Three Great Truths of Life - Lessons from Buddha

About 3000 years ago there lived a prince who was predicted to be a spiritual leader at the time of his birth. Since his father wanted the prince to run his kingdom after him, he took all the necessary steps to keep the prince away from the pain and suffering present in this world. Prince was not allowed to read any religious books and was not allowed to go out of the palace. However, one day when he was a grown man, he sneaked out of the palace to see the world. What he saw shocked him and moved him. He saw people in his kingdom getting old, having diseases, and dying at some point. Prince was kept so unaware of these basic truths about life that the revelation shook him.

He thought to himself that life could not be all this suffering, there must be something greater to it. So one night he left the palace to find his answers, without his father’s consent. He roamed around on streets from one place to another, but his suffering only increased, he was still not content. Finally, as the legend has it he sat down under a Banyan tree and decided not to get up until he found his answers. This prince later became, whom we know as The Buddha. The word Buddha means – the awakened one.

There is one clear learning from Buddha’s life story. That is – one can not be happy if he has it all and one can also not be happy by just giving it up all. In fact, our happiness does not depend on what we have or don’t have, it depends on the knowledge that whatever we have is enough. This does not mean that you should stop trying to grow or give up the desire to own that Ferrari. This only means that owning that Ferrari will not bring you happiness. It will only bring you short-term pleasure which you get while experiencing anything beautiful. So, start from a place of happiness and let your inner child have some fun too.  

Buddha’s teachings have emphasized a lot on embracing the pain or suffering. Accepting it as part of life and using them to grow mentally and spiritually. One of my favorite quotes from his teachings is that “Pain is certain, Suffering is optional.” Anything you do in life is bound to bring pain at some level. Be it that gym class or working long hours to create something you are passionate about. Therefore, one must not try to avoid the pain, instead make a conscious decision to not suffer from that pain. Allow me to explain this with an example. You have lost a loved one, you can not stop feeling the pain when you hear the news. But what happens after that is your choice. You can either continue to suffer by thinking and rethinking about it. Or you choose to live in the moment and understand that some things are not in our control. We should focus on making the best of what is in our control.

Once a lady came to Buddha in grief and said that she had lost her son. Buddha said to her that bring me a handful of mustard seeds and I will bring your son to life, but the seeds must come from a house where no one has ever died. Needless to say, the lady could not find such a house. The moral is that suffering is inevitable. In the modern world of social media, we form this delusion that it's only us who is suffering, by looking at other people’s posts. But when was the last time you put a post on social media about your failure or about your argument or about your family problems?

Another important concept to grasp is that we cannot lose anything as nothing is ours. We came into this world empty-handed and we will leave empty-handed. So be grateful for all you have created or manifested from those empty hands and do not fear losing it as it was never yours. Buddha says, “You cannot lose something you do not own.”

There was another time, before attaining enlightenment Buddha was sitting under a tree and appreciating the beauty of the countryside. He noticed the blooming flowers the green trees and fresh air, but among all this beauty, he also saw unhappiness. A farmer beat his ox in the field. A bird pecked at an earthworm, and then an eagle swooped down on the bird. Deeply anguished, he thought, "Why does the farmer beat his ox? Why must one creature eat another to live?"

During his enlightenment, Buddha discovered the answer to these questions also referred to as three great truths in his teachings.

1. Nothing is lost in the universe

The first truth is that nothing is ever lost in the universe. Everything is energy and matter. A dead leaf turns into soil. A seed sprouts and becomes a new plant. Old solar systems disintegrate and turn into cosmic rays. We are born of our parents; our parents were born from their parents. Everything we see is made up of the same thing that makes us. Hence nothing and no one is separate from us. When we fully grasp this concept all the feelings of fear, resent and hatred will disappear, what will remain will only be compassion and empathy.

2. Everything Changes

The second truth is that everything is continuously changing. Nothing ever stays the same forever. Life is like a river flowing on and on, ever-changing. Sometimes the flow is slow and other times its swift. It may be smooth and gentle in some places before snags and rocks crop up out of nowhere. The unexpected always happens. So do not get too much consumed by what is happening, focus more on your response to what is happening. Embrace the change and grow with it.

3. Law of Cause and Effect

The third truth is that changes happen in our universe due to the law of cause and effect. This is what we know as karma. One can also understand this in terms of Science. Every action will have an equal and opposite reaction. It implies that everything that happens in our life, directly or indirectly it’s a result of our own actions or inactions. Our thoughts and actions create the reality we live in. Karma does not need to be understood as some scary woo woo phenomenon that punishes us for our wrongdoings. Instead understand that every moment we create new karma by what we say, do, and think. Once we understand this, we get the power to create our own future.

Some people have trouble understanding this law, hence let me dig a bit deeper. First Good karma does not only mean doing good to others, it also means doing good to you. For example, if you are not forgiving someone you are not doing anything bad to the person you are not forgiving. That person may be walking freely unaffected. You are doing bad to your own mental health.

Second, people often think that I always did good to that person, then why did that person do this to me. Karma is like posting letters to yourself, it has nothing to do with the other person. You receive your letters, they receive theirs. In other words, your karma is your karma and their karma is theirs. However, do not judge any other person’s karma either, cause when doing so you are initiating a negative talk in your head, and hence posting bad letters to yourself. Everyone receives the results of their positive actions, sooner or later, in one form or another.

Finally, I will end this article with another profound teachings from The Buddha himself,

“Happiness is a Choice, not a result. Any happiness which is dependent on something outside is only temporary and will fade away as soon as that thing disappears. True Happiness will not come to you. It needs to come from you.”

This blog is posted by Anurag Rai. Anurag is a Life and Performance coach and founder of Superhuman In You. He is also a successful entrepreneur and a certified Meditation and NLP practitioner. To know more about his story click here