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Virtue - Being - Nonbeing
There are three kinds of feelings: suffering, happiness, and neutral feelings. Both ordinary people and sages experience these feelings, but the great difference lies in how they receive and handle them. An ordinary person, when experiencing pain, often makes the wound bigger, as if being shot with a second or third arrow in the same place, making the pain ten or thirty times greater. Most of our suffering is created by ourselves, and the main culprit is delusion—our lack of understanding. When there is a pain, the first thing to do is to recognize it, to see its boundaries, and to know that it is impermanent.
Because of delusion, craving arises. The Buddha taught that there are three kinds of craving:
- Craving for sense pleasures (kama-tanha).
- Craving for existence (bhava-tanha).
- Craving for non-existence (vibhava-tanha).
We seek comfort in the six kinds of sense desires—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—because there is suffering inside that we do not know how to handle. We try to cover up our sadness through wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep. This is like a thirsty person eating more salt; the more they eat, the thirstier they become. Or like a person with leprosy scratching their wounds to relieve the itch, thinking it is pleasurable, but in reality making the wound worse.
The practice has two aspects. The first is to look directly at our pain to recognize it, not to run away, to say to it: “You are only you, and you are also impermanent.” The second is to practice touching the wonders of life in order to nourish the seeds of happiness, love, and understanding within us. When compassion is developed, suffering will be transformed. True happiness can only be found when we overcome these three kinds of craving.