Hello, everyone!
Welcome to this episode of the podcast provided by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, I want to delve into a fundamental and serious question: our struggle with our own afflictions and how we can truly understand and transcend them. We often ask ourselves, “What am I? Can my mind be controlled?” These are some of the most crucial questions on the path of spiritual cultivation.
The Paradox of Seeking Pleasure and Finding Pain
First, we must confront the internal demons. We often mistakenly identify with this physical body, feelings, thoughts, actions, and consciousness as “me,” and we are unable to control our own afflictions. What’s the result? We fall into a paradox: “We spend all our time seeking pleasure, but end up suffering every day.”
This is what we call the paradox of “seeking pleasure, yet finding pain.”
This isn’t a matter of a day or a lifetime; it’s something that has been happening “since beginningless time.” We constantly seek pleasure, but we continuously suffer. Every time we find pleasure, various forms of suffering are hidden behind it, yet we continue to search. This is like eating a meal—no matter how delicious, eating too much will make you feel unwell. Or like a fish greedy for the bait on a hook: the pleasure of that single bite is brief, but the pain of being hooked is constant, with every struggle bringing more agony.
Why are we unable to free ourselves, even when we know this is the case? The root cause lies in our insufficient understanding of the true nature of these internal demons and our incomplete awareness of their harm. Our “perceptual errors” and “habitual conditioning” are deeply ingrained. Just as people in Sichuan, China, are conditioned from a young age to see the fiery spice of food as a source of happiness, while others might find it painful; we too have conditioned ourselves to see our own suffering as happiness.
We must understand that this body is not “you,” it is merely “yours.” It is a capital asset given to us by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for spiritual cultivation. Yet, we take this asset and use it to “self-mutilate and self-harm,” thereby creating negative karma. We often say we follow the Buddha, but in reality, we still follow our own “uncontrollable” afflictions. A crucial question is: “What do you truly believe in? The Buddha or the demons? Who do you serve?”
This is a very serious issue.
Wisdom Appears, Escaping the Sea of Suffering
So, how do we break free from this endless sea of suffering? The key is to have “right view constantly present.”
When you truly recognize that the internal demons are “harmful and without benefit,” you will no longer follow them. You can say to them, “If you kill me, I will be liberated. But if you don’t kill me, I will kill you!”
This is because “they are finite and limited, but you are infinite and boundless.”
The worldly pleasures we seek are often momentary, but the suffering they bring is constant. The true source of happiness and freedom is the joy of meditation. When we stop craving desires that only lead to pain, our inherent “meditative bliss” will become manifest. Not only will we be free from suffering, but we will also gain liberation, where we can have whatever we desire without seeking it externally.
When wisdom is present, everything becomes clear. A person with wisdom understands that even a brief period of suffering is far more worthwhile than years of being bedridden, living in agony, and ultimately falling into a lower state of existence. That brief suffering can be exchanged for the good karma of becoming a celestial being or an even higher being. What could be more worthwhile?
Conclusion
Friends, the Spirit within each of us is infinite and boundless. Stop “mistaking the false for the real” by treating the illusory and unreal five skandhas and afflictions as yourself. We are not their slaves; we are the masters of our own lives.
Let us develop a firm resolve and maintain right view at all times to overcome the internal demons. Only by doing so can we be liberated from the endless cycle of “seeking pleasure and finding pain,” and attain true liberation and ultimate happiness.
Thank you all.
