Notes on The Second Noble Truth

 

                                                       Grateful for such mornings as these. 

Let me share an insight I had recently.  Not only is it true that craving causes suffering - the second noble truth.   But this understanding can be turned around to reveal the understanding that nothing except craving causes suffering!  That’s right, when you notice you are feeling mental or physical pain to any degree, mild or severe, it’s all caused by craving.  Try it one day as an exercise.  Notice when you are in any sort of discomfort (anger, sadness, fear, physical pain, anything) and check in to see if it is caused by your craving and tension.  You could ask yourself “is this pain caused by me? (do I have liking, not liking, or taking things personally in my mind?) and then 6 R.  This discovery could blow your mind, it has blown the lid off of mine, because this is when we see there is no pain in any single thing no matter how terrifying, brutal or seemingly painful it would be.  All the things we were so frightened of, have no power anymore.  This means, nothing can actually hurt us anymore.  Without craving we really are free.  

Something to keep in mind when we might be complicating things.  All we have to do is come back, come back, and come back to the 6R’s.