What is suffering
Suffering is a state of mind that is uncomfortable whether it comes from physical pain or mental pain such as sickness, sadness, boredom, jealousy, anger, etc. If you want to be truly free from suffering you have to learn from someone who could take out the root of all suffering which come from our mind.
Lord Buddha the great teacher
Pince Sittata
In the past, there is one man who found the solution, his name is Prince Sittata later known as Lord Buddha. Prince Situata had lived in the castle for 29 years during that time he was surrounded by all the pleasures in this world such as the finest clothes, delicious meals, comfortable residences, and marvelous entertainers.
Turning point
However, one day, out of curiosity, he desires to look around the city. His close servant, Channa guides him to tour the city. That was the first time he saw people that he had never seen before. He saw old people, sick people, and dead people. He saw them struggle to suffer and ask Channa what was wrong with these people. Channa answered it is normal for everyone to pass through this state no one can escape. Learning that he too has to face the same fate he asks himself how should I free myself from this suffering then he saw a hermit who are free from responsbilities and has time to find the truth. Instantly he decided to ordained
Ordination
That night, he leaves the castle, riding a horse with Channa across the land to the places that are quiet and calm and suitable for finding a way to end suffering, he then cut his hair and told Channa to bid farewell to his parent for him. He then travels alone and tries many methods to be free from suffering. In that era, there is a belief that if you want to be free, you have to suffer a lot. So he torture himself day after day for 6 whole years without stopping. One day out of the blue, he heard the sound of a mandolin and soon realise that the way to attain enlightenment and be free from suffering shouldn’t be a success by torturing himself or sinking himself with pleasure but by following the middle way. Training his mental strength by bringing his mind back to the center of his body and staying still like that not letting it sway to anyplace else, like a mandolin that could not produce a beautiful melody if the strings stretch too loos or too tense. On that day he stops starving himself or torturing himself, looks after his own body makes it strong again. Then, he sits still under the tree and vows to himself.
Enlightenment
Even his blood and fresh will dry out leaving only skin over his bones, if he could not attain enlightenment he won’t stand up from this place. He then stilled his mind comfortably at ease at the center of his body. He attains enlightenment after twelve hours of long meditation which is not just the result from just today’s effort all of his life and his past life cultivation and practice of his habit so he could have the qualities that are suitable for stilling his mind.
Trait
The trait is something that we are born with it is hard to change or practice it is our nature but it is not impossible. If you practice hard enough you could change your habit. You could change your nature if it isn’t successful in this life then it would be in your next one. But how should we practice this, what tool could we use to practice?
4 activities in your daily life
There is 4 activities in your life that you could use to be the training ground to improve your behaviour so that you could still your mind easily and attain true happiness.
- looking after your health
- living with other people
- working to get resource for living
- trainning your mind
Next session
In the next session, we will learn in detail about these activities and how to train yourself with them.
