Throw Yourself into the House of Buddha by Tangen Harada

Author:Tangen Harada [Harada, Tangen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2023-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

17

SUFFERING

A LONG TIME AGO, an ancient king of Persia assembled all the sages and great minds of his time to investigate the meaning of human life. The king was impatient for the answer, but this investigation takes time, he was told. As the years passed and he waited to receive the fruit of their discussion, he grew old—it took almost all his lifetime. When his death was approaching, he demanded to hear the answer in a nutshell. What is it to be human? This was the answer: “A person is born, suffers, and dies. And there is no knowing what comes after that.” He must have been shocked. But we cannot deny that for most people that is true.

The pain and suffering that each person feels are different, uniquely their own. Suffering comes in endless varieties, endless levels and degrees. There is the suffering of not getting what you want, the suffering of getting what you don’t want, the pain of being separated from those you love—and the opposite pain of having to be with someone you can’t stand. There is also the pain of not being recognized, causing dissatisfaction and frustration. There are forms of suffering far more extreme than what most people experience in their lives. Suffering can be so intense that even though you need and desire to sleep, you can’t. You can’t eat because the food won’t pass down your throat. You know what it is that you are supposed to do when you wake up in the morning and go through your day, but you can’t do it, can’t even remember how it’s done. You are unable to settle down and concentrate on anything. Such a degree of suffering can come to you, and can become your life. There are those who meet with this type of deep suffering even as children. Others might meet it in adolescence; something might happen at that time that causes a person to stop believing in life, to fail to see the value of it. Many people go through this—getting up in the morning, going to work, filling their stomachs when they have to be filled —but even if desires are gratified, it doesn’t mean anything. Desires are self-propagating, and there will always be the continuation of wanting. The seeds of pain are boundless, but the root of all of them is grasping at I, me, mine—the misconception of a self.

Each and every person has problems. Everyone holds something in their heart, and this becomes baggage. These bags become heavy, and living becomes the pain of not being able to lay down those heavy bags for even an instant. Some people’s baggage is heavier than others. Some people’s suffering is deeper than others. But if you are a human being, that is just equal to saying you are already carrying baggage.

Somebody arrived here at Bukkoku-ji to do zazen for the first time. He had a backpack on his back and bags in both hands. I told him to come in and have some tea with the others, and he proceeded to go and have tea still carrying his bags.

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