“….If we meet the Buddha or his enlightened disciples, we will be able to receive their teachings that instruct us to discard our sensual craving that habitually uses the body as a means to seek happiness. They teach in this way because the body is not lasting or reliable.
When the body is healthy, we can use it according to our wishes. But when it deteriorates or is not able to function, our mind will be very distressed. We may not even want to live anymore. People with physical disabilities who are paralyzed and cannot use their body at all, who cannot take trips to various places, might often be easily agitated, annoyed, or in a bad mood.
Sometimes, they may even think of killing themselves. This is the harm that comes from clinging to the body out of sensual craving. If we do not have sensual or sexual desire, then it’s not necessary to use the body. If we do not want to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch various things, then having a body is not necessary. So having met Buddhism, we learn something that will enable us to relinquish our clinging and attachment to the body and the corresponding sexual desire.
Buddhism teaches us that there is a much greater happiness than the pleasure obtained from the body. This exalted happiness is simply a peaceful and calm mind. ‘Natthi santi paramaṁ sukhaṁ.’ There is no happiness in the world comparable to the happiness that comes from a peaceful mind. It is this that we do not understand. If we had not met Buddhism, we would never know the way that allows us to experience this happiness and maintain it forever.
Our mind never dies and the happiness within our mind does not deteriorate along with the body. This body by its very nature has to deteriorate, but when our happiness does not rely on the body as its tool, our happiness that comes from peace of mind will not deteriorate along with the body.
When our body reaches the end of its lifespan, our mind can still be happy. As an example, Luangpu Chob, even though he was paralysed and had to sit in a wheel chair, was still smiling and brimming with happiness. His mind certainly did not lack happiness. He did not need to use the body as a means to seek satisfaction. Instead he used Dhamma to provide his mind with peace and joy…”
By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto
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