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Picture this, you are absolutely terrified of your public speech scheduled tomorrow. You find it easy to feel your body and mind filled up with anxiety and fear of criticism as you think of standing on the stage in front of a huge crowd of strangers. The pressure from your desire for a flawless social image, others’ admiration and respect could be so unbearable that you would refuse to speak at all to begin with. Ready to discover a way to win back the front seat? Let's hear what the Buddhists have to say.
Buddha's diagnosis
The First Noble Truth of Buddha’s teaching reveals the truth of Dukkha, which can be translated as unsatisfactoriness, or pain. First and foremost, one must acknowledge and accept the fact that life is suffering. The Second Noble Truth addresses how the cause of all sufferings come from our consistent thirst for pleasures. This specific diagnosis of Buddha about the close connection between human existence and suffering understandably provokes resistance as it might appear cynical. However, Buddhism is neither pessimistic, or a positive attitude of believing in favorable results one wishes to see throughout the long journey of living.
Buddhism is all about giving human beings the courage they need in order to see life truly as it is so that they can attain true happiness. It is more of a state of mind, than a religious practice.
In fact, Buddha’s diagnosis does ring true about the nature of human experience. Buddhism believes we are all, to different extent, trapped by our internal desires. These desires rationalize our action of pursuing and holding on to certain ideas, beliefs, sentiments, stuffs, people as well as manage the way we perceive the true nature of things. In order to reach freedom, we must grow beyond our own inclinations and stop seeing only what we want to see. The Venerable Buddhist monk Bhikku Bodhi, in one of his audio lectures on the fundamentals of Buddha’s teaching, explains that the ultimate goal of Buddhism is to lead people to liberation.
The prison of uncontrollable cravings
First of all, there is always an undercurrent of longing for more no matter what people have achieved. Even if we eventually get what we want, it usually does not last for long enough. There can be a sense of temporary gratification, yet only sufficient to fuel our thirst and drive it to be even stronger and more intense. Whether it is money, sex, power, fame, affection or attention, we simply never get enough satisfaction. Because if there is satisfaction, we do not want more. As a result of the tendency to cling to the objects of pleasure with the anxiety and fear that those will get lost or be stolen, people constantly live in a state of sorrow, disappointment, fear of rejection and the feeling of dissatisfaction. Buddha, however, says there is an option to liberate ourselves from the seemingly endless suffering. The first vital step is to fully recognize that we have been prisoned by our cravings and that our judgments have always been filtered with a screen of emotions which help validate and justify our desires.
For instance, many people hold their beloved dear to their hearts. Yet if the loved one departed, many of them would be in despair and endure intolerable pain and sorrow, even resentment for a long period of time. They might eventually need to resort to drugs, alcohol, sex, or other types of self-destructive behaviors in order to cease the suffering. These are symptoms of the desire for self-annihilation: the craving to not have to encounter unpleasant experiences or people in life. The Buddhists are not suggesting that we should abandon entirely the need for society’s respect and love.
They suggest we will be free men and women if we give up our attachment to such things, so that we can enjoy most genuinely the pleasure at hand, or acknowledge the loss deeply without being overly attached and self-destructive.
Pleasure is fleeting
Under the surface, finding more sex, pursuing more success and getting elevated socially give human beings a higher chance to get more genes to the next generation. In evolutionary psychology, pleasure could be interpreted as a tool, a kind of reward used by natural selection in order to selfishly preserve and expand our species regardless of the costs (including continuous suffering). Although the pleasures we strive for do not last forever, we fail to acknowledge that truth clearly enough. Pleasure is fleeting. However, people never focus on that as they work to achieve the reward. We always concentrate intensely on the pleasure of buying that new dress, eating that pizza, earning that money, winning over that attractive person at work, getting that perfect body.
We believe in a distorted view that everything would be better with such pleasure being gained, instead of concerning carefully the fact that the good feelings will soon evaporate and happiness shall not be closer in sight.
Liberating oneself
In conclusion, Buddhism suggests a rebellion against natural selection, that people should mindfully stop being the puppets of their own cravings and take control instead. It is not about eliminating all desires, but only the false ones. Only by giving up the pursuit of the illusion of happiness can people start to embark on their search for true, stable, imperishable happiness, which can never be corrupted by fears, anxiety and the thirst for pleasure. Through explanation about the nature of human experience, the cause of suffering and the purpose of Buddhism, Buddha’s diagnosis does reflect fairly and truly a major struggle faced by human beings which arises from the universal urge of all lives to search for happiness.
References:
Wright, R. (2010). Retrieved from Princeton University Buddhism and Modern Psychology Course: https://class.coursera.org/psychbuddhism-001/lecture
Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Nobility of the Four Truths”: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_20.html
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