In addition to the four
basic reasons for suffering --
birth, old age,
illness, and death --
there are other forms
of suffering that cast shadow on our lives.
Soured relations
between people, stress at work, financial worries,
problems in
raising one's children, and other factors may all cause unhappiness.
Because we are lazy, we tend to look for the causes
of distress in external
circumstances.
We are often able to
quickly find a culprit in the wrongdoing of others.
In the long run,
though, this strategy turns out to be very tiring,
because it leads to the
fact that the problems never change.
It does not help to
keep blaming others while all along the true reason
for suffering can only
be found by looking to your inner self.
Buddhists believe
that all our actions
are dependent on our
state of mind.
If you look inside, you
will discover the reasons for your suffering
are caused by the
disposition of your mind.
According to
Tibetan Buddhism, all suffering is self-inflicted.
The other side of the
coin, however, points to the fact
that we ourselves are
the makers of our happiness.
Dagsay Tulku
Rinpoche
Excerpted
from
Creating a Peaceful
Mind
This is a very personal
image and message to me.
my inability to garden
any longer is the greatest cause of my suffering.
Tutte
