When I was a young Buddhist, I learned that the first noble truth of Buddhism was “All life is suffering.”
Apparently, now that I’m a decrepit old Buddhist, it’s much more complicated than that.
Here are some other interpretations…
“Life means suffering.”
“Thus is the Noble Truth of Suffering”
“Suffering does exist”
“This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.”
Anyway, we still get the idea, right?
It’s tough translating Bronze Age wisdom into modern language, I guess. And even tougher knowing how to base your life on it, in the complex 21st century.
P.S. Check out my Indian travels for more South Asian fun: Bombay, Goa and Trivandrum.
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