Page 159 - Dhamma Practice

Guidance for the Closing Ceremony
Dhamma greetings to all practitioners. Today is the last day of our 7 day/6 night course. I have seen that everyone have shown their commitment to really practice vipassana, to really learn dhamma. I am glad that all the practitioners have shown their dedication. The Buddha’s dhamma is an important thing. Dhamma is important to our lives. Part of our lives involves worldly affairs— conventional and descriptive reality (sammut-pannatti). But, we also need to constantly remind ourselves of the importance of the ultimate reality and truth (paramattha sacca). If we rely on this truth, we would not suffer.
Everything on this earth is governed by the Three Characteristics of Beings—they emerge, exist, and cease. They are all non-self (anatta), they cannot be controlled and they do not claim themselves to be “ours”. There are only physical and mental phenomena, corporeality and mind—they depend on each other. Everything in our lives proceeds according to their causes and conditions, based on our past actions (kamma), and current actions that would have consequences in the future.
The dhamma that we have learnt: The way to make our mind empty and unburdened; the way to create our own happiness; the way to contemplate the Three Characteristics of Beings; and the emergence-cessation
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