When I observe myself and find that I am generating anger, ill will, or animosity, I realize that I am the first victim of the hatred or animosity I am generating within myself. Only afterwards do I start harming others. And if I am free from these negativities, nature or God Almighty starts rewarding me: I feel so peaceful.

One who has love and compassion with a pure heart experiences the Kingdom of Heaven within. This is the Law of Nature, or if one would rather, God’s will.

The Buddha never taught a sectarian religion; he taught Dhamma - the way to liberation - which is universal.

When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappears.

This direct experience of our own inner reality, this technique of self-observation, is what is called Vipassana meditation. In the language of India in the time of the Buddha, passana meant seeing in the ordinary way, with one's eyes open; but vipassana is observing things as they actually are, not just as they appear to be. Apparent truth has to be penetrated, until we reach the ultimate truth of the entire psycho-physical structure. When we experience this truth, then we learn to stop reacting blindly, to stop creating negativities—and naturally the old ones are gradually eradicated. We become liberated from misery and experience true happiness.

This is Vipassana: experiencing one's own reality by the systematic and dispassionate observation within oneself of the ever-changing mind-matter phenomenon manifesting itself as sensations. This is the culmination of the teaching of the Buddha: self-purification by self-observation.

However pleasant the sensation, it is not eternal; however unpleasant the sensation, it is not eternal. It arises and sooner or later passes away. The entire field of mind and matter is impermanent, transient, inconstant, changing. This is not mere philosophy, it is experiential truth. As long as we are in this impermanent, transient, changing field, we are in the field of suffering. How to go beyond this field?

If one continues to observe equanimously, one after another all the deeper sankhara (mental reaction or mental conditioning) will arise and pass away. When they are all eradicated, then one experiences the ‘deathless’—something beyond mind and matter, where nothing arises, and therefore nothing passes away—the indescribable stage of nibbana (the ultimate truth of liberation).

If you generate craving and aversion in the mind, you are bound to become miserable. If you want to come out of your misery, then get rid of craving and aversion. This is just the law of nature, and this law is applicable in every culture.

One learns the art of dying by learning the art of living: how to become master of the present moment.