Dear Noble Sangha,

This month our practice theme is the 3rd Noble Truth. This is the truth of Nirvana (Pali: Nibbana) or the cessation of suffering. It is the truth that enlightenment and liberation are possible. Here are some sutta (sutra) quotes about the 3rd Noble Truth for your reflection this month:

“And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.”

-The Wheel of Setting the Dharma in Motion Sutta

“This is peace, this is exquisite — the stilling of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving, dispassion, cessation, Unbinding.”

– The Middle Length Discourses

“From the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance, there no longer exists [the sense of] the body on account of which that pleasure & pain internally arise. There no longer exists the speech… the intellect on account of which that pleasure & pain internally arise. There no longer exists the field, the site, the dimension, or the issue on account of which that pleasure & pain internally arise.”

-The Sutta to Bhumija

“And what is the noble method that is rightly seen and rightly ferreted out by discernment? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones notices:

When this is, that is.

From the arising of this comes the arising of that.

When this isn’t, that isn’t.

From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.”

– Animosity Sutta

May you experience the unbinding of the mind and realize the great unconditioned state of Nibbana.

Peace

Ben