may temporarily give us happiness, but attachment to those things that give us
pleasure will surely induce the suffering that arises from the fear of losing them.
Further, if we use and enjoy our pleasure-providing possessions over a long period,
eventually we will become bored and irritated with them, and they will become a
source of anxiety. This suffering comes from our proclivity to cling to something
that we believe to be substantial and true. But no matter what satisfaction occurs,
great or small, everything changes in a moment. Consider poison concealed in
delicious food: even though the food smells and tastes delicious, once it enters the
throat, it brings only severe pain.
Nothing has essence, not even an essence as small as a sesame seed. Hearing
good news, enjoying wealth and possessions, associating with friends—when we
can experience such pleasures without attachment, with benign disinterest, only
then can we fully enjoy them. When we are detached from pleasure—knowing
the true nature of happiness and wise in the experience of happiness through true
enjoyment—we will suffer less. To experience happiness yet remain detached
from it, like a duck floating on a pond, in this way avoiding its otherwise inevitable
transformation into suffering, is called “wise in the experience of pleasure.”
Simplistically speaking, what we call happiness and suffering are attributes of
nirvana and samsara, respectively. What we call “samsara” is suffering. Whoever,
high or low, falls into samsara is bound by suffering just as if he or she had fallen
into a pit of fire. What we call “nirvana” is happiness. If we search there for
suffering, we will not find it. Just as a chunk of molasses is sweet on every side, no
matter from which side we approach nirvana, there is the sweet taste of
happiness.
In The Supreme Tantra, Lord Maitreya, the buddha-regent, says,
Know the disease, then eradicate its cause;
To obtain the cure, depend upon the medicine.
Know suffering, abandon its cause;
Attain cessation by relying upon the path.If samsara is suffering and nirvana is happiness, unless we know the actuality of
both samsara and nirvana, we will neither be able to free ourselves from suffering
nor attain any real happiness.
1.24 WHY ALL BEINGS ARE CONTINUOUSLY BOUND IN SAMSARA
First, we should know the characteristics of this samsara that has suffering as its
nature. This so-called samsara is a delusion. How is it delusory? Due to dualistic
perception, we see one as two, we see unity as multiplicity, we see unclean as
clean, we see suffering as happiness, we see nonself as a self, and we see
impermanence as permanence, and so on. Through such misconceptions that
deny the natural perfection of the sensory fields, attachment is generated, and we
are fully deluded. The dualistic egoist mind, claiming superiority, arrogates to
itself the lordship of reason and righteousness while pretending to know how