[narrator] The sacred texts say that after 40 days
the truth came to Siddhartha in stages.
During the first night watch, he achieved insight into all his past lives.
During the second night watch,
he discovered the coherence of cyclical existences.
The law of cause and effect.
The movement of karma.
During the third and last night watch,
he conquered the 4 mental poisons.
Sensual desire.
Attachment.
Wrong views.
And ignorance.
That evening, under a full moon of the month of May
at the age of 35,
he attained enlightenment.
Awakening.
Supreme knowledge.
Nirvana.
[Hanh] In Buddhism, we speak of nirvana.
Which is the sensation of all suffering.
Nirvana means the sensation- the instinction of all suffering.
But our suffering
come from our wrong perceptions.
Misunderstanding.
And that is why the practice of meditation
the practice of looking deeply has the purpose of removing wrong perceptions
from us.
If we are able to remove our wrong perceptions
we will be able to be free from that afflictions and the sufferings
that always arrive from wrong perceptions.
You have wrong perception on yourself and on the other,
and the other has wrong perception on themselves and on you.
And that is the goals of fear, of violence, of hatred.
That is why trying to remove wrong perceptions is the
only way to peace.
And that is why nirvana is first of all, the removal of wrong perceptions.
And when you remove wrong perceptions, you remove the suffering.
And to meditate deeply, you'll find now that even ideas like
being and non being,
birth and death,
coming and going,
of wrong ideas.
If you can touch reality in depth you'll realize that suchness
means an ultimate reality is free from birth, from dying, from coming, from going.
From being, from non being.
That is why nirvana is first of all the removal of notions, of ideas
that serve the beast of misunderstanding and suffering.
If you are afraid of death, of nothingness, of non being,
because you have wrong perceptions on death and on non being.
The french scientist Lavoisier said
there's no birth, there's no death.
He just observe reality around him
and come to the conclusion that [inaudible].
And when you look at the cloud
you think of the cloud as a being,
and later on when the cloud become the rain,
you don't see the cloud anymore,
and you say the cloud is not there.
You describe the cloud as non being.
But if you look deeply, you can see the cloud in the rain.
And that is why it's impossible for a cloud to die.
A cloud can become the rain, snow, or ice.
But a cloud can not become nothing.
And that is why the notion of death can not be applied to reality.
There is a transformation, there is a continuation,
but you can not say that there is death.
Because in your mind to die means from something,
you suddenly become nothing.
From someone you suddenly become no one.
And so the notion of death can not apply to reality.
Whether to a cloud or to a human being.
The Buddha did not die,
the Buddha only continued by his [inaudible], by his dharma.
And you can touch the Buddha in the here and the now.
And that is why ideas like being born, dying, coming and going,
being and non being should be removed by the practice of looking deeply.
And when you can remove these notions you are free.
And you have non fear.
And non fear is the true foundation of great happiness.
As far as fear is there in your heart, happiness can not be perfect.
And that is why nirvana is not something that you get in the future,
nirvana is the capacity of removing wrong notions, wrong perceptions
which is the practice of freedom.
Nirvana can be translated as freedom.
Freedom from views.
Any Buddhism, all views are wrong views.
When you get in touch with reality you no longer have views.
You have wisdom.
You have a direct encounter with reality.
And that is no longer called views.