THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS By Ajahn Sumedho - DharmaFlower.Net

something else - so it is not really enlightenment. It is only aperception of enlightenment. However, I am not talking about anykind of perception but about being alert to the way things are. Thepresent moment is what we can actually observe: we can’t observetomorrow yet, and we can only remember yesterday. But Buddhistpractice is very immediate to the here and now, looking at the waythings are.Now how do we do that? Well, first we have to look at our doubts andfears - because we get so attached to our views and opinions thatthese take us into doubt about what we are doing. Someone mightdevelop a false confidence believing that they are enlightened. Butbelieving that you are enlightened or believing that you are notenlightened are both delusions. What I am pointing to is beingenlightened rather than believing in it. And for this, we need to beopen to the way things are.We start with the way things are as they happen to be right now -such as the breathing of our bodies. What has that to do with Truth,with enlightenment? Does watching my breath mean that I amenlightened? But the more you try to think about it and figure outwhat it is, the more uncertain and insecure you’ll feel. All we can do inthis conventional form is to let go of delusion. That is the practice ofthe Four Noble Truths and the development of the Eightfold Path.