..续本文上一页et go of it and cast it away. But we think, I can”t let go. So we keep carrying it, and it keeps getting heavier. This is birth creating the cause for heaviness

　　Going a little further, do you know if craving has its limits

　　 At what point will it be satisfied

　　 Is there such a thing

　　 If you consider it, you will see that tanha, blind craving, can”t be satisfied. It keeps on desiring more and more; even if this brings such suffering that we are nearly dead, tanha will keep on wanting things, because satisfaction is not possible for it.

　　This is something important. If we people could think in a balanced and moderate way--well, let”s talk about clothes. How many sets do we need

　　 And food--how much do we eat

　　 At the most, for one meal we might eat two plates, and that”s enough for us. If we know moderation, then we will be happy and comfortable, but this is not very common.

　　The Buddha taught the Santitigatha, the Instructions for the Rich. It means being content with what we have. That is a rich person. This is the instruction for the rich.

　　I think this kind of knowledge is really worth studying. The knowledge taught in the Buddha”s way is something worth learning, worth reflecting on. First, it teaches the way of ethical living. If we have enough material sustenance to support our lives, then we can use this to block the way to the lower realms.

　　Then, the pure Dharma of practice goes beyond that. It”s a lot deeper. Some of you may not be able to understand it. Just take the Buddha”s words that there is no more birth for him, that birth and becoming are finished. Hearing this makes you uncomfortable. To state it directly, the Buddha said that we should not be born, because that is suffering. Just this one thing, birth, the Buddha focused on, contemplating it and realizing its gravity. Being born, all dukkha comes along with that. It happens simultaneously with birth. When we come into this world, we get eyes, a mouth, a nose--it all comes along, only because of birth. But if we hear about dying and not being born again, we feel it would be utter ruination. We don”t want to go there. But the deepest teaching of the Buddha is like this.

　　Why are we suffering now

　　 Because we were born. So we are taught to put an end to birth. This is not just talking about the body being born and the body dying. That much is easy to see--a child can understand it. The breath comes to an end, the body dies, and then it just lies there. This is what we usually mean when we talk about death. But a breathing dead person--that”s something we don”t know about. A dead person who can walk and talk and smile is something we haven”t thought about. We only know about the corpse that”s no longer breathing. That”s what we call death.

　　It”s the same with birth. When we say someone has been born, we mean that a woman went to the hospital and gave birth. But the moment of the mind taking birth--have you noticed that, such as when you get upset over something at home

　　 Sometimes love is born. Sometimes aversion is born. Being pleased, being displeased--all sorts of states. This is all nothing but birth.

　　We suffer just because of this. When the eyes see something displeasing, dukkha is born. The ears hear something that you really like, and dukkha is also born. There is only suffering.

　　The Buddha summed it up by saying that there is only a mass of suffering. Suffering is born and suffering ceases. That”s all there is. We pounce on and grab at it again and again, pouncing on arising, pouncing on cessation, never really understanding it.

　　When dukkha arises, we call that suffering. When it ceases, we call that happiness. It”s all old stuff, arising and ceasing. We are taught to watch body and mind arising and ceasing. There”s nothing else outside of this…

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