Cattāri Brahmavihārā

“Please become aware of the fact that this body does not have suffering, but that it is suffering. Only then can we begin to fathom the reality of human suffering. It is not that we have some dis-comfort sometimes, but that this body consists of suffering. It can’t sit or lie still without becoming uncomfortable. Know the impermanence. Know the unsatisfac-toriness, which is inherent in the human body. Know the fact that the feeling has arisen without your invitation. So why call it “mine”?” Read more: https://www.scribd.com/book/265260570

Sometimes it seems like there’s so many pieces of this path to put together that I’ll never figure it out. And, despite my not infrequent desire to stick my head in the sand I know there is no respite to be found in this body.

It’s said that Ajahn Mun had been practicing the bodhisatta path for 500 lifetimes after he could have attained arahantship but “cashed in” in his last life. This would help to explain his teaching abilities and odd his but his revelation that he had only gotten a fraction of the way it’s daunting to say the least.

All of which is to say that, if I’m serious about this path, I will need to be willing to forebear and comprehend sufferings big and small. Complaining and lamenting, such as in my post yesterday, simply won’t help. Surrendering to irritation is also no longer an option. I will fail but it is the consistency of effort that will bring me to my goal. I haven’t lost until I’ve given up.

May I never surrender until sammasambodhi is won.