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THE THREE FIRES

There is a factor that enters, and increases suffering and conflict - the intensity of it, or compulsion urging some action.
'I' may be told to go and make a cup of tea and, though it does not suit me at that moment, I go and make it without further ado. But if the same request comes at a, to' me' most unsuitable moment, when I am engrossed in something to 'me' important, or when 'I' feel tired or pre-occupied, something hot may rear up in me, and before 'I' know what has happened, that something hot has snapped out a blistering retort and objection.
This 'something hot' that arises, usually so fast that 'I' am quite unaware of it thus overwhelming 'me' with its burning intensity, this the Buddha aptly called the Fires, and he distinguished three types :-

  • Delusion/Ignorance

  • Greed/Desire

  • Hate/Aversion/Anger

It is easy to recognise the heat in the latter two, but what about Delusion/Ignorance?
Who is it who wants so hotly, or who is so blisteringly angry? Surely it is 'I' with 'my' views and opinions as well as 'my' likes and dislikes - in short, 'my' fancies, however reasonable these may seem to 'me', in a Fired state.

This delusion is a fire, clearly so, it is also the first link that binds us to the Wheel of Becoming.
Thus bound, we continue in that seemingly endless round of suffering (Samsara). It is from this that the Buddha points out the Way. "Suffering I teach and the Way out of suffering". Suffering is based on this delusion of 'I'; hence the importance of clearly seeing the connection, the importance of the teaching of Anatta

Insight, genuine insight, into the truth that the Five Aggregates are void of a permanent entity, void of an abiding 'I', is deliverance from the Fires, deliverance from suffering.
In Buddhism this deliverance is called Nirvana (Nibbana).

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