8. EVERYBODY WHO LIVES, SUFFERS
Have you seen anybody in this world who has not experienced pain, misery, and suffering? Whoever is born on the earth stage, has to experience this triple suffering. Ultimately, the body grows old. It decays and dies. But we don't realize this Truth. A wealthy young prince, Siddhartha Gautama who went in quest of the Truth, realized that this world is full of dukha, suffering. He attained enlightenment and became the Buddha, the ‘Awakened One’.
We human beings have desires and cravings and to make our dreams come true, our body lives and experiences physical pain and we suffer. Then, the mind wanders. It lives with stress, worry, and anxiety and makes us miserable. To add to the misery, the ego is agonized with anger, hate, revenge, and jealousy. All this is caused because of our ignorance. We think we are the body, mind, and the ego. Thus we suffer.
Nobody can escape this suffering. The moment we are born on earth, we are sure to go through this pain. It is probably this knowledge that makes an infant wail and cry as it enters this world from its mother's womb.
Is there a way to escape from this suffering? Is there a way to transcend the ignorance that we live with? As long as we live and die without realizing Sat or the Truth, we will suffer. But if we transcend the ego and the mind, we can be enlightened and we can be free from suffering. How can we do this?