We're told that the first noble truth of Buddhism is that 'life is suffering' but that's a bad translation. A more accurate translation would be something like, 'life is broken' or better still, 'we are broken'.
It's drawing our attention to the central problem of the human condition, so that we can then solve that problem. We suffer because of our desires and our attachment to the things of this life, and when we loosen that attachment and tame those desires, we gain access to joy - the deep, real internal peace and well-being which doesn't fluctuate according to our material or even mental circumstances, but remains rock solid whatever happens because it flows from something deeper and greater than ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment