NEW MOON - Purification


Published Thursday, 01 September 2016

"All conditioned things are impermanent";
when we see this with insight
we will tire of this life of suffering.
This is the Way to purification.

Dhammapada v. 277

Feeling tired of the pursuit of gratification can be a sign of progress on the path. The consumer culture we live in will never stop telling us that accumulating things leads to contentment. But we can choose for ourselves to drop out of this current of craving. According to the values of unawakened society, all experiences are as important as we say they are. According to the Buddha, all experiences are impermanent, but while some have the inherent value of leading to understanding, others definitely lead to delusion. We can invest our time and energy in sustaining stories about the false “reality” – such as that this or that condition will last forever, so we can safely cling to it – or we can use our time and energy to purify our hearts, freeing ourselves from false beliefs.

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