Buddha(560 bc-480 bc)

The release from suffering

“It is just thirst or craving,which gives rise to repeated existence,which is bound with impassioned
appetite and which seeks fresh pleasure now here and there”

Thirst of Pleasure on attaining things.is it the root cause of our unhappiness?perhaps it is time to explore
what buddha said.let me explore from my own life.what I wanted from my life?probably the answer
would be a whole lot of things at different stages to adulthood.what was the first wish that ever cropped
in my mind.there are two aspects to this question.the first being the first wish I ever had and the second
being the first wish of prominence I ever had.my answer to the first is I am not sure.i do not
remember.but for the second one I definitely have an answer from which another question would stem
up.my first wish was a girl.i wanted to love a girl and get reciprocated feelings from her when I was in
class six.that probably would bring me to a logical conclusion.emotional fulfillment to me has a higher
rating than any other things.i was pretty average in those times.academically I was not the best.i wanted
to do good academic stuffs.why?i wanted to come to her notice.so my second craving was a subset of
my first one.i did well academically but I could not get that feeling from the girl.what was the next thing
I wanted?i had been cornered when I was in class twelve.cornered academically ,I was staring at an
average world.it brought me a big humiliation.that was again the reason I wanted to show the world
that I can go to the best place in town and I did it.here I would pause and again point out that what
stemmed this want was again an emotional feeling of shame.after being admitted to a good engineeri
ng college,I again scored badly in my first two semesters.then again I felt the need to show what I am
capable of and studied.my grades improved again the same conclusion.always my craving for a thing has
been some kind of a response to an emotion.a negative heart emotion which can be somewhat won
with an accredited success.is this the root cause of my unhappiness?i guess so.in all these
cravings,desires I always used the craving material to be a kind of fruit which if I have can be exchanged
for something I originally craved for.i never craved for good marks or a good college.i wanted these
things because of satisfying my other desires.it brings me to another conclusion.the world’s image of me
is regarded my me to be of high optimal value.this was all about my life.

Now let me switch to another story.the story of a friend of mine.he is at par with me profesionally.but
when I look at him I feel jealous.i find it amazing that how can he be so contended,be so happy?is his
expectations from life not that high ?i begin to question him,make him speak his mind.he is a chap who
belongs to a well cultured family but things are not that rosy for them economically.the first wish he had
is to do big in life,make his parents proud.now what were the things he thought were needed for these?
good academics he deciphered is the shortest way to achieve his dreams.with that motto he was
studying,overcoming all odds and scoring good.that brings us all to a more implicit logical conclusion.he
is happy because in achieving his desires he never craved for any other fruit.

Now I would try to understand buddha.according to him,the root cause of our suffering and the way to
get over it lies in four basic truths of life.the first truth he arrived is that the world and we individuals are
of transience.there is no long lasting thing in this universe and as much as we try to reduce the
probability of failure and try to be robust,reliable and have enduring thoughts that will last through our
lifetime and may be to the next life we end up chasing a mirage of realism.if we realize this truth that
there is nothing in this universe that is omnipotent,we would stop clinging at things and attain the state
of detachment.

The second truth according to buddha is that this attempt to grasp at transient things and freeze them
to us traps us in an endless cycle of suffering.we are as such an everhungry ,continuous souls wanting to
hold things which are impossible to hold in actuality.

The third truth according to buddha is that we should stop this clinging habbit and practice detachment
i.e free ourselves from the habbit of chasing at transient things.

And the root to life and how to lead life comes from the fourth tenet,an eightfold path treading which
we can achieve nirvana.buddha said we need to acquire the right view,right intention,right speech,right
action,right livelihood,right effort,right mindfulness and right concentration.

I think I have the principle school of thoughts now.it would be graet fun analyzing all these .that I will
leave for tomorrow.