Understanding Suffering | 27 Sep 2024

Life that is born in this world has no certainty at all.

Aging,

Sickness and death is something that is certain.

In this world there is just impermanence.

All things are impermanent.

But what is permanent is there as well.

Aging,

Sickness and death is permanent,

Real and certain.

But with the mind,

Which we have attachment and clinging,

Then we want to find something that is permanent,

Real and certain.

We get some thing and we want it to be with us always and to not change.

We get this body and we don't want it to change.

But it's because of this nature of change that we're able to look after ourselves.

If we didn't change and we are born and we stay as a baby like that,

How could we get by?

We would be unable to live like that.

So it depends on change,

From being a little baby,

To a child,

To an adult.

But becoming an adult and we want it to stay like that,

To be in a state where it doesn't change,

To not have sickness,

Pain and illness.

Those who have been born,

They age,

Sicken and at times make merit in goodness.

Those who are of a newer generation that are born,

Take over from them to use the resources in this world.

And so we have learnt that whatever it is,

Its natural state is of being aniccang,

Dukkang,

Anatta,

Impermanent,

Unsatisfactory and not-self.

But we don't see it clearly and evidently yet.

There is suffering.

Grief arises,

Coming from separation from loved things.

Because we are not yet accepting things as being normal.

If it's taken as normal already,

Then we see that there isn't anything.

There isn't a person that is born.

There isn't a person who ages,

Sickens and dies.

It is just the changing of natural elements.

There is the mind that is supported by these four elements.

There is this bodily formation that has sensory organs,

And the mind comes to be supported by this body.

So what is it that we have come here for?

If it's someone with wisdom,

They come so that they can build merit and barami,

Spiritual accumulations.

We can suppose that everyone here who in this life is building goodness to this level,

Has come from the deva,

Heavenly realm.

From being a deva,

A divine being,

Where we would have had happiness.

Whatever we wanted to eat,

We could think of it and could have it.

We wanted beautiful clothing and it could appear.

And the body of a deva is transparent.

There are no organs,

Like humans.

No heart,

Liver,

Kidneys,

Intestines,

Lungs,

No bones,

Nothing like that.

It's like we see an image on our phone,

A picture is able to appear on it.

The deva can show itself,

What they are currently eating,

They can dress any way they want.

But this is comparing it to a technological device.

So devas have a characteristic of being transparent like that.

And there is no need for them to digest food.

It's a refined food.

Like astronauts eat something relatively refined to digest.

But the deva's food is more refined than that.

It's a feeling,

Where they can feel full.

So they have all types of happiness.

So here we have been born as humans.

If we could remember our past life,

That we had happiness like that.

And that here in the human realm,

We will have many types of obstacles.

But we know that we will build goodness.

Then we will go back to enjoying that happiness.

Then the obstacles won't be much of a challenge for us.

But it's natural that we must forget our past,

That we have had happiness like that.

We are humans,

So we must struggle and we must learn.

We learn all about suffering,

So that we can see suffering.

For one who has a lot of wisdom,

Even if they have a lot of suffering,

They will get to see suffering and be freed from suffering.

So we must have wisdom.

If someone has a lot of suffering but no wisdom,

Then it's difficult.

So we need to build wisdom.

Experiencing any suffering,

Someone with wisdom will contemplate it.

Contemplate it to see suffering.

We suffer these days,

But it's not seeing the noble truth of suffering.

We forget and enjoy ourselves.

But one day when we truly experience suffering,

Then we can't eat,

We can't sleep.

Sorrow and troubles arise.

So then the question arises,

Why do we suffer?

Are there any people born in this world who don't suffer?

Each person has suffering.

But why is there suffering?

Is it because we don't have food to eat?

No food?

We have food to eat.

No house?

We have a house.

We have a car.

We have work.

So why do we suffer?

When suffering arises,

We have no idea.

From ignorance,

There will be some sort of suffering.

We have wealth and it changes,

And our hearts are troubled by it.

Like we see with the flooding.

One builds a house on the edge of the water,

Builds a beautiful resort,

And one day in the space of one night,

It floods,

It's swept away and is gone.

How much suffering would this be?

But in reality,

The noble disciples in the time of the Buddha had met with more suffering than this.

Suffering from her husband's death.

Her children died.

Father died.

Mother died.

Suffered so much.

Suffered until feeling like they couldn't live anymore.

But due to her barami,

She could meet the Buddha.

She met the Sammasambuddha,

The perfectly self-awakened one,

Who had medicine to cure sickness.

The Buddha was Satadevamanussanam,

The teacher of all devas and human beings.

The Buddha knew how to teach.

He could cure the suffering in the heart of the disciple,

So they could attain to Dhamma.

And it shows they had merit.

So we have suffering as well.

But when we have wisdom,

We see suffering as a noble truth,

And we look for the way out of suffering.

A child suffers like that of a child.

They need to learn and study till they can complete their studies well.

Sometimes when they study well,

Their friends are jealous.

They have friends who are happy for them,

Friends who use them to cheat on their homework,

And friends who get us to teach them.

There are all sorts,

And it's tiring as well.

And we must maintain what we have gotten.

Someone who does well in their exams and gets good grades,

They need to maintain that quality of their studies,

To be that level again or better.

And it's suffering as well.

They may have no time to go out and play around.

They have to just focus on studying.

But one who has wisdom will search and look for the truth,

To see what this is all about.

Where does life come from?

Where are we going?

What are we doing now?

We don't know,

Right?

So we learn about it.

Like sitting meditation is learning about our life.

Of where do we come from and where are we going.

We look at our mind.

How is our mind?

When we go attach and cling,

It is suffering.

So we search for the way out of suffering.

We practice Dhamma to know the truth.

And gaining some understanding,

And the mind progresses.

And we get an idea of what the level of our mind and the level of our Dhamma is.

The mind that has Dhana,

Generosity,

And has Sila,

Moral conduct,

Then we can know that our life has to have come from a high realm,

Which has made us interested in Dhamma,

In learning Dhamma.

This is coming from a high realm.

And so our minds are high.

And we need to cross the realm from a Pratujana,

That is a person that is ordinary,

Who follows their moods and mind states.

They have a mood of desire,

And they follow that mood.

They have a mood of anger,

And they follow the mood.

And they have no quality of Sila.

This is scary already.

But later they progress to see fault in that.

That not having sati,

Mindfulness like this,

And not having the quality of Sila,

Is chaotic.

It can be the cause to go down to a lower realm.

So we establish a foundation in our heart to have the five moral precepts.

We keep Sila first.

What for?

It's so our minds don't get lowered by way of body and speech.

As for the mind,

It is still darkened.

So we train in samadhi,

Concentration.

We train in bringing goodness to the mind.

So then the mind is more complete.

That is,

We abandon wrongdoing,

And we develop merit.

So we come on Saturday or Sunday when we have time,

And we chant and give alms food.

And the heart is joyous and uplifted.

It is an act of giving as well.

For myself,

When I hadn't yet ordained,

I gave alms as well.

I was interested in giving alms.

I would go to make merit on the weekly lunar observance days and keep the eight moral precepts.

When later I had more strength of mind,

I listened to the teachings of the great teachers.

To keep the eight precepts on various important days like Udewa.

And then I kept the eight precepts regularly.

What for?

It was to have time to practice.

When we have no duty and responsibilities,

We have no family,

And we can't do it.

And then in the evening we sit in meditation,

And we have time to bhavana,

To cultivate our minds.

Because our stomachs are empty,

And so we can't sit meditation well.

But if we have family,

We can take the eight precepts on one day on the observance day.

Or it can be on Saturday or Sunday.

So that we have time to train the mind,

Which is training in samadhi.

So that we can progress our minds from an ordinary being to a kalyanacchana,

A person with a beautiful mind.

No matter how much suffering we experience,

We practice,

And we teach the mind to find the path to freedom from suffering.

Later we see suffering more clearly,

And the mind is tranquil as well.

We see suffering with wisdom.

We examine it with wisdom.

Why are we suffering so much?

But there are people who suffer more than us.

One who is born has to meet suffering like this.

So that they can learn from it.

Learning it,

So that it raises the level of our mind.

If we have no suffering,

Then this isn't the human realm.

It's the deva realm.

Being born in the human realm,

Then we have to meet with suffering for sure.

Aging and sickness,

Will we get it?

Sickness,

Pain and various illnesses,

What do we get it for?

Because we have gotten this body.

We are delighted with it,

Right?

At the age when we are strong,

We can eat anything we want.

The body is our servant.

We eat sweet things,

Oily food and salty food.

And the body can adjust itself to handle it all,

To be just right.

But one day our body can't adjust itself anymore.

There is pain and sickness coming up.

We get an illness.

If it's a lot,

Then it's a grave sickness.

There's sickness coming from what we eat,

And sickness coming from a declining body.

This we call the body being a nest of sickness.

Before when I heard that,

I thought,

What is a nest of sickness like?

I was 20-25 years old and didn't really understand it.

But when I practiced and understood it deeper,

I saw the body really is a nest of sickness.

Sickness arises in this body.

It doesn't arise in the air or somewhere out there.

The one in this body suffers and is tortured,

Which is the mind.

So we learn about it,

That sickness of the body is like this.

Is it worth living like this?

If we are born again,

It must be like this again.

But when we have desire and pleasure,

Then we come back to be born again.

When we come to be born,

Then we get aging along with it.

Aging,

Sickness and death doesn't just come up at the time we see it.

It comes up since birth.

When we are born,

Aging,

Sickness and death comes along with it at the same time.

Venerable Ajahn Chah said something worth thinking about.

That if we suffer over this body that is sick or dies,

Crying because someone has died,

Why don't we cry from when they are born?

Because birth is what makes us die.

Can we see it?

And we want to be born again.

So having desire and pleasure,

Then we should know that we have been born already.

Born by way of the mind.

Being born,

Aged,

Sickened and died.

But when we can see this clearly,

It is a person who has died.

But in reality,

We can see it in our own minds.

So today,

May you have a lot of mindfulness.

Watch your mind.

The one who follows and looks after their mind will free themselves from all suffering.

Or from all the mara.

The one which can harm our minds.

So try to train in it.

Have mindfulness.

Then we will be able to do it.

Practice bhavana.

Give up wrongdoing.

Develop merit.

And contemplate the suffering in our heart.

Until our heart is peaceful and tranquil.

Then our facial features are cheerful,

Brightened and joyous.

Our eyes look like we have happiness.

They sparkle.

Why?

Because of the Dhamma.

The Dhamma is what purifies our heart to be joyous.

May you grow in blessings.