The Lord Buddha found the path leading us out of suffering.
He said 1. There is suffering, 2. there is a cause why we suffer, 3. this suffering can be abandoned, 4. and here is the path that will lead you out of suffering. This is the simple yet profound teaching of the Buddha. I love Lord Buddha!
There is suffering in all levels of Samsara, in varying intensity. Here as I am stuck in the human realm I am confronted with my karmic bagful of them. My first instinct would be to just suffer and make what has already occurred far worse by building a victim-self or self-righteous-angry self. I can however take on Buddha’s advice and let go of my clinging to views and simply know things as they are with mindfulness without having craving or aversion towards the condition. Maybe if I hold that view with calm awareness a new insight will automatically arise transforming my conditioned response and catapulting me into a deeper insight and understanding!
Here is my attempt to soothe my suffering using some Buddhist wisdom and squiggly drawings.
PROBLEM 1:
TO SUFFER: Everyday I clean and then everyday the house is back to being messy! Am I the only one who thinks of putting things away in the right place? There is just disrespect and lack of mindfulness in everyone around me! Grrrrr I feel so angry and yet I cannot really say anything and even when I say something everyone gets defensive. I just want to leave this all and live alone and be somewhere I am not surrounded by distracted, unmindful, messy humans!! They just don’t value me or think of respecting me…that’s why this terrible behavior!!! I want to run away!!
TO PRACTISE NOT SUFFERING: Lets just observe the situation and consider why without adding the me story and aversion… Hmm…so everyday I come back to see things have got messy again…well that’s the nature of life…degeneration. Why are the other humans in the house not doing something to clean up? Maybe it’s not important for them, maybe they are so lost in their world that they are ok with things being messy…maybe it makes them feel comfortable. I know it doesn’t make me comfortable…and we do live together in the same house…maybe I can ask for support in a calmer wiser way without triggering them into getting defensive. And finally if it doesn’t work…get a part-time cleaner in…so I feel less burdened! Overall learning it’s a small problem and if i look at this situation with wisdom and compassion I don’t need to suffer. Clean up my perspective!
PROBLEM 2:
TO SUFFER: Oh no this is going downhill. Looking at the mirror I see how the years have left a mark. And I am just fifty…this is only going to get worse. In addition I feel so grumpy some days…the inevitable hormonal shifts making me moody. My digestive system more sensitive than before, ouch definitely the body degenerates. Yes regular yoga practise and eating right helps…but somedays it all feels so damn miserable.
TO PRACTISE NOT SUFFERING: Hmm…am I the first person experiencing this? Well no…and it’s kind of inevitable. All that is born is subject to aging, illness and death. Besides if I look at my body simply as a body made up of the same elements that all bodies are made up of, they all came programmed to decay. Sorry but no amount of anti-aging is going to stop it…delay it might, but finally the jaws of the death machine is going to chew us up throwing us out the other end to whatever next rebirth based on our karma. Actually as I watch my own face and get a bit dismayed at it’s demise it could be good spiritual practise. This body is made up of hair,skin, organs, blood, phlegm pus etc. And when I was younger l probably felt a bit arrogant and more self conscious or put extra emphasis on getting dressed or looking after my hair and skin to appear attractive. Put too much value and effort on how I looked. I am actually free of the tyranny of having to be beautiful and attractive to others or to myself for that matter. Let my body just be…I have better things to do! Cultivate a beautiful mind instead.
PROBLEM 3:
TO SUFFER: On certain days when the reality of suffering strikes I realise how full of ignorance my life has been. I have chased things and moved away from things often driven by strong passion or aversion. So many decisions I could have taken differently, how i let myself down by not sticking to principles. How I have run after the promise of love and security from people or things only to realise that it’s not there. So here I am keenly aware more than ever before that a lot of my goals and aims of life are really not worth pursuing anymore. And yes having chased many of these I am now left with the karmic overflow of those pursuits which doesn’t suit me anymore but hey I can’t just get up and leave. So now what? Ugggghhhh!
TO PRACTISE NOT SUFFERING: This is the human condition…or more broadly the condition of the Samsara. We are all swinging between the extremes of like and dislike and living in a grand delusion. An initial waking up is painful…painful as it all looks quite miserable. No more do I have hope that the external conditions will magically change to dish up my perfect expectation of life…and even if it did…it will degenerate and my likes and dislikes will change. Ha ha yes as a conditioned being things are just this way. If I take a step back I can observe and understand better why certain actions in life have made me miserable and certain actions have led me to a better place. At least though things are impermanent, ultimately unsatisfying at least they are predictable. There is the law of karma or action. So from here on I can spend time cultivating wholesome actions towards a better life. Old karmic imprints will catch up…but I can be present with them with wisdom and patient endurance. That’s walking towards freedom from suffering in little steps.
I think Leo wants some food…I’ll start with the wholesome activity of feeding my cat!
Add a Comment