Suffering's end
Our entire life is a pursuit of joy, chasing after it, trying to outpace it, endeavoring to conquer it. In the process, we are completely miserable. Mullah Nasruddin was seen on his donkey, charging through the streets of the village, looking harried and harassed. Someone yelled at him, "What's bothering you, Mullah?" "My stupid donkey! I'm in search of it!" was his anguished answer. Perched on it, we still vainly seek happiness.
And we ask, "Tell me how to stop suffering," as if the answer lay somewhere outside, in a formula, a book or a person. The Master told of an extraordinarily compassionate monkey. One day, sitting on a rock near a lake, it bent over and with great difficulty, picked out a fish and placed it on a tree. The Master asked, "Why are you doing that?" The monkey answered, "The poor thing was struggling. I didn't want it to drown." Often, what appears to be our suffering is actually our journey to joy.
Suffering is the punishment we give ourselves for not being good enough. But we are! And the most extraordinary, the longest lasting love affair we can ever have is with ourselves. St Augustine says, "Men…wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the circular motion of the stars, and pass by themselves without wondering." A visitor to an antique shop looked around at the amazing collection and asked the ancient owner, "Which amongst all these is the most unique, irreplaceable and priceless?" The old man, unhesitatingly pointed to himself. To love ourselves is to cease from suffering.
Ironically, suffering is actually an expression of the ego. It says, "See how extraordinary I am! I am miserable!" But joy breathes through every moment, coming not as a miraculous, heaven-sent revelation, but through little, commonplace occurrences. A man had been fired. He thought of his family, his future, his bank balance and every step, his suffering grew worse. At the bus stop, he saw a bedraggled man, wearing only one shoe yet whistling loudly in good cheer. Disgusted, he asked, "Aren't you unhappy you've lost a shoe?" "What nonsense!" was the reply. "I've actually found one."
Our entire life is a pursuit of joy, chasing after it, trying to outpace it, endeavoring to conquer it. In the process, we are completely miserable. Mullah Nasruddin was seen on his donkey, charging through the streets of the village, looking harried and harassed. Someone yelled at him, "What's bothering you, Mullah?" "My stupid donkey! I'm in search of it!" was his anguished answer. Perched on it, we still vainly seek happiness.
And we ask, "Tell me how to stop suffering," as if the answer lay somewhere outside, in a formula, a book or a person. The Master told of an extraordinarily compassionate monkey. One day, sitting on a rock near a lake, it bent over and with great difficulty, picked out a fish and placed it on a tree. The Master asked, "Why are you doing that?" The monkey answered, "The poor thing was struggling. I didn't want it to drown." Often, what appears to be our suffering is actually our journey to joy.
Suffering is the punishment we give ourselves for not being good enough. But we are! And the most extraordinary, the longest lasting love affair we can ever have is with ourselves. St Augustine says, "Men…wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the circular motion of the stars, and pass by themselves without wondering." A visitor to an antique shop looked around at the amazing collection and asked the ancient owner, "Which amongst all these is the most unique, irreplaceable and priceless?" The old man, unhesitatingly pointed to himself. To love ourselves is to cease from suffering.
Ironically, suffering is actually an expression of the ego. It says, "See how extraordinary I am! I am miserable!" But joy breathes through every moment, coming not as a miraculous, heaven-sent revelation, but through little, commonplace occurrences. A man had been fired. He thought of his family, his future, his bank balance and every step, his suffering grew worse. At the bus stop, he saw a bedraggled man, wearing only one shoe yet whistling loudly in good cheer. Disgusted, he asked, "Aren't you unhappy you've lost a shoe?" "What nonsense!" was the reply. "I've actually found one."
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