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Source of Suffering - Are You Ready for Happiness?

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Except from "Are You Ready for Happiness? - Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off" by Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro (translated by Lorraine Wu Chen)

Source of suffering

How does human suffering arise?

Without thorough investigation, many people instinctively think suffering arises from not having money, not having enough to eat, not having warm clothing, etc. Actually, these are only some of the reasons why we suffer: they are not the main reason. 

Original Source of Suffering - Clarity and Ocean of Stillness
Buddhism occasionally uses the ocean to describe our state of mind, and sometimes the sky and clouds to explain the essence or activities of the mind. Here we draw a parallel between the ocean and our mind. 

The clarity of the mind is likened to an ocean surface which is completely still - without sound, waves or ripples, it is calm and peaceful and seemingly empty of time and space. 


Note: 

Maybe, one day, I will have the calmness of mind that is required of me when things are suddenly tumultuous...much like this morning. 

Being a single mother means often being without help, no back-up. This often leaves me alone to do everything and keep it all together. This morning, I woke up perfectly fine until my elder son decided to fall back to sleep, causing me an extra trip to fetch him to his class (which is different from my younger son) a little later. This disrupted my schedule and what I had imagined to be a Monday I wanted to be calm and collected because there's going to be one huge financial hurdle to overcome today....so, this just added to it. 
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