The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering : หน้า 117/263

The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: A Conclusion The Lord Buddha taught that the cessation of suffering can be effected by extinguishing all craving through the prac- tice of the Noble Eightfold Path — uprooting it irreversibly from the mind [samucchēdapāhāṇa]. Once craving has been extinguished, suffering cannot return — and this is why the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is sometimes known by the epithet ‘the extinguishing of suffering’. It is our nature for the mind to be the prime mover in all things in keeping with the Buddhist proverb: Manopubbangama dhamma . . . Phenomena are preceded by the mind, are led by the mind, succeed through the mind Thus, whether we feel happiness or suffering depends on our state of mind — whether we are subject to Right View [sammā ditthi] or False View [micchā diṭṭhi] depends on our mind — no other factor is so important — and this is why in Bud- dhism we put so much emphasis on the training of the mind. In connection with the training of the mind Phra- monkothépmuni (Luang Phaw Wat Paknam) taught that ‘stopping is the secret of all success’. By ‘stopping’ he meant bringing the mind to a natural standstill at the seventh base of the mind. Our mind is composed of perception, filtering, processing and knowing (see diagram p.127) which each have the form of consecutively nested spheres in the mind. The outermost sphere is the sphere of perception and the inner- most one is the sphere of knowing. For as long as all four spheres are nested together at the centre of the body, you will be able to perceive the trailhead to Nirvana (Pāṭhama Magga sphere). However, for most people, for most of the time, the mind tends to be distracted away from the centre of the body