conclusionChögyam Trungpa:
You decide to take a vacation in Paris, planning to have a good time, but something goes wrong. Your long-time French friend had an accident. He is in the hospital and his family is very upset, unable to provide you with the hospitality you had expected. Instead you have to stay in a hotel, which you cannot afford, as your money is running out. You decide to change your money on the black market and you get swindled; and your supposed friend, who had an accident and is in the hospital, suddenly starts to dislike you, begins to regard you as a nuisance. You want to return home, but you can’t. All flights are cancelled because of bad weather. You are really desperate. Every hour, every second is important to you. You are pacing up and down in the airport and your visa is running out. You have to get out of the country soon, and explaining to the officials is very difficult because you do not speak French. Such situations occur all the time. We are speeding, trying to get rid of our pain, and we find more pain by doing so. Pain is very real. We cannot pretend that we are all happy and secure. Pain is our constant companion. It goes on and on—all-pervading pain, the pain of alternation and the pain of pain. If we are seeking eternity or happiness or security, then the experience of life is one of pain, duhkha, suffering.
You decide to take a vacation in Paris, planning to have a good time, but something goes wrong. Your long-time French friend had an accident. He is in the hospital and his family is very upset, unable to provide you with the hospitality you had expected. Instead you have to stay in a hotel, which you cannot afford, as your money is running out. You decide to change your money on the black market and you get swindled; and your supposed friend, who had an accident and is in the hospital, suddenly starts to dislike you, begins to regard you as a nuisance. You want to return home, but you can’t. All flights are cancelled because of bad weather. You are really desperate. Every hour, every second is important to you. You are pacing up and down in the airport and your visa is running out. You have to get out of the country soon, and explaining to the officials is very difficult because you do not speak French. Such situations occur all the time. We are speeding, trying to get rid of our pain, and we find more pain by doing so. Pain is very real. We cannot pretend that we are all happy and secure. Pain is our constant companion. It goes on and on—all-pervading pain, the pain of alternation and the pain of pain. If we are seeking eternity or happiness or security, then the experience of life is one of pain, duhkha, suffering.
"Suffering," an essay on the first of the four noble truths of Buddhism, is one chapter of Chögyam Trungpa's book The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation (Berkeley: Shambhala, 1976), pp. 7-12.
