In the previous episodes, we looked at how we can set up the conditions for bringing about the end of suffering, through becoming aware of how suffering arises in the heart and by bringing it into consciousness, this awareness.

However, after sometime in the practice, we can’t help feeling it seems to be taking far too long.

The Dalai Lama says something very beautiful in regard to this: “What is the meaning of life? Intrinsically there is no meaning. However, if we use life in a positive way (ie. directed to the end of suffering) the days, months, years can become meaningful. On the other hand, if we fritter our life away aimlessly (chasing the pleasant, avoiding the unpleasant) then even one day feels too long. We will find that when we have a firm determination and a clear objective then time is not important”.

The Third Noble Truth is that there is an end to suffering. There is a cessation, a stopping, a fading away of suffering. What fades away, stops and ends; it is the desire, clinging or attachment that ceases, fades away and ends.

 The end of suffering does not arise through blind faith. It is through the experience of carrying out the practice that its end is brought about. The practice sets into motion a process in which ‘I’ am not involved and that brings about its end. ‘I’ do not have anything to do with this so we really do need faith in the process. This is a faith that arises through practice.

The practice has three parts; listening, pondering and application. (sruta, cinta, bhavana). The application is the repeated restraint of our grasping and clinging which comes about through an awareness of the state of our heart at this moment, and this comes about through awareness in and of the body in each moment.

I am not very keen on shopping. I recall once being out shopping in a department store with my wife and children. My wife came up to me and said, “Who do you want to hit?” I couldn’t understand what she meant until she pointed out to me that I was standing hunched up with my fists clenched! 

How we hold ourselves is a reflection of our state of heart.

Shoe Laces

There is a Jewish story of a group of students studying under a Rabbi. They had heard that a travelling Rabbi with a great reputation was passing through their village and was going to give a talk. The students ask their teacher if he is going to go to hear him speak. Their teacher replied; “No, but I shall observe how he ties his shoe laces”.

The teacher was not actually interested in how the Rabbi tied his shoe laces but was saying he wanted to see how he held himself, since that would give an insight into what sort of person he was. 

When we carry out this practice, we can reflect on our attachments, our ‘must haves’, our ‘this is how things should be’. We can look carefully and ask ourselves, “do they really bring happiness, or do they just bring dissatisfaction in the end”.

It takes courage to look at our habitual patterns of behaviour. We deeply identify with them and there is always the fear that if they are wrong in some way or empty, who then am I? What am I then?

We do not reject suffering. The 4 Noble Truths tell us that there is suffering. The Buddha said, “Suffering I teach and the way out of suffering”. This means that not only do we have to accept that there is suffering; we have to open up to it in order to see into it.

In our ordinary way of doing things, we hide it from ourselves all the time. We unconsciously hide from and avoid seeing suffering. This is natural because, unless we practice, we do not have the means of understanding it and doing something about it - so best not see it.

There seems to be a big emphasis on suffering. Some have criticized Buddhism saying that all we talk about is suffering and it all sounds rather miserable. Why not talk about happiness and how to get it?

We need to consider, however, that although the first two Noble Truths say there is suffering and a cause to it, the third and fourth Noble Truths talk about its end and the way to its end. What happens when suffering ends?

What is the first thing we feel the moment we realise that we have ‘turned the corner’ after an illness? We feel like a great weight has dropped off and there is a lightness and a joy.

We are not alone in this world, despite our feeling of being separate and apart, and when joy arises within us as part of this practice it will inevitably ripple out in our contact with others and thus the practice will be of benefit to all. And this is its very heart.