 |
|
THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH
'There is suffering, dukkha.
Dukkha should be understood.
Dukkha has been understood'.
What
is the Noble Truth of Suffering? Birth is suffering,
ageing is suffering, and death is suffering. Dissociation
from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants
is suffering:
in short the five categories affected by clinging
are suffering.
There is this Noble Truth of Suffering: such was the
vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose
in me about things not heard before.
This Noble Truth must be penetrated by fully understanding
suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing,
and light that arose in me about things not heard
before.
This Noble Truth has been penetrated by fully understandingsuffering:
such was the vision,insight, wisdom, knowing andlight
that arose in me about things not heard before.
[Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11]
This is a very skilful teaching because it is expressed
in a simple formula which is easy to remember, and
it also applies to everything that you can possibly
experience or do or think concerning the past, the
present or the future.
Suffering or dukkha is the common bond we all share.
Everybody everywhere suffers. Human beings suffered
in the past, in ancient India; they suffer in modern
Britain; and in the future, human beings will also
suffer.... What do we have in common with Queen Elizabeth?
- we suffer. With a tramp in Charing Cross, what do
we have in common? - suffering. It includes all levels
from the most privileged human beings to the most
desperate and underprivileged ones, and all ranges
in between. Everybody everywhere suffers. It is a
bond we have with each other, something we all understand.
When
we talk about our human suffering, it brings out out
compassionate tendencies. But when we talk about our
opinions, about what I think and what you think about
politics and religion, then we can get into wars.
I remember seeing a film in London about ten years
ago. It tried to portray Russian people as human beings
by showing Russian women with babies and Russian men
taking their children out for picnics. At the time,
this presentation of the Russian people was unusual
because most of the propaganda of the West made them
out to be titanic monsters or cold-hearted, reptilian
people - and so you never thought of them as human
beings. If you want to kill people, you have to make
them out to be that way; you cannot very well kill
somebody if you realise they suffer the way you do.
You have to think that they are cold-hearted, immoral,
worthless and bad, and that it is better to get rid
of them. You have to think that they are evil and
that it is good to get rid of evil. With this attitude,
you might feel justified in bombing and machine-gunning
them. If you keep in mind our common bond of suffering,
that makes you quite incapable of doing those things.
The First Noble Truth is not a dismal metaphysical
statement saying that everything is suffering. Notice
that there is a difference between a metaphysical
doctrine in which you are making a statement about
The Absolute and a Noble Truth which is a reflection.
A Noble Truth is a truth to reflect upon; it is not
an absolute; it is not The Absolute. This is where
Western people get very confused because they interpret
this Noble Truth as a kind of metaphysical truth of
Buddhism - but it was never meant to be that.
You can see that the First Noble Truth is not an absolute
statement because of the Fourth Noble Truth, which
is the way of non-suffering. You cannot have absolute
suffering and then have a way out of it, can you?
That doesn't make sense. Yet some people will pick
up on the First Noble Truth and say that the Buddha
taught that everything is suffering.
The Pali word, dukkha, means 'incapable of satisfying'
or 'not able to beat or withstand anything': always
changing, incapable of truly fulfilling us or making
us happy. The sensual world is like that, a vibration
in nature. It would, in fact, be terrible if we did
find satisfaction in the sensory world because then
we wouldn't search beyond it; we'd just be bound to
it. However, as we awaken to this dukkha, we begin
to find the way out so that we are no longer constantly
trapped in sensory consciousness.
SUFFERING AND SELF-VIEW
It is important to reflect upon the phrasing of the
First Noble Truth. It is phrased in a very clear way:
'There is suffering,' rather than, 'I suffer.' Psychologically,
that reflection is a much more skilful way to put
it. We tend to interpret our suffering as 'I'm really
suffering. I suffer a lot - and I don't want to suffer.'
This is the way our thinking mind is conditioned.
'I am suffering' always conveys the sense of 'I am
somebody who is suffering a lot. This suffering is
mine; I've had a lot of suffering in my life.' Then
the whole process, the association with one's self
and one's memory, takes off. You remember what happened
when you were a baby... and so on.
But note, we are not saying there is someone who has
suffering. It is not personal suffering anymore when
we see it as 'There is suffering'. It is not: 'Oh
poor me, why do I have to suffer so much? What did
I do to deserve this? Why do I have to get old? Why
do I have to have sorrow, pain, grief and despair?
It is not fair! I do not want it. I only want happiness
and security.' This kind of thinking comes from ignorance
which complicates everything and results in personality
problems.
To let go of suffering, we have to admit it into consciousness.
But the admission in Buddhist meditation is not from
a position of: 'I am suffering' but rather, 'There
is the presence of suffering', because we are not
trying to identify with the prolem but simply acknowledge
that there is one. It is unskilful to think in terms
of: 'I am an angry person; I get angry so easily;
how do I get rid of it?' - that triggers off all the
underlying assumptions of a self and it is very hard
to get any perspective on that. It becomes very confused
because the sense of my problems or my thoughts takes
us very easily to suppression or to making judgements
about it and criticising ourselves. We tend to grasp
and identify rather than to observe, witness and understand
things as they are. When you are just admitting that
there is this feeling of confusion, that there is
this greed or anger, then there is an honest reflection
on the way it is and you have taken out all the underlying
assumptions - or at least undermined them.
So do not grasp these things as personal faults but
keep contemplating these conditions as impermanent,
unsatisfactory and non-self. Keep reflecting, seeing
them as they are. The tendency is to view life from
the sense that these are my problems, and that one
is being very honest and forthright in admitting this.
Then our life tends to reaffirm that because we keep
operating from that wrong assumption. But that very
viewpoint is impermanent, unsatisfactory and non-self.
'There is suffering' is a very clear, precise acknowledgement
that at this time, there is some feeling of unhappiness.
It can range from anguish and despair to mild irritation;
dukkha does not necessarily mean severe suffering.
You do not have to be brutalised by life; you do not
have to come from Auschwitz or Belsen to say that
there is suffering. Even Queen Elizabeth could say,
'There is suffering.' I'm sure she has moments of
great anguish and despair or, at least, moments of
irritation.
The sensory world is a sensitive experience. It means
you ate always being exposed to pleasure and pain
and the dualism of samsara. It is like being in something
that is very vulnerable and picking up everything
that happens to come in contact with these bodies
and their senses. That is the way it is. That is the
result of birth.
DENIAL OF SUFFERING
Suffering is something we usually do not want to know
- we just want to get rid of it. As soon as there
is any inconvenience or annoyance, the tendency of
an unawakened human being is to get rid of it or suppress
it. One can see why modem society is so caught up
in seeking pleasures and delights in what is new,
exciting or romantic. We tend to emphasise the beauties
and pleasures of youth whilst the ugly side of life
- old age, sickness, death, boredom, despair and depression,
are pushed aside. When we find ourselves with something
we do not like, we try to get away from it to something
we do like. If we feel boredom, we go to something
interesting. If we feel frightened, we try to find
safety. This is a perfectly natural thing to do. We
are associated with that pleasure/pain principle of
being attracted and repelled. So if the mind is not
full and receptive, then it is selective - it selects
what it likes and tries to suppress what it does not
like. Much of our experience has to be suppressed
because a lot of what we are inevitably involved with
is unpleasant in some way.
If anything unpleasant arises, we say, 'Run away!'
If anyone gets in our way, we say, 'Kill him!' This
tendency is often apparent in what our governments
do. . . . Frightening, isn't it, when you think of
the kind of people who run out countries -because
they are still very ignorant and unenlightened. But
that is the way it is. The ignorant mind thinks of
extermination: 'Here's a mosquito; kill it!', 'These
ants are taking over the room; spray them with ant
killer!' There is a company in Britain called Rent-o-Kil.
I don't know if it is a kind of British mafia or what,
but it specialises in killing pests - however you
want to interpret the word 'pests'.
MORALITY AND COMPASSION
That is why we have to have laws such as, 'I will
refrain from intentionally killing', because our instinctual
nature is to kill:
if it is in the way, kill it. You can see this in
the animal kingdom. We are quite predatory creatures
ourselves; we think we are civilised but we have a
really bloody history - literally. It is just filled
with endless slaughters and justification for all
kinds of iniquities against other human beings - not
to mention animals - and it is all because of this
basic ignorance, this unreflecting human mind that
tells us to annihilate what is in our way.
However, with reflection we are changing that; we
are transcending that basic instinctual, animal pattern.
We are not just being law-abiding puppets of society,
afraid to kill because we are afraid of being punished.
Now we are really taking on responsibility. We respect
the lives of other creatures, even the lives of insects
and creatures we do not like. Nobody is ever going
to like mosquitoes or ants, but we can reflect on
the fact that they have a right to live. That is a
reflection of the mind; it is not just a reaction:
'Where is the insecticide spray.' I also don't like
to see ants crawling over my floor; my first reaction
is, 'Where's the insecticide spray.' But then the
reflective mind shows me that even though these creatures
are annoying me and I would rather they go away, they
have a right to exist. That is a reflection of the
human mind.
The same applies to unpleasant mind states. So when
you are experiencing anger, rather than saying: 'Oh,
here I go -angry again!' we reflect: 'There is anger'.
Just like with fear -if you start seeing it as my
mother's fear or my father's fear or the dog's fear
or my fear, then it all becomes a sticky web of different
creatures related in some ways, unrelated in others;
and it becomes difficult to have any real understanding.
And yet, the fear in this being and the fear in that
mangy cur is the same thing. 'There is fear'. It is
just that. The fear that I have experienced is no
different from the fear others have. So this is where
we have compassion even for mangy old dogs. We understand
that fear is as horrible for mangy dogs as it is for
us. When a dog is kicked with a heavy boot and you
are kicked with a heavy boot, that feeling of pain
is the same. Pain is just pain, cold is just cold,
anger is just anger. It is not mine but rather: 'There
is pain.' This is a skilful use of thinking that helps
us to see things more clearly rather than reinforcing
the personal view. Then as a result of recognising
the state of suffering - that there is suffering -
the second insight of this First Noble Truth comes:
'It should be understood'. This suffering is to be
investigated.
TO INVESTIGATE SUFFERING
I encourage you to try to understand dukkha: to really
look at, stand under and accept your suffering. Try
to understand it when you are feeling physical pain
or despair and anguish or hatred and aversion - whatever
form it takes, whatever quality it has, whether it
is extreme or slight. This teaching does not mean
that to get enlightened you have to be utterly and
totally miserable. You do not have to have everything
taken away from you or be tortured on the rack; it
means being able to look at suffering, even if it
is just a mild feeling of discontent, and understand
it.
It is easy to find a scapegoat for our problems. 'If
my mother had really loved me or if everyone around
me had been truly wise, and fully dedicated towards
providing a perfect enviroment for me, then I would
not have the emotional problems I have now.' This
is really silly! Yet that is how some people actually
look at the world, thinking that they are confused
and miserable because they did not get a fair deal.
But with this formula of the First Noble Truth, even
if we have had a pretty miserable life, what we are
looking at is not that suffering which comes from
out there, but what we create in our own minds around
it. This is an awakening in a person - an awakening
to the Truth of suffering. And it is a Noble Truth
because it is no longer blaming the suffering that
we are experiencing on others. Thus, the Buddhist
approach is quite unique with respect to other religions
because the emphasis is on the way out of suffering
through wisdom, freedom from all delusion, rather
than the attainment of some blissful state or union
with the Ultimate.
Now I am not saying that others are never the source
of our frustration and irritation, but what we are
pointing at with this teaching is our own reaction
to life. If somebody is being nasty to you or deliberately
and malevolently trying to cause you to suffer, and
you think it is that person who is making you suffer,
you still have not understood this First Noble Truth.
Even if he is pulling out your fingernails or doing
other terrible things to you - as long as you think
that you are suffering because of that person, you
have not understood this First Noble Truth. To understand
suffering is to see clearly that it is our reaction
to the person pulling out our fingernails, 'I hate
you,' that is suffering. The actual pulling out of
one's fingernails is painful, but the suffering involves
'I hate you,' and 'How can you do this to me,' and
'I'll never forgive you.'
However, don't wait for somebody to pull out your
fingernails in order to practise with the First Noble
Truth. Try it with little things, like somebody being
insensitive or rude or ignoring you. If you are suffering
because that person has slighted you or offended you
in some way, you can work with that. There are many
times in daily life when we can be offended or upset.
We can feel annoyed or irritated just by the way somebody
walks or looks, at least I can. Sometimes you can
notice yourself feeling aversion just because of the
way somebody walks or because they don't do something
that they should ,one can get very upset and angry
about things like that. The person has not really
harmed you or done anything to you, like pulling out
your fingernails, but you still suffer. If you cannot
look at suffering in these simple cases, you will
never be able to be so heroic as to do it if ever
somebody does actually pull out your fingernails!
We work with the little dissatisfactions in the ordinariness
of life. We look at the way we can be hurt and offended
or annoyed and irritated by the neighbours, by the
people we live with, by Mrs. Thatcher, by the way
things are or by ourselves. We know that this suffering
should be understood. We practise by really looking
at suffering as an object and understanding:This is
suffering.' So we have the insightful understanding
of suffering.
PLEASURE AND DISPLEASURE
We can investigate: Where has this hedonistic seeking
of pleasure as an end in itself brought us? It has
continued now for several decades but is humanity
any happier as a result? It seems that nowadays we
have been given the right and freedom to do anything
we like with drugs, sex, travel and so on -anything
goes; anything is allowed; nothing is forbidden. You
have to do something really obscene, really violent,
before you'll be ostracised. But has being able to
follow our impulses made us any happier or more relaxed
and contented? In fact, it has tended to make us very
selfish; we don't think about how our actions might
affect others. We tend to think only about ourselves:
me and my happiness, my freedom and my rights. So
I become a terrible nuisance, a source of great frustration,
annoyance and misery for the people around me. If
I think I can do anything I want or say anything I
feel like saying, even at the expense of others, then
I'm a person who is nothing but a nuisance to society.
When the sense of 'what I want' and 'what I think
should and should not be' arises, and we wish to delight
in all the pleasures of life, we inevitably get upset
because life seems so hopeless and everything seems
to go wrong. We just get whirled about by life - just
running around in states of fear and desire. And even
when we get everything we want, we will think there
is something missing, something incomplete yet. So
even when life is at its best, there is still this
sense of suffering - something yet to be done, some
kind of doubt or fear haunting us.
For example, I've always liked beautiful scenery.
Once during a retreat that I led in Switzerland, I
was taken to some beautiful mountains and noticed
that there was always a sense of anguish in my mind
because there was so much beauty, a continual flow
of beautiful sights. I had the feeling of wanting
to hold on to everything, that I had to keep alert
all the time in order to consume everything with my
eyes. It was really wearing me out! Now that was dukkha,
wasn't it?
I find that if I do things heedlessly - even something
quite harmless like looking at beautiful mountains
- if I'm just reaching out and trying to hold on to
something, it always brings an unpleasant feeling.
How can you hold on to the Jungfrau and the Eiger?
The best you can do is to take a picture of it, trying
to capture everything on a piece of paper. That's
dukkha; if you want to hold on to something which
is beautiful because you don't want to be separated
from it - that is suffering.
Having to be in situations you don't like is also
suffering. For example, I never liked riding on the
Underground in London, I'd complain about it: 'I don't
want to go on the Underground with those awful posters
and dingy Underground stations. I don't want to be
packed into those little trains under the ground.'
I found it a totally unpleasant experience. But I'd
listen to this complaining, moaning voice - the suffering
of not wanting to be with something unpleasant. Then,
having contemplated this, I stopped making anything
of it so that I could be with the unpleasant and unbeautiful
without suffering about it. I realised that it's just
that way and it's all right. We needn't make problems
- either about being in a dingy Underground station
or about looking at beautiful scenery. Things are
as they are, so we can recognise and appreciate them
in their changing forms without grasping. Grasping
is wanting to hold on to something we like; wanting
to get rid of something we don't like; or wanting
to get something we don't have.
We can also suffer a lot because of other people.
I remember that in Thailand I used to have quite negative
thoughts about one of the monks. Then he'd do something
and I'd think, 'He shouldn't do that,' or he'd say
something, 'He shouldn't say that!' I'd carry this
monk around in my mind and then, even if I went to
some other place, I'd think of that monk; the perception
of him would arise and the same reactions would come:
'Do you remember when he said this and when he did
that?' and: 'He shouldn't have said that and he shouldn't
have done that.'
Having found a teacher like Ajahn Chah, I remember
wanting him to be perfect. I'd think, 'Oh, he's a
marvellous teacher - marvellous!' But then he might
do something that would upset me and I'd think, 'I
don't want him to do anything that upsets me because
I like to think of him as being marvellous.' That
was like saying, 'Ajahn Chah, be marvellous for me
all the time. Don't ever do anything that will put
any kind of negative thought into my mind.' So even
when you find somebody that you really respect and
love, there's still the suffering of attachment. Inevitably,
they will do or say something that you're not going
to like or approve of, causing you some kind of doubt
- and you'll suffer.
At one time, several American monks came to Wat Pah
Pong, our monastery in Northeastern Thailand. They
were very critical and it seemed that they only saw
what was wrong with it. They didn't think Ajahn Chah
was a very good teacher and they didn't like the monastery.
I felt a great anger and hatred arising because they
were criticising something that I loved. I felt indignant
- 'Well, if you don't like it, get out of here. He's
the finest teacher in the world and if you can't see
that then just GO!' That kind of attachment - being
in love or being devoted - is suffering because if
something or someone you love or like is criticised,
you feel angry and indignant.
INSIGHT IN SITUATIONS
Sometimes insight arises at the most unexpected times.
This happened to me while living at Wat Pah Pong.
The North-eastern part of Thailand is not the most
beautiful or desirable place in the world with its
scrubby forests and flat plain; it also gets extremely
hot during the hot season. We'd have to go out in
the heat of the mid-afternoon [before each of the
Observance Days] and sweep the leaves off the paths.
There were vast areas to sweep. We would spend the
whole afternoon in the hot sun, sweating and sweeping
the leaves into piles with crude brooms; this was
one of our duties. I didn't like doing this. I'd think,
'I don't want to do this. I didn't come here to sweep
the leaves off the ground; I came here to get enlightened
- and instead they have me sweeping leaves off the
ground. Besides, it's hot and I have a fair skin;
I might get skin cancer from being out here in a hot
climate.'
I was standing out there one afternoon, feeling really
miserable, thinking, 'What am I doing here? Why did
I come here ? Why am I staying here ?' There I stood
with my long crude broom and absolutely no energy,
feeling sorry for myself and hating everything. Then
Ajahn Chah came up, smiled at me and said, 'Wat Pah
Pong is a lot of suffering, isn't it ?' and walked
away. So I thought, 'Why did he say that?' and, 'Actually,
you know, it's not all that bad.' He got me to contemplate:
Is sweeping the leaves really that unpleasant?. .
. No, it's not. It's a kind of neutral thing; you
sweep the leaves, and it's neither here nor there....
Is sweating all that terrible? Is it really a miserable,
humiliating experience? Is it really as bad as I'm
pretending it is? . . . No - sweating is all right,
it's a perfectly natural thing to be doing. And I
don't have skin cancer and the people at Wat Pah Pong
are very nice. The teacher is a very kind wise man.
The monks have treated me well. The lay people come
and give me food to eat, and.... What am I complaining
about?'
Reflecting upon the actual experience of being there,
I thought, 'I'm all right. People respect me, I'm
treated well. I'm being taught by pleasant people
in a very pleasant country. There's nothing really
wrong with anything, except me; I'm making a problem
out of it because I don't want to sweat and I don't
want to sweep leaves.' Then I had a very clear insight.
I suddenly perceived something in me which was always
complaining and criticising, and which was preventing
me from ever giving myself to anything or offering
myself to any situation.
Another experience I learned from was the custom of
washing the feet of the senior monks when they returned
from the almsround. After they walked barefoot through
the villages and rice paddies, their feet would be
muddy. There were foot baths outside the dining hail.
When Ajahn Chah would come, all the monks - maybe
twenty or thirty of them - would rush out and wash
Ajahn Chah's feet. When I first saw this I thought,
'I'm not going to do that - not me!' Then the next
day, thirty monks rushed out as soon as Ajahn Chah
appeared and washed his feet - I thought, 'What a
stupid thing to be doing - thirty monks washing one
man's feet. I'm not going to do that.' The day after
that, the reaction became even more violent.., thirty
monks rushed out and washed Ajahn Chah's feet and....
'That really angers me, I'm fed up with it! I just
feel that is the most stupid thing I've ever seen
- thirty men going out to wash one man's feet! He
probably thinks he deserves it, you know - it's really
building tip his ego. He's probably got an enormous
ego, having so many people wash his feet every day.
I'll never do that!'
I was beginning to build up a strong reaction, an
over-reaction. I would sit there
really feeling miserable and angry. I'd look at the
monks and I'd think, 'They all look stupid to me.
I don't know what I'm doing here.'
But then I started listening and I thought, 'This
is really
an unpleasant frame of mind to be in. Is it anything
to get upset about? They haven't made me do it. it's
all right; there's nothing wrong with thirty men washing
one man's feet. It's not immoral or bad behaviour
and maybe they enjoy it; maybe they want to do it
- maybe it's all right to do that.... Maybe I should
do it!' So the next morning, thirty-one monks ran
out and washed Ajahn Chah's feet. There was no problem
after that. It felt really good: that nasty thing
in me had stopped.
We can reflect upon these things that arouse indignation
and anger in us: is something really wrong with them
or is it something we create dukkha about? Then we
begin to understand the problems we create in our
own lives and in the lives of the people around us.
With mindfulness, we are willing to bear with the
whole of life; with the excitement and the boredom,
the hope and the despair, the pleasure and the pain,
the fascination and the weariness, the beginning and
the ending, the birth and the death. We are willing
to accept the whole of it in the mind rather than
absorb into just the pleasant and suppress the unpleasant.
The process of insight is the going to dukkha, looking
at dukkha, admitting dukkha, recognising dukkha in
all its forms, Then you are no longer just reacting
in the habitual way of indulgence or suppression.
And because of that, you can bear with suffering more,
you can be more patient with it.
These teachings are not outside our experience. They
are, in fact, reflections of our actual experience
- not complicated intellectual issues. So really put
effort into development rather than just getting stuck
in a rut. How many times do you have to feel guilty
about your abortion or the mistakes you have made
in the past? Do you have to spend all your time just
regurgitating the things that have happened to you
in your life and indulging in endless speculation
and analysis? Some people make themselves into such
complicated personalities. If you just indulge in
your memories and views and opinions, then you will
always stay stuck in the world and never transcend
it in any way.
You can let go of this burden if you are willing to
use the teachings skilfully. Tell yourself: 'I'm not
going to get caught in this any more; I refuse to
participate in this game. I'm not going to give in
to this mood.' Start putting yourself in the position
of knowing: '1 know this is dukkha; there is dukkha.'
It's really important to make this resolution to go
where the suffering is and then abide with it. It
is only by examining and confronting suffering in
this way that one can hope to have the tremendous
insight: 'This suffering has been understood.'
So these are the three aspects of the First Noble
Truth. This is the formula that we must use and apply
in reflection on our lives. Whenever you feel suffering,
first make the recognition: 'There is suffering',
then: 'It should be understood', and finally: 'It
has been understood'. This understanding of dukkha
is the insight into the First Noble Truth.
Click here to return to top of page
Click below for recommended
Buddhist Study and Practice Links Index
|
|
|
