As long as the flavor of Lord Buddha 's words lingers, there will always be some people who have had more than enough material food, are fed up and bored, and will begin searching for a higher quality of nourishment. These spiritual people will continue to nourishment. These spiritual people will continue to encounter some form of "mind -food" and ponder its flavor anew. There are many higher paths to take after getting your fill of the world.

Let us imagine that we are at the seaside: Some people are out there drowning, while some people's heads bob up and down managing to stay above water as they search for the shore. If we expand our view of people in this way, we can see that some are looking for the shore, others can see the shore, others are swimming towards land, some are very close to the beach, others are standing in shallow water, and some have made it ashore and are able to walk on the beach and sit comfortably. What group are you in? No one can answer this better than yourself!

There are many levels of spiritual food with many different tastes. Therefore, at any given time it is only natural that people will go around tasting and getting their fill of different things. We can see, however, that there are some people who do not overindulge in this world in the same way that their peers do.

Getting up on land involves eating the spiritual food we have been talking about. These days, there are very few people who are interested in this spiritual food, because few know that there is "land" or even think of climbing up on "land."

Those who become immersed in the world and drown in it only realize the material world and its desires, which we have called physical or mundane sustenance. When you only know this one dimension, you refuse to believe that the land or the transmundane exists - just like a fish.

The sea and the land meet and are only separated by a fine line. Fish, however, cannot know or imagine what life on land is like. Nibbana is like an island of refuge, but there are very few people who make the supreme effort to swim to it. The same is true for birds caught in a trap - very few ever escape the grasp of the hunter.

Those who have never tasted sweetness should not contend that it does not exist in this world. They should look for some sugar to taste in order to find out for themselves what sweetness is all about. Similarly, those who have yet to attain nibbana should not deny its existence. They should strive to taste it for themselves.

Those who have never tasted something sweet cannot describe what it is like - they can only go around saying "sweet, sweet." This taste is difficult to explain, just like the taste of nibbana. The taste of nibbana is many times more difficult to explain than the tastes on your tongue - and similes and hypotheses still do not help to convey it.

Don't talk frivolously about the taste of nibbana - even the taste of solitude or the initial stages of concentration are difficult to describe and pin down. This is because these flavors are strange, exotic, and different from those usually experienced by worldly people.

As soon as we partake of the highest penetrating insight, all mental obscurities are sloughed off and the tranquillity of nibbana is experienced. It is difficult to make this generally understood; it is a taste difficult to describe. Even though I would like to tell you about it, I am not exactly sure how to put it.

When we bathe, we experience the freshness of the water. When the mind attains the final goal, it experiences the tranquillity of nibbana. This tranquillity is a special, spiritual food of the highest order.

Peace means the tranquillity that comes from a mind that has attained nibbana or a condition of openness and emptiness that constitutes freedom, a going beyond all things: beyond body and mind, and beyond all the laws limiting body and mind. It is something that no one can put limitations on, except in a hypothetical sense.

When the mind is progressively fed and nurtured to the point of attaining nibbana - having eliminated all stains and misguided tendencies - it continues to be nourished by the taste of nibbana. Peace is the flavor of nibbana! And the peaceful mind provides sustenance for other things!

Nibbana is the result of penetrating insight; it provides the spiritual sustenance that comes from completely penetrating all of life's problems. At its initial stage, this penetration can be called embarking on the Path, beginning the way.

True artists seek happiness by knowing themselves and successfully attaining difficult goals. Artists are not satisfied with the money or prizes they receive - these things are the possessions of businessmen.

Penetrating insight comes as the result of surmounting difficult problems; and this insight is a form of spiritual nourishment that comes from the confidence we experience after having successful solved our problems. This kind of insight is of a higher order; it is more valuable than the resources of a clever salesman, and even materialists will admit that this insight constitutes happiness.

People who realize that they are hung up on one of life's problems - and are incessantly being dragging down by delusion (at a base or subtle level) - can overcome his problem by thinking for themselves and asking advice from others who know. Once people have correctly assessed the situation, they can completely overcome their problems, receive clear insight, and experience true happiness.

Isn't it amazing how mentally disturbed people can treat their own disorders by opening up being willing to listen to the teachings of other people - they can continue to treat and observe themselves, until they gradually overcome their condition.

Merely studying the Dhamma yields speculation or hypothetical knowledge based on reasoning; penetrating insight occurs in the minds of those who have experienced truth in the course of their studies. True practice of the Dhamma involves piercing the curtain of ignorance.

A person can experience penetrating insight into disturbances and delusions, into phenomena that could overcome the mind because it could not keep up with them. This insight severs the roots of all types of delusions: it does away with doubts related to misunderstanding, misguided infatuations, hatred, and confusion. It makes the mind supremely bright, calm, and tranquil.