…So nirvana means to breathe out: it is a great sigh of relief. Let the breath of life go because it will come back to you if you do. But if you do not let it go you will suffocate. A person in the state of nirvana is in a state of exhalation. Let go, don’t cling, and you will be in the state of nirvana. I reemphasize that I am not preaching to you about what you ought to do with your life. I am simply pointing out the state of affairs of the world as it is. There is no moral-ism in this whatsoever. If you put your hand into a fire, you will get burned. It is all right to get burned if you want to, but if it so happens that you do not want to get burned, then don’t put your hand in a fire. It is the same if you do not want to be in a state of anxiety. It is perfectly all right to be anxious, if you like to be anxious. Buddhism never hurries anyone. It says, “Youve got all eternity to live in various forms, therefore you do not have just one life in which to avoid eternal damnation. You can go running around the wheel in the rat race just as long as you want, so long as you think it’s fun. And if there comes a time when you no longer think it’s fun to be anxious, you don’t have to continue.” Someone who disagrees with this may say, “We ought to engage the forces of evil in battle and put this world to right, and arrange everything in it so that everything is good and nothing is bad.” Try it, please. It is perfectly okay to try. And if you discover that these attempts are futile, you can then let go. You can give up clinging. Relax in that way and you will be in the state of nirvana. You will become a Buddha. Of course, that will make you a rather astonishing person, although you may be subtle about it and disguise your Buddha-hood so that you will not get people mixed up….” - Alan Watts youtu.be/fYa1iKdaMTU
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 01:21:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015