One Damn Thing After Another

Life’s incessant ceremonies leap everlasting,
humans spring eternal on hope’s breast,
and frying pans without fires are often far between…

Roger Zelazny, Sign of the Unicorn

This quote from the Chronicles of Amber series, a hugely underrated fantasy series these days, sums up many aspects of life nicely. Life is, in many ways, one damn thing after another, with only brief respites in between.

Of course, this is what the Buddha warned in the first of the Noble Truths. He described life is being marked with dukkha. It doesn’t mean we are always writhing in agony, it’s just that life is marked with dukkha, and it rears its head from time to time.

But what is dukkha?

The analogy frequently used back then was the example of a potter’s wheel:

A potter’s wheel that runs smoothly and easily was described using the term sukkha. But dukkha is more like a potter’s wheel that wobbles, grinds when it turns, and requires effort to keep it spinning. Similarly, life feels like a grind sometimes.

Of course, someone may point out that’s the point of life:

MCCOY: Well, that’s the second time man’s been thrown out of paradise.

KIRK: No, no, Bones. This time we walked out on our own. Maybe we weren’t meant for paradise. Maybe we were meant to fight our way through. Struggle, claw our way up, scratch for every inch of the way. Maybe we can’t stroll to the music of the lute. We must march to the sound of drums.

Star Trek, “This Side of Paradise” (s1ep25), Stardate 3417.3

The Buddha didn’t necessarily say life is “evil” or “awful”, but pointing out the obvious: there is no rest, no lasting refuge. Also, even though sometimes life really does feel awful, life still goes on.

It is this need for a lasting refuge, a way beyond the great Cosmic Rat Race, that leads people to the Dharma.

Namu Shakumuni Butsu

P.S. apparently I’ve written another post with the same title two years ago. 😏