Ajahn Chah

Is there anywhere it can be touched without getting burnt?

Is there anywhere at all that is cool?

Try touching it on the top, the sides or underneath.

Is there a single spot that can be found that's cool?

Impossible.

this searing lump of iron is entirely red-hot.

We can't even attach to serenity.

If we identify with that peace, assuming that there is someone who is calm and serene, this reinforces the sense

that there is an independent self or soul.

This sense of self is part of conventional reality.

Thinking, I'm peaceful, I'm agitated, I'm good, I'm bad, I'm happy or I'm unhappy.

We are caught in more existence and birth.

It's more suffering.

If our happiness vanishes, then we're unhappy instead.

When our sorrow vanishes, then we're happy again.

Caught in this endless cycle,

we revolve repeatedly through heaven and hell.

Before his enlightenment, the Buddha recognized this pattern in his own heart.

He knew that the conditions for existence and rebirth had not yet ceased.

His work was not yet finished.