CHRONICLE I 
THE FOURFOLD NOBLE TRUTH

The world is full of suffering. Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness and death are suffering.

The cause of human suffering is undoubtedly found in the thirsts of the physical body and in the illusions of worldly passion. If these thirsts and illusions are traced to their source, they are found to be rooted in the intense desires of physical instincts. Thus, desire, having a strong will-to-live as its basis, seeks that which it feels desirable, even if it is sometimes death. This is called the Truth of the Cause of Suffering.

If desire, which lies at the root of all human passion, can be removed, then passion will die out and all human suffering will be ended. This is called the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.

Because of their ignorance, people are always thinking wrong thoughts and always losing the right viewpoint and, clinging to their egos, they take wrong actions. As a result, they become attached to a delusive existence.

In reality, therefore, it is their own mind that causes the delusions of grief, lamentation, pain and agony.

This whole world of delusion is nothing but a shadow caused by the mind. And yet, it is also from this same mind that the world of Enlightenment appears.

Our true body and mind, which make up an individual life, and the external world surrounding it, are far apart from both the conceptions of "me" and "mine".

The human mind, in its never-ending changes, is like the flowing water of a river or the burning flame of a candle; like an ape, it is forever jumping about, not ceasing for even a moment.

There are five things which no one is able to accomplish in this world: first, to cease growing old; second, to cease being sick; third, to cease dying; fourth, to deny extinction when there is extinction; fifth, to deny exhaustion.

Ordinary people in the world sooner or later run into these facts, and most people suffer consequently, but those who have heard the Buddha' teaching do not suffer because they understand that these are unavoidable.

Next Buddha Mind Chronicle: THE THEORY OF MIND-ONLY


Excerpts from: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai