worshipped by innumerable fans that some would die to see him perform—as
almost happened in Taiwan in 1996—how was it that he could not escape the
sickness that led to his early death? If money could extend life, surely in this case
it would have done so. Because Michael had gained fame and started his fortune at
the age of nine, we might assume that he had led a life of constant happiness. But
as reported by the media, his life turned out to be a miserable catalog of litigation,
personal tragedy, and grief. The medical records of his autopsy showed that he
was a mere fifty kilograms at the time of his death, and his stomach was full of
various medicines and completely empty of food. His disease seems to have been
some kind of self-hatred, manifesting particularly as a dislike for his own skin
color and facial features that was so deep that he had them modified in several
surgical operations.
The truth is that fame and fortune could not provide him with any measure of
satisfaction, and the lesson to be learned from Michael’s life is that regardless of
the effort we ourselves make to be like him in fame and fortune, we too are bound
to fail in our quest for happiness. In the light of evidence of the absence of any
substantial essence in the material world, therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha could
say that, regardless of our status in this threefold world, none of us can escape the
conditions of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Suffering is caused by emotional
affliction—the six neurotic syndromes—and this in turn causes us to take rebirth
in one of the six corresponding realms. Shakyamuni went on to say that from
birth, old age, sickness, and death in those six states we suffer an endless diversity
of suffering: separation from what we love, for example, or the misery of
engagement with what we dislike, the pain of failing to find what we seek, and all
the other sufferings of embodiment. Continuing, he then said that in order to
escape from all that grief, we should depend upon the continuum of emptiness
that is the true path. This is mentioned in The Explanatory Sutra of Interdependent
Origination:
Since the Buddha knows emotional affliction as the cause of suffering and
shows us the antidote to karma and emotional affliction, so he tells us of the
supreme liberation where the suffering of old age, sickness, and death is
absent.We should recognize clearly, therefore, that whether we abide in the human
realm or are caught up in any of the six neurotic syndromes, we are still fenced in
by immediate incontestable suffering. Entering the immaculate path defined by
the master, Shakyamuni Buddha, we shall be released from the severe suffering of
birth, sickness, old age, and death in both this life and the next, and with constant
effort, we may attain the deathless peace of nirvana. All of us, regardless of status,
are like Michael Jackson in that we are dominated by emotional traumas that
cause suffering. Although on the face of it, the world may appear to offer pleasure
and beauty, it is imperative that, by relying on buddha-dharma, we recognize that
chasing after pleasure is the cause of suffering.
In his exposition of the four noble truths, Shakyamuni Buddha taught that
suffering consists of birth, old age, sickness, and death. Further, there is the