There is conditional and unconditional peace. Conditional peace is what we get in the right circumstances. That's when we have a short breather, take a walk in the park, or go on holiday. Another type of peace is when we are not bothered by other things or people, and can just do what we do without interruption. There is also the internal peace, when either because of good mood, or from a meditative state we feel calm. Unconditional peace is the lack of intention.
If we want peace, we want to remove ourselves from disturbing circumstances and be in an environment that pleases us. The coarse form of that desire is when we want to satisfy a craving, so that it disappears. The subtle form is when we just want to be left alone, free from worry and excitement. However, both types have only very limited and unstable results. We are easily get sick with too much sensory pleasures, and soon get bored when there is nothing to do. Therefore, what actually ruins our peace is ourselves, we always want to move on to something else.
To gain unconditional peace, we should see the process of how our peace becomes disturbance. In order to see it, we need to learn to be undisturbed, otherwise we just occupy ourselves with all sorts of other things we can crave for. And we also need to know what to look for. That's what the threefold training in discipline, meditation, and wisdom is about. In other words, that is the path taught by the Buddha.
What is lack of intention? It is when we clearly see that all conditions are completely unstable, therefore we cannot expect any peace from them, hence there is nowhere to hang on to. In other words, we do not establish ourselves as a condition (whereby we mistake something to be stable), nor in relation to a condition (again, supposing something stable). What is important to understand is that there is nothing else but conditions. Even our deepest thoughts, feelings, and whatever we regard as our being, is conditioned. When we see that it's conditioned, there is nothing to intend toward, nothing to aim for, nothing to rely on. At the same time, even intention is conditioned. So, there is no change of whatever is conditioned, it is just seeing all conditioned as conditioned, and that is unconditional peace.
If we want peace, we want to remove ourselves from disturbing circumstances and be in an environment that pleases us. The coarse form of that desire is when we want to satisfy a craving, so that it disappears. The subtle form is when we just want to be left alone, free from worry and excitement. However, both types have only very limited and unstable results. We are easily get sick with too much sensory pleasures, and soon get bored when there is nothing to do. Therefore, what actually ruins our peace is ourselves, we always want to move on to something else.
To gain unconditional peace, we should see the process of how our peace becomes disturbance. In order to see it, we need to learn to be undisturbed, otherwise we just occupy ourselves with all sorts of other things we can crave for. And we also need to know what to look for. That's what the threefold training in discipline, meditation, and wisdom is about. In other words, that is the path taught by the Buddha.
What is lack of intention? It is when we clearly see that all conditions are completely unstable, therefore we cannot expect any peace from them, hence there is nowhere to hang on to. In other words, we do not establish ourselves as a condition (whereby we mistake something to be stable), nor in relation to a condition (again, supposing something stable). What is important to understand is that there is nothing else but conditions. Even our deepest thoughts, feelings, and whatever we regard as our being, is conditioned. When we see that it's conditioned, there is nothing to intend toward, nothing to aim for, nothing to rely on. At the same time, even intention is conditioned. So, there is no change of whatever is conditioned, it is just seeing all conditioned as conditioned, and that is unconditional peace.
