It is a long delay since the last post as I was busy with The Life Expedition Program. Let us continue where we left off. In the previous post of this series, we talk about suffering in life. The topic of suffering had caused some people to think that Buddhism is pessimistic. That is absolutely incorrect.

A more appropriate word should be, pragmatic.

When Buddha taught “Life is suffering”; He is stating the obvious, and for many people, that is the elephant in the room. We are aware of it, but we do not want to face it. Consequently, we invent various ways to numb our wisdom and avoid that topic altogether. We pursue all forms of entertainment to feel happy. Unfortunately, those types of happiness are impermanent and we set ourselves up for disappointment and frustration. For example, if a man enjoys auditory sensual pleasures, then he pursues a hobby of an audiophile. But when is that pleasure enough? There will be a demand for better sounds. With that demand, there will be supply. And there will be some better sound equipment to invest in. Similarly for various sensual pursuits. But we all know that these are not True Happiness because there is always that gnawing sense of dissatisfaction. We are always hungry for Real Happiness.

Buddhism is all about achieving Real Happiness (Aka. Nirvana). Therefore, Buddhism is about achieving Ultimate Happiness.

However, we must realise that we lack Ultimate Happiness before we can start fixing the issue. Otherwise, we are like a child who is oblivious to the fire in the house while playing with his “toys in life”.

Therefore, the message “Life is suffering” is like shouting “Fire, fire”.

Then Buddha taught that there is an escape. In other words, there is a state whereby all sufferings cease. That is like showing us an exit.

Next, the Buddha showed us how to escape. That escape route is known as Dharma. Since we are in different part of this huge mansion, we have to rely on different escape routes to escape the fire. That is why we have so many schools of Buddhism. Each one of them teaches a different approach to Nirvana. To be continued.

May all be well and happy