The Ending of Dukkha Is Now

We can say that the retreat formally closes this evening; this is the last day. But what really makes today special? The mind creates time, schedules. We come to human agreements. We say ‘beginning,’ ‘ending.’ These are all qualities that are imputed, determined, agreed upon. They don’t have any existence in and of themselves.

As Luang Por Chah said, ‘The things of this world are merely perceptions of our own creation. Having established them, we get lost in them, giving rise to all kinds of trouble and confusion.’ So we say, beginning of a retreat, end of a retreat, succeeding, failing, recovering, degenerating. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, January, February, March, April. The mind puts labels upon particular patterns of experience. But the Dhamma is here and now, regardless of what those labels may be.

We call something a failure, and then we turn around and realize that it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We call something a success, then we realize it was the cause for intense misery. So, success, failure, good, bad; the Dhamma is ever present, here and now. The ending of dukkha is now. It’s not over there. It’s not when the retreat finishes. It’s not when I get time by myself. It’s not when my knees stop hurting. It is now. It is always now.

But the mind misses it because of its intoxication in like and dislike, success and failure, competition, jealousy, fear, desiring, regretting, criticizing, hoping. The list goes on. If the mind wakes up to this present reality, completion, peace, freedom is right here. It is not somewhere else, at some other time, when I’ve become something else. The Dhamma is complete, perfect and ever present. Here and now. It always is; it cannot not be.

We feel the pull of those compulsions: disliking, fearing, hoping, wanting, regretting, reminiscing. We feel the pull on the heart. But that pull is just like the wind in the branches of a tree, the wind between our fingers, the sun falling on our skin. It is just an impression. It might be a very convincing impression, but it is just an impression. A feeling in the heart that says, ‘I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta. But I’ve got to!’ or ‘This isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact.’

In that moment, it is so convincing. But if there is wisdom, then wisdom will tell us, ‘Yes, it really feels like it is a fact.’ ‘It really feels like this is awful,’ or ‘… this is wonderful,’ ‘… this is a disaster,’ ‘… this is a great blessing.’ It really feels that way. It’s a feeling. It can’t be more than a feeling. Wisdom knows this.

If you bring the eye of attentive, reflective wisdom to focus upon any experience – steadily, clearly – they’re all revealed to be the same way. It is just a feeling, a pull on the heart. The pull of wanting, hoping, regretting, longing, resenting. It is just like the wind blowing from the north or the south or the east or the west. It is just the feeling of the wind.

The ending of dukkha is now.

This reflection by Ajahn Amaro is from the article, “The End of Dukkha Is Now.”