The Illness of Dukkha and the Middle Path to its Cure
~ By Ajahn Pasanno ~
Dukkha (suffering) is not a permanent condition. The Buddha makes it very clear in The Four Nobel Truths, which he structures along the principles of ancient Ayurvedic medicine. There is an illness, a disease. One has to find the cause. Can one be free from that illness? And is there a way of treatment, a path, so one will be free of that illness. The Four Nobel Truths are a complete teaching.
It's just so important to be willing to contemplate dukkha. And not to just intellectualize it or rationalize it, but to be willing to feel and experience it. It’s hard to get on the path to its cure if one has not acknowledged or reflected on it.
The Buddha points to a middle way between two extremes in terms of view and practice in our response to dukkha. One extreme is sensual indulgence. The other is self-abrogation, self-torment, self torture and trying to deny oneself. It is not a nihilistic path nor a path of acquisition. It’s a path of seeing and letting go.
The Buddha further points to two particular emotions we should be turning toward and reflecting on, samvega and pasada.
Samvega is a sense of urgency. We are born. We have limited time. We have limited resources in terms of foibles we get caught in, so we really need to do something about this. It’s also a dismay with the limitations of, even an alienation from, the world around us.
Pasada is a certain serene confidence, a certain joy, a certain clarity, a very bright state. When we see that there are implications to being born, to having a human life, and that it’s not going to end like a ferry tale, there’s a clarity there. The mind is motivated. The heart is alert and awake. So how do I work with this? I need to work with this. Then there is pasada, this confidence.
It is important to reflect on the incredible good fortune of human birth. A life that is lived without much awareness is pretty grim, but a life well lived that has the example of the Buddha and the awakened disciples is amazing.
(From ‘Samvega & Pasada,' a Dhamma talk offered at Abhayagiri Monastery on 10 May 2020.
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