..續本文上一頁Ajahn Chah used to say it”s like someone who goes into the army to become a soldier, and then goes on to complain about being shot at and being wounded. What do you expect when you join the army

　　 That”s what happens. What do you expect when you become a human being

　　 It”s suffering.

　　Sometimes in the world, people run away from suffering, they hide from it. You ask them how they are and they say, "I”m doing fine today", even though they are going through porces, psychotherapy, chemotherapy or the like. They keep on saying they are ”fine” because that is what we are supposed to say in this world. That”s what”s expected of us. If only people were really honest, you”d ask them how they are and they”d say, "I”m bloomin awful today - I”ve got a headache, I”ve got a stomach ache, the family is causing me all sorts of trouble, I feel rotten." If most people were honest, that”s what they would say. If they really knew what was going on, that”s what they would say. There”s nothing wrong with recognising the suffering of existence. It”s being honest and having the courage to face up to the truth.

　　How many people do you know who are happy - really happy, really content

　　 Not just people who say they are happy but people who really are happy. The only people I have ever seen in my forty-eight years of life who are happy are the Enlightened Ones (Arahants) whom I have had the good fortune to meet. Other than that, nobody! When you understand this you understand the First Noble Truth, that the very nature of life is suffering, and you understand it in the very deepest of senses.

　　We have this world of the five senses. When we analyse it in the way the Lord Buddha asked us to, we use wisdom to ask, "Well, what is this world anyway, this world is made up of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and mind

　　" When we analyse it in that way, we can see that what we see, hear, taste, and touch by their very nature are part of the duality of happiness and suffering. Even the food we get here which is so wonderful, after a while it”s not good enough. If we had rotten food here as I had in my first years of being a monk, after a while we would get to like it. It”s just contrast, that”s all. The happiness and suffering of the senses are just contrast.

　　I”ve known people who went to great restaurants, and because the food wasn”t quite up to the standard it was the week before, they got upset and complained. Whereas other people would be glad just to get anything to eat because they hadn”t eaten for days. With the same food, why is it that some people find it joyful and others find it full of suffering

　　 Just contrast, that”s all!

　　Whatever you take to be happiness in the world is all of the same nature. Take sexual happiness, most of that is just the excitement of wanting beforehand. When that happiness is reached it becomes exhausted in no time. Sexual desire is basically a hunger, a thirst, a state of separation from what you want, and you take that to be happiness! What the Buddha said is suffering, you take to be happiness!

　　It”s craving you take to be happiness. But actually, the craving, the thirst, the stressing out to try and reach something that is always beyond your grasp, is suffering. Wanting is suffering. The trying to achieve what you want, the manipulating, the thinking, the planning, that”s all suffering.

　　How much time have you wasted in this rains retreat planning, manipulating and thinking about how you can get what you want

　　 How much more freedom would you have if you had no wants at all and didn”t need to plan

　　 When all the manipulation or craving is abandoned, can you understand the peace and contentment that will come then

　　Pulling Out The Thorn

　　Often, when there is great pain in the body, or when there is great disturbance in the mind, …

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