The Island - An anthology of the Buddha's teachings on Nibbana

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The Island - An anthology of the Buddha's teachings on Nibbana

Author: Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro

Prefaces

Ajahn Pasanna

Having been a person who has enjoyed reading books, my involvement in the production of this volume has instilled in me a much greater appreciation for those who do write books. When the end of suffering (Nibbanna) is the topic, one would think the writing about it would be less suffering. Curious how some things are not as they appear.

My involvement with this began with my jotting down a variety of sutta qoutes which I had come across in my readings which I found inspiring and which also, for me, helped to clarify the direct and immediate path of the Buddha. Mostly they were things that I found helpful in my own practise and it was good to have them in one place for me to read from time to time. There was also a question in my own mind about the interest in the West concerning non-dual teachings, both within the Buddhist fold and outside it.

When coming across passages that people were qouting, I found it strinking how seldom that the words of the Buddha were being used to illustrate this. By slowly reflecting on various suttas which cropped up as interesting or striking, the nature of what is considered non-dual for me started to change. Basic teachings started to take on new meaning. The teaching on non-self, which is totally fundamental, is an example. This is not an obscure teaching in the suttas: If there is any hint of self, a position is then taken and the whole realm of sansara unfolds.

The Buddha points this out in many ways, both in detail and in quite pithy sources. The teaching on dependent origination is another example. It can get very complex and heady, but in essence, this is a description of the Buddha’s enlightenment and a way of viewing phenomena which takes us away from the narrative that we easily create, showing that experience is just these mental and physical conditions functioning together in a certain pattern – either for freedom or for entanglement. Generally, it is stated that the Buddha did not teach much about Nibbana, that he focused more on the path correctly. On a certain level this may be true, but as this compilation shows, the Buddha did say a great deal about Nibbanna. A large part of the motivation to help bring this book into being which help to illustrate and (hopefully) clarify the Buddha’s teachings, in particular those about the goal, Nibbanna.

We are, in a way, taking the opportunity to bring out jewels and treasures from a cave or a hidden place and allowing them to shine forth. Ideally, this is an opportunity to gather the words of the Buddha on a particular theme together into one place for people to delight in. Hopefully the editors have not got in the way too much and the Buddha’s words and path are left clear.

I do want to express my appreciation for all the many people who have helped to make this book become a reality, particularly Ajahn Amaro who gently kept prodding me and was patient with my pace (or lack of it).

Ajahn Amara

For myself, the very first seed for the idea of this compilation of the Buddha’s Teachings was sown sometime in 1980. I had been living for a few months at the newly opened monastery at Chithurst, in West Sussex, England. I had only arrived there the previous autumn from Thailand. I had been ordained as a monk for scarcely a year and I was still very new to the whole thing.

As I listened to the Daily Dhamma talks of Ajahn Sumedho, the abbot and founder of the monastery, I noticed that over and over again he made mention of Ultimate Reality, the Unconditioned, the Unborn and Nibbanna. This was very striking since, during my couple of years in monasteris in Thailand, I had hardly heard a word spoken about this, even though it was the goal of the spiritual life.

Certainly, that goal, of the realization of Nibbanna, was acknowledged as the overriding aim of the practice. However, I was stressed repeatedly that the Buddha’s emphasis was on the path, the means whereby that goal could genuinely be reached, rather than on rendering inspiring descriptions of the end to which the path led. “Make the journey!” it was said, “the nature of the destination takes care of itself and will be vividly apparent on arrival. Besides, the true nature of Ultimate Reality is necessarily inexpressible by language or concept. So just make the journey and be content”. This had made sense to me, so I now wondered why it was that Ajahn Sumedho made such an emphasis on it.