The following is an excerpt from a public talk given by His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok:
“Not recognizing what causes the disease” refers to those of us who are still wandering in the three realms of cyclic existence. We are suffering in samsara, which is considered to be like the great welling up of spontaneous suffering that occurs because we simply don’t recognize our condition. What we must do is recognize that as long as we stay in this state of lack of awareness, we will never be able to experience even a needle tip’s worth of happiness. If you still wonder why it is that sentient beings are suffering, what is this condition that we call the suffering of the three realms of cyclic existence, just think about it. Physical illness, incurable disease, mental suffering, mental illness, anxiety, inability to acquire the wealth and the objects of one’s desire, inability to become famous, or acquiring wealth and fame, and losing it, all of these different complications and ins and outs of daily life situations are what we are referring to in terms of the suffering of cyclic existence. This is easy to understand if you just simply take a look at it. This is called the suffering of suffering.
That which we think brings us happiness, that which we pursue with the hope to get happiness—fame, wealth, gain, possessions and so forth—are actually the causes of suffering, because if you are finally able to acquire what you are working so hard to acquire, once you have one thing, then you will want a second and a third and a fourth. In other words, you can’t be satisfied by these material objects because they will only lead to more desire for yet more material objects. Even if you are the ruler of an entire country, you will want to rule a second and a third country because it is the nature of desire that it simply cannot be satisfied. This is why desire itself is a source of suffering, and with this kind of endless or unceasing desire for material gain, happiness can never be found.
We suffer then because we can’t obtain what we want in terms of material wealth and glory. And then if we do obtain it, we suffer fearing that we will lose it. We actually have enemies that we are threatened by because we have these possessions. So then we have to hire more people to protect our possessions and on and on and on like this. One situation leads to a second situation which leads to more and more suffering. This is why I am saying that it is very unlikely that any true happiness can be derived from this suffering. It would be better to be able to be satisfied by thinking. “As long as I have some delicious and satisfying food to eat, and comfortable and ample clothing, and a comfortable bed to sleep on at night, then it is not necessary to own all these other possessions because they will only be the causes for more suffering. I can be satisfied by just simply having that which makes me comfortable so that I can survive.”
Especially when it comes time for our death, no one in this world can take any of their possessions with them at that time. All of the things that we spend our short lifetime trying to accumulate and pursue, thinking that these things will bring us happiness, are totally useless when the time of our death arrives. Not only that, none of our friends can come along. We must go alone when we pass from this life. Even the greatest rulers and the most powerful people of this world are alone in the hour of their death. Therefore it becomes more obvious that it is kind of futile to spend one’s time and one’s short lifetime pursuing the accumulation of material objects which bring suffering during one’s life and are useless at the time of death.