Life is ........

Life is ........


" ... suffering!"


I have a dream once about my school-going days as a teenager.

In the dream, I recall this boy -

"Oh, he's so cute! So hard to let go of!"

In the same dream, I also dreamt that I have homework not done :

1 essay, and 2 Maths questions - 1 is on Trigonometry, and the other, a problem sum.

In the dream, I was thinking I can copy the answers to the Maths questions from my friends.

Yet at the same time, the thought occurs to me that if I copy the answer to the Maths questions, I won't be able to answer them during exam time.

That's when I got frighten and it hit me :

"Arghh! I've had enough of school, study, exams, Trigonometry, Calculus, etc. No guy - no matter how cute/handsome is gonna ensnare me to the cycle of samsara/suffering (ever again)!"

At that moment, I woke up with a start.

And remembered where and when I was -

The present moment.

"Phew!" I thought with relief, "I'm past school and exams."

"What day is today?" I asked myself cos' I completely forgot what day it was.

"Wednesday ........ "

That's when I remembered,

"Ahhh ........ I've got work and chores to do!"

Life, is suffering!




"Long is the night to the wakeful;

Long is the journey to the weary;

Long is samsara to the foolish

Who knows NOT the Sublime Truth."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 60




"While the fool enslaves himself;

The wise seeks a way out."





"The craving of the person addicted to careless living grows like a creeper.

He jumps from life to life like a monkey in the forest looking for fruit."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 334

"Whoever in this world is overcome by this wretched clinging thirst,

His sorrows grow like birana grass after rain.

But whosoever in this world overcomes this wretched craving so difficult to overcome,

His sorrows fall away from him like water-drops from a lotus leaf."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 335, 336





"Dig up the root of craving just as one who wishes to have the fragrant root digs up the birana grass.

Don't let Mara destroy you again and again, as the flood destroys the reed."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 337




"As a tree cut down sprouts forth again if its roots remain uninjured and strong,

Even so when the roots of craving are not destroyed,

This suffering arises again and again."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 338





" A man who gives way to pleasure will be swept away by craving

And his thoughts will make him suffer, like waves."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 339





"The streams (craving) flow everywhere.

The creeper (craving) sprouts and stands.

Seeing the creepers that has sprung up,

With wisdom cut off the roots."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 340





"A man's joys are always transient,

And since men devote themselves to pleasure,

Seeking after happiness,

They undergo birth and decay."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 341





"People beset with craving are terrified like a hare caught in a snare;

Held fast by fetters and bonds, they undergo dukkha (round of rebirths) again and again, for a long time.


"People beset with craving are terrified like a hare caught in a snare.

Therefore, a bhikku who wishes his own passionlessness (Nibbana) should eradicate craving."

- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 342, 343