Cease the Suffering (Part 3 of 4)

In this third part of the basic Buddhist teachings of the Four Noble Truths, we’ll explore the truth of how to cease suffering.

It’s in this third Noble Truth that we can find hope! You might remember from the First and Second Noble Truths that we begin to understand that life involves and includes suffering. It’s only then that we begin to identify the causes of our cravings, clinging, and aversion to suffering. From there, we can see that we now have the ability to cease suffering.

Many people throw around the term “nirvana” with the idea that it means peace, joy, clarity, and happiness.

The term nirvana actually refers to the absence of craving and clinging.

So we can’t bypass what I call the “heavy lifting” of the work to be done to investigate and bring awareness to how we create our own suffering through our craving and clinging. If we were to do that,  it would be akin to clinging to the idea of happiness, joy, peace, and freedom. As if those states of being can be achieved somehow without that investigation.

It doesn’t work that way.

These states sometimes arise from meditation but they are not our end goal.

If we remember that non-clinging is the means to release our suffering, then we are less likely to cling to any state.

This week practice letting go. Let go of the joy, the happiness, the sadness, the trauma, the drama, all of it. Practice non-clinging with the understanding that nothing is permanent

As you continue on your journey, we would love for you to join us at Satsang House for our Sunday Sangha gathering on January 22nd, either via Zoom or In-Person!