A Driveless Bus

Years ago I gave the simile of "the driverless bus".

It's like you're driving through life in a bus, and you get pleasant experiences and unpleasant experiences. You think it's your fault; or you think that it's the driver's fault.

"Why is it that the driver doesn't drive into pleasant country and stay there for a long time? Why does he always drive into unpleasant territory and stay there a long time?"

You want to find out who is controlling this journey called "my life".

Why is it that you experience so much pain and suffering? You want to find out where the driver is, the driver of these five aggregates (Khandhas): body, feeling, perception, mentality and consciousness - the driver of you.

After doing a lot of meditation and listening to the Dhamma, you finally go up to where the driver's seat is in the bus, and you find it's empty!

It shocks you at first, but it gives you so much relief to know there's no one to blame.

How many people blame somebody when there is suffering? They either blame God, or they blame their parents, or they blame the government, or they blame the weather, or they blame some sickness they have, and in the last resort if they can't find anyone else to blame, they blame themselves.

It's stupidity. There is no one to blame!

Look inside and see it's empty, "a driverless bus". When you see non-self (Anatta), you see there is no one to blame; it's Anatta.

The result is that you go back into your seat and just enjoy the journey. If it's a driverless bus, what else can you do?

You sit there when you go through pleasant experiences, "just pleasant experiences that's all".

You go through painful experiences, "just painful experiences, that's all".

It's just a driverless bus.


Extract from: The Ending of Things, by Venerable Ajahn Brahmavamso