To have a body is to suffer. Those who understand this, detach themselves from all that exists and stop imagining or seeking anything. The sutras say, “To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.” When you seek nothing, you’re on the Path.
Whatever we are doing, believing, thinking, desiring, understanding, feeling – if we are not aware of them while aware of ourselves in the present – we are asleep, and all are but embers of a dream.
They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘mine’ to be united with the Lord. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.
There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
