In the desperate search for happiness, a person places his hopes and dreams on his family, friends, success in business, acquiring wealth and property, pleasure and beauty. Yet, does he get happiness from any of them?
Family and friends? While loving family and good friends can be a constant source of happiness, he cannot depend on them forever, someone he loves may pass away or leave him. If his love is centered on one person, the separation will cause him great sorrow.
Business? His business can go bankrupt. Someone he trusts may abscond with the money. A sudden change in the international political scene may destroy his factories and property overseas.
Money? The only reason people want money is because they think it can get them what they want. While money can ensure a comfortable life, it cannot guarantee happiness. Have you seen how some rich people live? They surround their homes with huge walls and gates. The doors are padlocked and all windows barred. They live in constant fear – fear of being robbed, of having their children kidnapped, of losing the wealth they have so painfully gathered, of relatives and friends who might take advantage, of being cheated when responsibilities are give to others.
Pleasure? For the moment, he is lost in a good show, fine music or a game, he thinks that is all he wants. The entertainment has to be better and more vigorous each time to maintain interest. After it is over, he cannot escape the feeling of boredom and the fruitlessness of these pleasures.
Beauty and Youth? While still young, he spends hours maintaining his looks to draw attention from everyone. But no one can remain young forever. Time will be his greatest enemy. The skin that is smooth and delicate will later be furrowed with wrinkles. Muscles that are agile will become weak. The body that responds to any whims of the mind becomes the home of sickness and pain.
There is no security in family, friends, money, position, youth and beauty. The short-lived pleasures are only brief interludes to pain and drudgery. There is no guarantee against failure and disappointments. There is no guarantee to perfect health. Not even the richest and most influential can buy true joy. In this, the man who owns an empire is equal to a pauper who lives in a lean-to shed. Both have their share of sorrow and disappointments. Both will fall sick, grow old and die.
Where do we learn to solve our sorrows?
Although frustration and sorrow are basic to human life, there is no school, college or university in the country which teaches us how to face problems.
It was Buddha who, so intimately concerned about human suffering, he renounced everything to seek a cure to these universal problems. He was concerned about problems facing you and me – our frustrations, our sufferings and our feelings of hopelessness.
What did the Buddha find?
In his enlightenment, the Buddha found that man suffers because of his wrong views. Being ignorant of the nature of things, he gets infatuated with them - his life, his ideas, his family, his property, his pride. Only after developing wisdom to see and experience the truth of all things will he be able to put an end to suffering.
The Buddha realized that the phenomena rise and fall away immediately. From the largest to the smallest, all are in the state of flux. On a clear night we see millions of twinkling stars. What we do not see are the clouds of gas coalescing into stars and galaxies, the myriad stars and planets in various stages of evolving and decaying, the planets circuiting in their solar systems. The smallest of things, the atom, is in constant flux with the electrons orbiting around its nucleus.
Our physical body replaces its old tissues with new cells. Our thoughts, impressions, perceptions, experiences, wants and desires are changing day-by-day and moment-by-moment. Toy guns and dolls which once made us happy are no longer satisfactory now. Our happiness is short lived. If we emerge top in an examination, the rejoicing will last at the most for a few days. Such happiness evaporates like the early mist in the morning sun.
Because of wrong views, man clings and desires for pleasurable things and avoids unpleasant things. Things which please the senses – fragrant smells, beautiful sights, pleasant sensations, delicious tastes, soothing sounds – he pursues for more. Unpleasant things are avoided. He dislikes people who hurt his ego and turns away from bores. He pursues someone who has captivated him and he tries to possess everything pleasing.
Man then builds his world on concepts which he calls “I”, and “Me” and “Mine”. He will say, “These are my wealth, my property, my children, my youth and beauty, my knowledge.” “Look here,” he shouts, “You are hurting my feelings. Don’t you know who I am?” He clings to things and tries to own them.
Does he realize that in reality none of these things belongs to him? No, when he dies, all his wealth and property pass on to others. There is nothing he can bring beyond the grave – not even his own body.
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