How to Be Free from Suffering

In the course of cultivation, the ignorance of the manas is gradually extinguished, the afflictions are extinguished, and self-grasping is extinguished. When the manas has no mind toward the three realms, the dharmas of the three realms will be extinguished. In the end, the manas will inevitably cease, and one enters Nirvāṇa without remainder, in tranquility and coolness. Ignorance is the fundamental and primary cause of birth-and-death and saṃsāra. If ignorance is not extinguished, the mental formations do not cease, and the craving and desire within the three realms do not cease, so the suffering of birth-and-death does not cease. However, sentient beings have become accustomed to the suffering of birth-and-death—like those who dwell long in a latrine pit and no longer smell its stench—they do not feel that birth-and-death is great suffering, nor do they feel that there is great suffering within birth-and-death. They cling to birth-and-death without end. When sentient beings do not wish to awaken, even if the Buddha comes, He cannot save them.