Incline the Mind Toward Liberation

Investigate the pushes and pulls in the mind because it is that movement that takes us away from a central core of stillness and clarity that is possible to realize. We need to incline the mind toward the whole purpose of the practice and the promise of the Buddha: it’s possible to free the mind, to liberate oneself, to be peaceful and happy.

This kind of happiness is not dependent on gratification or on getting things the way we want. It is just the happiness that is there within the heart. As the Buddha teaches, “If it weren’t possible to be liberated and to be free, and if you weren’t capable of doing it, I wouldn’t teach it. But it is because you are capable of doing it and because there is this possibility that I teach it.”

That’s the encouragement that the Buddha gives.

This reflection by Luang Por Pasanno is from the book, Don’t Hold Back, (pdf) pp. 98-99.