The " Truth of suffering " starts by the confusion and madness of the
ego.
In Sanskrit
" duhkha " means " suffering ", “dissatisfaction "
and " pain ".
There is always suffering; to lose a friend, to earn money; to find a spouse;
suffering
that somebody looks at you, suffering of failure, suffering in relationships
with others.
Whatever your happiness, you remain irritated and full of wariness.
Sometimes the burden disappears; you feel freer. This will not last, once again, a
new burden!
Resisting suffering
Is the
suffering of suffering
There’s no way out, you try everything to get rid of
suffering,
however it returns, always omnipresent.
The permanent combat and worries are very irritating and painful.
In the long run, the only fact of being " you "
becomes cause of
irritation.
Your life is
impelled here and there by so many energies! Whether you eat, sleep, work, enjoy,
no matter what you do, life contains " duhkha ",dissatisfaction and
pain.
If you suffer, you try to withdraw from the pain;non stop you experience (you
live the experience, alas!) dissatisfaction.
In the world of the ego, all activities
continuously contain dissatisfaction or
pain.
You arrange
your life in such a way to never have time to enjoy the taste of it; you are
always occupied, always running after the moment which comes next, always
wanting to possess.
This is " duhkha ", the " First Noble Truth ".
Understanding
and facing up to suffering is the first step.
THE
SECOND NOBLE TRUTH:" ego, origin of suffering "
When you’ve
taken an acute conscience of your dissatisfaction, you start to seek the reason
of it, the source.
While meditating, you will discover that your thoughts and actions are a
perpetual combat to protect yourself and to give importance to yourself.
You realize that this combat is at the root of suffering and you seek to
understand the process of the struggle:
In other words “how the ego works and develops”.
This is the " Second Noble Truth ", the truth of the origin of
suffering.
Carefully
read the following:
Many among
you make the mistake to think, that since the ego is at the root of suffering,
the goal of spirituality must be to conquer and destroy the ego.
You fight to eliminate the oppressiveness of the ego, but this combat, you now
know, is simply - another aspect of the ego!
You don’t stop to wander around, struggling to try and improve yourself, to
question yourself, until you realize that
The ambition to improve yourself is actually the problem!
Flashes of
lucidity can only reach you when you cease to take the side of " good
thoughts ", " devoutthoughts " against the
" bad thoughts”, " impure ".
Lucidity
arrives when you allow yourself
to simply examine the nature of your thoughts.
At this
stage, you start to realize that within you exists a Quality of
health, of awakening.
In fact, this quality only appears in the absence of combat.
THE
THIRD NOBLE TRUTH:" the goal: ceasing the struggle "
Thus you
discover the " Third Noble Truth ";the truth of the goal which
is without struggle.
Struggle is the ego!
Once you give
up, there’s nobody any more to overcome the struggle; all that disappears. Thus
you see:
It is not a question of conquering the struggle.
Buddha adds
that there’s no need for struggle to be free,
The absence of struggle itself is freedom!
Give up the
effort to secure yourself, to solidify yourself for the State of Awakening to
be present.
The practice
of meditation - in its wholeness - is primarily founded on the situation of the
present moment - here and now – with the state of mind of the moment.
Buddha also discovered that there’s no need to struggle to find answers. He
recommended a practice of meditation which implies " non-interference
",
the mind neither too tense nor too slack
You do not
have to propel yourself into meditation, but let yourself be. Thus you
automatically have a feeling of space and aeration - nature of Buddha - or prime
Intelligence who clears a way through confusion.
THE
FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH:" the simplicity and reality of life "
You’re
starting to take the " Path of Truth ", the
" Fourth
and Noble Truth ", simplicity, like the conscience to walk or eat…
The Spiritual
Path is not a field of roses,
something
sumptuous and pleasant,
but the simple fact of facing the realities of life.
So you don’t struggle any more, you live!
You don't
grow weary of working with life any more;
it‘s an
intense work in joy.
An enormous energy is released when you’ve given up the idea to be the Buddha,
the Illuminated one of your choice, your belief, your religion.
You then find
time to really live life.
You’ve gone
beyond neurotic agitation.
Buddha was not a religious madman; he approached people openly and extremely
wisely; his Wisdom came from a transcendental common way; his teaching was healthy
and open.
If you give up Illumination, then one day Compassion and Wisdom WILL SPRING UP
from you reinforcing your energy and your conviction.
REMEMBER!
THE PRIME INTELLIGENCE ALWAYS SHINES
THROUGH YOUR CONFUSION.
