The Discourse on Views
A coin has two flat faces, known as obverse and reverse. Colloquially, the obverse is known as the head side, while the reverse is the tail side. Conventionally, a view has two facets: the right or true view and the wrong or false view.
In this discourse, it states that ordinary beings are caught in extreme views and warns against the two extreme views on existence and non-existence, referring to them as the hold-back view and the overreaction view.
Those with the hold-back view take delight in craving and in continued existence. Those who overreact believed that with the destruction of the body at death, the self is annihilated, bringing peace and a sublime end.
However, the Buddha said that both extreme views are to be avoided as misconceptions that prevent liberation. He then offers a third view, which is the right way to see things.
The right view is the adoption of the middle path, with an understanding of the Four Noble Truths: the existence of suffering (stress), the cause of suffering (craving), the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path, based on dependent origination, as the path to end suffering.
Only those with vision, referring to the awakening beings, see the ultimate truth, that is, see things as they truly are.
Listen to this dhamma talk for a guide which leads us toward seeing things as they are as an awakening being.
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