More inspired words

When you can separate the mind from its involvement with all things, the mind is no longer tied to sorrow. Whether sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or tactile sensations are good or bad depends on the mind’s going out to fashion them in that way. When the mind lacks discernment, it misunderstands things. When it misunderstands things, it gets deluded under the influence of all things that are binding, both physically and mentally.

The ill effects and punishments we suffer physically are things from which other people can help free us, to at least some extent. But the ill effects within the mind, to which the mind is in bondage through defilement and craving, are things from which we have to learn to free ourselves on our own.

“The noble ones have freed themselves from ill effects of both sorts, which is why suffering and stress can’t overcome them.”

This reflection by Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo is from the book, Gifts He Left Behind: The Dhamma Legacy of Phra Ajaan Dune Atulo, (pdf) p.20, translated into English by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.