the Four Noble Truths
17 Nov 2013
Good morning, everyone!
I am glad to see you all.
The other day, I wanted to eat chicken teriyaki and went to Zippys. It was good and I was happy with it. When I looked at a guy next to me, he was eating loco moco. It looked so delicious that I thought I should have ordered loco moco instead.
If I were young, I could eat both dishes at that time. However, I don't think that I can do that anymore. I thought that if I ordered loco moco, I should have regretted it and missed chicken teriyaki much. Then, I was confused which dish I should have taken. As a result, I thought that I would have been in trouble no matter which dish or neither of dishes I ate. A cause of the troubles was my desire to eat chicken teriyaki and wanted others one after another. If I didn't think of chicken teriyaki and I ate just what my wife served, there would be no problem at all. I am afraid that many of you experienced similar situations.
By the way, many people say that Buddhism is difficult. It is hard to understand and practice it. Some people confuse how we apply the teaching of the Buddha to our daily lives. It must be tough to understand completely. However, the Buddha never teaches us complicated teachings. He tries to make it easy to understand as much as possible. That is way he uses many parables in the Lotus Sutra. The parables make it easy to access for the people beyond time, place and culture.
As you may know, the most basic teaching of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths. They are: #1 we have to understand that this world is full of sufferings. #2 A cause of our suffering is our desire. #3 nirvana, an ideal world is free from suffering. #4 the means for the attainment of nirvana is the practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. You may wonder that is all. Yes, that is all. However, that is very important for our daily lives.
Let me rethink about what happened on me at Zippys with the Four Noble Truths. I had a desire to eat chicken teriyaki. I went to Zippys to achieve my desire. My desire was fulfilled there and I was happy. However, at the next moment, I had another desire to eat loco moco. I could not eat both of them at one time and worried that other dishes might be good too. I had my desires one after another. My desires put me in troubles. I was suffered from my own desires. If I noticed it there, I would be OK. But, I noticed it later. It made me understand that the teachings of the Buddha is very meaningful and important in our daily lives.
It is unfortunate that I was not ready when I should think of it. Although we understand it enough, we sometimes can't recall it when we need it. As you see, that is our problems. That is not problem of the Buddha or his teachings. It means that we are the ones who make the teaching difficult. We are the ones who don't practice when we need it.
The teachings of the Buddha has profound meaning at every moment of our daily lives. It is very unfortunate but we usually don't notice it. The teachings is so important. That is why I want you to listen to the teachings comfortably and closely. I will talk about the Eightfold Noble Path next time.