Learning is Easy, Unlearning is Difficult

Learning is easy, but unlearning is far more difficult.

It is clearly stated in මජ්ජිම නිකාය that one should learn dharma to explore and live by it rather than to win arguments or persuade others.

I wonder how many of us are doing that.

I think I have said before that we have got lost in some translation issues.

For instance, the true meaning of කාලිහීන is කෙළෙස් නැසූ හෝ කෙළෙස් හීන කල

and not කාලීන, as many of us have been led to believe over the years by those in robes.

This is one reason why I shun sermons by those who are just wrapped in robes because I think I have nothing more to learn from them.

I rather learn something from a real master (someone who is කෙළෙස් නැසූ හෝ කෙළෙස් හීන කල) than try the same with someone who has not even started the very process of self-cleansing, but only pretending and jabbering things that he or she has no grasp of. 

The second question is, if liberation is this difficult, how did those without much formal education and/or background achieve it during Buddha's time?

I believe that liberation is simple, but many in robes are just making it look really complicated, like the quantum theory, simply for their own survival only.

Learning to let go is the right way and practising that continuously without hoping for anything in return, even liberation, will get you there and not listening to a thousand sermons.

The hardest obstacle to clear is "What if?" because fear will not let us attempt that, and if one masters the art of taming fear, then he or she will achieve real liberation.