Disclaimer: this is my blog, my interpretation. I suggest you read what others have written about the Four Noble Truths. With that being said, let’s go.
A friend of mine asked me about the phrase “Life is suffering”. You’ve probably heard this phrase said in movies or from friends during yoga class. “Life is suffering” is like the slogan for Buddhism, similar to “Just do it” is the slogan for Nike. My friend asked, “If life is suffering, does that mean as long as we are alive we are suffering?”
This is how I replied. The phrase “Life is suffering” is the short version of The Four Noble Truths (I’ll talk about this later in this entry). Because we live in a fast-paced society with no time to really delve deeply into the meaning of things, somebody, probably a monk in Santa Monica during a quick sushi lunch, once mumbled “Life is suffering” to describe Buddhism to his friend, and the phrase stuck. It’s like Zen or Feng Shui. Everybody likes to use these words but very few really know what they mean. “Life is suffering” suffers from the same abbreviated misunderstanding.
This is what I think “Life is suffering” really means:
A great many of the things that we cling to actually cause us to suffer, either immediately or in the long run. For example, that car that we really really want, even though we can’t really afford it; because we want that car and we don’t have it, that longing and not getting, hurts. And that’s suffering. The more we think about not getting it, the more it hurts. Think of how many things you can’t have or afford. Think of how often you think about the things you can’t have or afford. Think of how often you daydream about the things that you can’t have or afford. Think of how often you see other people who have what you want, and how you envy those people (the seemingly rich guy, the woman with the seemingly perfect body, the seemingly happy couple, the seemingly happy kids playing in front of the nice big house). Think of how you feel when you think about all these things.
And you don’t have it.
Haha, neener neener on you. You suck. What a loser.
You probably don’t feel good. You probably feel bad. And that’s suffering. The more you want and the less you can afford or actually have, the more you suffer. Unless you’re a gazillionaire or a lucky bastard, chances are there’s a mountain of stuff that you want but can’t have. You can probably easily list a hundred, if not hundreds of things that you want but cannot have. Check your Amazon.com wish list, and you’ll see what I mean.
Imagine thinking about all those things or having those things occupying the back of your mind. Because that’s what we do, either consciously or subconsciously. We do this all the time. For the vast majority of us, it consumes our life, the yearning, longing, wanting. For many of us, it becomes our life.
And that’s where the term “Life is suffering” comes from.
What’s the antidote? Easy. Just don’t want it. And this is where The Four Noble Truths come in.
(This is also why Buddhism is bad for the economy. I’ll explain later.)
The First Noble Truth tells us that we should first accept the fact that, yeah, we’re suffering like hell because we want sooo much and we can’t friggin’ have it! Just face it, suck it up and admit it. Yeah, I want to look like Brad Pitt and marry Angelina Jolie, drive a Ferrari, live in Malibu, have a Swiss bank account, kick ass like Matt Damon in Bourne Identity, never have cancer, never have anyone die in my life, never see my stocks take a dive, never, never, never…
Okay, now that I’ve admitted that I want everything, I must realize that for each of these things that I want but cannot have, I hurt. Even if each want hurts just a little bit, a hundred or hundreds of these little hurts start adding up to one big-ass HURT. What I have to do is identify each hurt, identify each of the things that causes me suffering. This is the Second Noble Truth, to figure out what the heck is making me hurt. Mainly, it has to do with what I want, what I cling to. That includes my ego.
My ego is that part of me that gets hurt whenever somebody doesn’t like my haircut, or doesn’t agree with my taste in clothes, or says that I should be making more money, or doesn’t think my car is a good enough car. My ego is that part of me that puts some people above other people, and puts some people below other people, in terms of status or importance. My ego is that part of me that makes me delusional.
The Third Noble Truth is to realize that WE ARE NOT STUCK. There is a way out of this. There is a way to get rid of the ego. Repeat after me: “There is a way out of this, there is a way out of this, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…”
The Fourth Noble Truth is to figure out how not to be stuck. That includes getting rid of the ego (or at least controlling it as much as possible), not clinging to so many things, not repeating the same mistakes that got us in trouble in the first place, not caring about what others think about my haircut, etc.
If we un-stuck ourselves, we end our suffering. That’s when we become happy. We don’t want anything, we don’t need anything, and we are happy.
Now, think about this. If we really did get rid of our egos, and not care about what others think about our haircuts or the cars we drive, how would we know what to buy, except for essential stuff like water, vienna sausages and toilet paper?
This is why Buddhism is bad for the economy. If we figure out that we really don’t need anything to be truly happy, we’ll stop buying stuff. We’ll realize that one car is good enough, that we don’t need that “weekend” car. We won’t need that extra “showroom” bathroom. We’ll start buying coffee at 7-11 again.
You know what, on second thought, never mind any of this. Forget everything that you’ve just read. We don’t need this kind of anti-consumer thinking, especially with the economy already sucking the way it is. We need to boost the economy. Please continue to want stuff, buy stuff, need stuff. Most importantly, don’t forget to update your web sites. If your web sites are outdated (or God forbid you don’t even have a web site!), your friends won’t like you anymore, and you will be miserable.
*Why didn't I just title this entry "The Four Noble Truths"? Because many of you probably wouldn't have read all the way here unless I threw in an insult and an exclamation mark.
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More info on The Four Noble Truths from Wikipedia. Reading a book also helps.
Another one:
The Four Noble Truths Study Guide
