“The root of suffering is attachment.” Buddha
There was a king who lived in the middle east. He had
everything that any man or woman could ever dream of, however, with all this
wealth he still experienced unhappiness and despondency. One tiny little thing
would cause him high stress, he was so tired of being that way, so he sought a
way out. He went to a spiritual teacher who was highly regarded as an
enlightened being.
He asked, can you give me something that will keep me at
peace in good times and bad? I will provide you with whatever you ask. The spiritual
teacher said to the king, I will give it to you, but the price is so great that
all your wealth will be insufficient for it. Therefore, all I ask is for you to
honour it. The king gave his assurance, and the spiritual teacher left. Three
days later the spiritual teacher brings with him a ring. On the ring, there was
an inscription that read; This too will pass. The king said "What is the meaning
of this?"
When you are about to judge events or people as good or bad, read the
inscription; this too will pass. That way you will always be at peace.
Attachment is the root cause of all suffering in this
world. How so you might ask? In your own experience, you may notice that
everything keeps changing, the thing that gets you excited yesterday becomes
unexcited today. The relationship that gives you pleasure a year ago becomes an
unhappy divorce today.
One day a friend of mine invited me to this seminar
about self the development. The instructor was so good he got me so excited
about the program to the point I readily signed up to a program that I don’t
really need for a year. A day after the workshop I realised that I don’t need
the program and I couldn’t opt out for a year. So I now have to pay for a
program that I don’t really use for a whole year. Two things happened there
pleasure from the excitement and suffering from the realisation that I have to
pay for something that I don’t use.
You may find yourself in a similar situation or maybe
on a bigger scale like a loss of a loved one, a home, a divorce or find
yourself in a crisis situation. I would suggest you use those four powerful
words. This too will pass... When you say these words, you go beyond the
content of your life. Because within the content of your life there are pain
and pleasure. We can’t have one without the other, just like you can’t have
right without left. It’s the law of polarity, which means one cannot exist
without the other.
Beyond the content, there is peace, which cannot be
described because it has no opposite. The thing that can be described is the
thing that has an opposite, like love-hate, pain-pleasure. Good-bad. Those
words, This too will pass is designed to take you to the peace that passeth all
understanding. In your life situation when you are about to label the event as
good or bad, just recite to yourself; This too will pass.
Suffering only comes into our lives when we take
everything too seriously. The play on form or reality then becomes our
nightmare. Remember to let go of attachment because attachment is the root
cause of all suffering in this world.
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