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The following is from an introduction to buddhism, and I thought it appropriate for the state of things today.
The first sermon that the Buddha preached after his enlightenment was about the four noble truths. The first noble truth is that life is frustrating and painful. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, there are times when it is downright miserable. Things may be fine with us, at the moment, but, if we look around, we see other people in the most appalling condition, children starving, terrorism, hatred, wars, intolerance, people being tortured and we get a sort of queasy feeling whenever we think about the world situation in even the most casual way. We, ourselves, will some day grow old, get sick and eventually die. No matter how we try to avoid it, some day we are going to die. Even though we try to avoid thinking about it, there are constant reminders that it is true.
OK, after re-reading that, it’s sounds kind of gloomy for the first day of the new year, so I encourage you to follow the link above to read the entire thing … that was the first noble truth, and there are three others that put it in greater perspective.Since that was semi-depressing, here’s a picture I came across that may lighten your spirits, I call it the four ignoble truths. Happy New Year!
