures: for
those who always seek outward to experience any sensual delights as their primary sources of happiness,
their doing minds are always active. Most of their mental energies would be consumed by their doing
minds to always find something to plan, initiate, think, worry, fear, doubt, react, or crave all day long in this
specific domain. Moreover, the mental integuments are not just extremely difficult to be seen, but they
are also seriously thick, strong, and tough to break open. Therefore, if you don’t do anything about it,
you will continue to be the same ignorant being, from rebirth to rebirth indefinitely. Now, have
you ever heard of this kind of ripping experiences from any other religions or yogis? If they don’t know
this, they don’t understand how the nature of their minds really works!!! Then, how can they claim to
know the real enlightenment?
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this universal cycle of rebirths, rather than to celebrate “life” as the most wonderful thing as those who
believe in God as the separate external entity.
In Buddhism, there are four levels of enlightenment for the disciple path: stream-winner (Sotapanna),
once-returner (Sakadagami), non-returner (Anagami), and finally the Arahant. The Buddha also
mentioned that whichever religion that might be, as long as they practiced the Noble Eightfold Path,
there would always be these four kinds of the enlightened beings in that religion without a doubt. These
four kinds of enlightenment are supramundance in nature, known as “Ariya”. Without the Noble
Eightfold Path, there cannot be a discovery of an Ariya period. They are the proprietary products of
Buddhism!!!
Therefore, if one could cease his conditioned thoughts to completely silence his mind, even for a
moment, he would uncover his original pure and altruistic mind, known as the Buddha-Nature. Thus,
there is no need for him to look elsewhere to become enlightened, since it’s already there within him at
all times. Yet, it is extremely difficult for anyone to completely silence his mind, since his conditioned
mental layers are always in a constant state of flux and outgoing exuberance. Yet be mindful, there are
several misleading names of fabricated silence/emptiness according to the Jhana states of Samatha
meditations, which they do not represent the true/real Maha Sunyata or Nirvana. Many practitioners
were mistaken for these fabricated silence/emptiness. Nonetheless, by identifying and cutting through
all of the following ten mental fetters of selfishness incrementally and gradually, a Buddhist practitioner
can attain a Buddhist enlightenment one stage at a time:
1. View/notion/perception/belief of self-identity
2. Doubt or uncertainty about the Triple Gems (Ariya)
3. Immoral conducts or breach of precepts
4. Sensual desires
5. Ill will such as anger and aversion
6. Delight in pleasant experiences given by material realms
7. Delight in pleasant experiences given by immaterial realms
8. Conceit
9. Restlessness
10. Ignorance/mental delusion (AVIJJA)

94
First, by permanently cutting away the first three mental fetters of selfishness on the aforementioned list,
he is considered to become a stream-winner (Sotapanna). During the cutting process, he would
experience a brief opening and closing of his mental integuments to experience Nirvana briefly. A
stream-winner is certain to attain the Arahantship within a period of 7 reincarnations at max. A once-
returner (Sakadagami) shares the same incident as the stream-winner but with a higher degree of mental
refinement. Therefore, the once-returner only has one reincarnation left to go. Each future reincarnation
for both is not supposed to be lower than the human realm though. Next, by permanently cutting away
the first five mental fetters of selfishness, he is considered to be a non-returner (Anagami) who will no
longer come back to a world of sensual desires; but, rather stays in a very peaceful and joyful Brahma
realm until he becomes an Arahant. During the cutting process, he would experience the brief opening
and closing of his mental integuments to experience Nirvana briefly again for the third time. Finally, by
permanently cutting away all ten mental fetters of selfishness, one is considered to be an Arahant. With
this final slash, his mental integuments would be completely destroyed permanently, which can be
compared to the explosion of a star in the universe. What then remains is the original pure knowing
essence that spreads its luminousness in all directions to merge itself as ONE with the universe at last.
Since his conditioned mental layers have been purged, there is nothing left there as a source to grasp
names and forms to form his future five aggregates any longer. Therefore, this would be his final birth in
Samsara.
In summary, the four levels of enlightenment can be condensed further into three levels of detachment:
letting go of the wrong view, letting go of your body, and letting go of your mind. The stream-winner
(Sotapanna) or once returner (Sakadagami) is considered to achieve the first level of detachment. The
non-returner (Anagami) is considered to achieve the first and second levels of detachment; and, the
Arahant is considered to achieve all 3 levels of detachment. It’s normal and scientific to have
enlightenment in stages, especially, from the easy part to the most difficult part.
Why did the Buddha designate these 4 and 3 levels to be parts of the Buddhist Enlightenment? Once you
become a stream-winner (Sotapanna), you are at the point of no return. You will definitely and
completely break away from the cycle of rebirths within no further than 7 reincarnations at max.
Otherwise, you will continue to be subject to the cycle of rebirths with no end date in sight. Therefore,
there is a big difference between being a stream-winner or not.
During the time of the Buddha, the Buddha appointed two chief principal disciples: one for his right
hand and the other for his left hand. Besides, he also appointed several other principal disciples for both
monks and nuns. Each principal disciple was foremost in a unique area of skills and abilities. For
examples, the Buddha’s right hand (Shariputra) was considered to be foremost in wisdom; the Buddha’s
left hand (Maudgalyayana) was considered to be foremost in performing miracles and supernatural
powers. At this point, one may raise this question whether all of those Arahants (enlightened beings)
were equal or not? They were all equal in these 3 specific angles only: the perfection of spiritual purity,
the perfection of morality, and the experience of the ultimate bliss or Nirvana. Any other extra qualities
or abilities besides these 3 are considered to be optional, because they are not directly beneficial to the
Arahants who possess them; nonetheless, they are meant for the benefits and welfares of the other
beings instead. For an example, an Arahant might be able to attract more disciples if he had the abilities
to perform miracles and supernatural powers. However, only the Buddha was considered to be
omniscient and foremost in all unique angles/skills/abilities while his disciples were not. The
95
accumulations of the 10 perfections were different in their previous lives, much more or less, along with
their unique vows before becoming the Arahants. This confirms that “life” is an evolving, changing,
cumulative, and private process to become spiritually skillful and perfectly wise, which are conditioned
by, but not determined by, the impacts of these three mundane factors: heredities, environments, and
Karmas; and, the two things which are always parts of the private domain are the enlightenment and the
Karmic imprint.
96
GLOSSARY
ANATTA: impersonality; altruism.
ARAHANTSHIP: at statehood for those who attain Nirvana.
ARIYA: one who has reached one of the four enlightenment stages in Buddhism.
ARUPA: non-material realm
ASANKHYAS: each asankhyas is equivalent to adding between 143 to 148 zeros to the end of 10 years.
AVIJJA: ignorance of not knowing the four noble truths in Buddhism
BHIKKHU: a Buddhist monk
BODHISATTVA: a person who wishes to become a future Buddha and works to accumulate good
deeds and merits (10 paramitas) to achieve the Buddhahood.
BRAHMAVIHARAS: the four Buddhist pillars of loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna),
sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkha)
CHITTA: mind or mental essence or heart
DHARMA: the teachings of the Buddha or the way of truth; the methods of deliverance
DUKKHA: suffering or intolerability
IDDHIPADA: the four bases of power to be successful: intrinsic motivation, diligence, persistency, and
investigation
JHANA: deep states of mental composition as the results of meditations; or deep states of mind that is free
from the five hindrances (sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and
doubt)
KILESHA or KLESHA: mental defilement or impurity
MAJJHIMAPATIPADA: the Middle Way
MAHA KALPAS: one maha kalpas is equivalent to a period from the start to the end of the planet earth.
MAHA: huge, grant, or giant
MAHAYANA: a branch of Buddhism that delivers good news about the Buddhas’ pure lands of the
ultimate bliss for anyone can wish to be born there.
METTA: kindness
NIRVANA: the end of sufferings/desires
PARAMITA: perfection, good deed, merit, or spiritual worthiness
97
PRETA: one of the four types of beings below human realm

PRATIYASAMUTPADA: the Twelvefold Dependent Origination
PRIVATE BUDDHA: Buddha who does not teach others
PUBLIC BUDDHA: Buddha who teaches others and creates Buddhism. The PUBLIC is the default key
word and it does not have to be used.
RUPA: form or material realm
SAMADHI: meditation
SAMATHA: the first phase (stillness) of meditation to prepare the mind for the second phase (wisdom) of
mediation.
SAMSARA: all conditioned worlds that are subject to the universal life cycle of formation, growth,
maturity, and decline
SAMSKARA: mental formation
SANGHA: community of Buddhist monks
SANKA-OUBEKA-YANNA: un-biased and still mental state
SATIPATTHANA: the four domains of mindfulness in Buddhism: the mindfulness of the body, feelings,
chitta, and Dharma.
KHANDHAS: the five aggregates which consist of physical body, feeding, perception, mental formation,
and consciousness
SUPRAMUNDANE: mental states above Samsara
SUTRA: the collections of the Buddha’s words and his teachings
TATHAGATA: another name of the Buddha
TAVATIMSA: the second level of heaven realm out of 6 levels.
TIPITAKA: the Buddhist scriptures
TRAILOKYA: the triple worlds: the worlds of desires, the worlds of form, and the worlds of
formlessness
THERAVADA: a branch of Buddhism that keeps the tradition of attaining enlightenment in this world
and this life time.
VIJNANA: mental consciousness
VIPASSANA: the second phase of meditation of using wisdom to investigate Khandhas

Taking Refuge in Altruism

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What is the purpose of the book according to the preface?

What is the purpose of the book according to the preface?

What are some of the core aspects of Buddhism that the author hopes to clarify?

What are some of the core aspects of Buddhism that the author hopes to clarify?

Taking Refuge in Altruism

Jun 2018 – Jun 2024

====================1-THE BUDDHIST FIRST NOBLE TRUTH====================

o Skillful Speech: essentially refraining from improper speech consisting of engaging in

content/discontent, hot/cold, high/low, short/tall, black/white, beautiful/ugly, clean/filthy,

independence, freedom, liberation, emptiness, selflessness, compassion, kindness, generosity,

======================6-THE BUDDHIST SATIPATTHANA=======================

=======================10-PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT========================

=================11-THE BUDDHIST QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS=================

=======================13-THE RELIGION WITHOUT GOD=======================

Fourth, let’s explore some additional points of argument here:

Otherwise, he classifies it to be bad, wrong, sad, or ugly. Therefore, whoever transcends

vigor, patience, truthfulness, resolution, kindness, and equanimity. Skillful or unskillful

5. People’s past and current bad Karmas:

Some examples include: physical/mental disabilities, ill-will/ill-intention toward the Buddha or

 Contemplation of the loathsomeness of foods before eating them at time.

=========================16-THE BUDDHIST VIPASSANA========================

 The true or actual state of matter

In other religions, people always ask these questions:

- Where do we come from?

But in Buddhism, we ask these questions instead:

- What are the truths of life?

- What is the most important thing in life?

The Four Noble Truths are:

1. Life, with a restless state of mind, is suffering.

2. Doubt or uncertainty about the Triple Gems (Ariya)

3. Immoral conducts or breach of precepts

5. Ill will such as anger and aversion

6. Delight in pleasant experiences given by material realms

7. Delight in pleasant experiences given by immaterial realms

10. Ignorance/mental delusion (AVIJJA)

PRETA: one of the four types of beings below human realm

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