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Don't Shoot The Second Arrow
In terms of feelings, there are three types: unpleasant feelings, pleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. A holy person also has these feelings like an ordinary person, but the difference lies in the way of receiving and handling them so that the pain stops at the minimum level. In the Samyukta Agama Sutra, the Buddha taught about the second arrow: when struck by one arrow (physical pain), if we add fear, anger, and imagination, it is like shooting ourselves with a second arrow right into the old wound, making the pain increase ten or thirty times. We need to recognize the pain, smile to it, and see clearly its nature of impermanence so as not to magnify it and cause ourselves more suffering.
Ignorance gives rise to craving (Tanha), which includes three types: craving for sensual satisfaction, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. To escape and cover up the pain and inner emptiness, people often plunge into the deep oceans full of undercurrents, sea monsters, and storms of the six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind) or run after the five sensual desires:
- Wealth (money).
- Form/Beauty (sex).
- Fame (reputation).
- Food (eating).
- Sleep (resting).
Seeking relief through sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or alcohol is actually just a way to cover up the wounds in the heart, making people suffer more the more they seek to cover it up. We are often contradictory when we both detest the current state of suffering, yet do not dare to change and keep clinging to that painful existence (bhava).
