RIGHT VIEW
Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering
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What is the origin of
suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied
by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for
sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. (MN 9)
When one does not know and understand flavors as they actually are, then
one is attached to flavors. When one is attached, one becomes
infatuated, and one’s craving increases. One’s bodily and mental
troubles increase, and one experiences bodily and mental suffering. (MN
149)
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Working
systematically through the six different sense modalities, here we come
to working with the flavors discernible by the tongue that give rise to
moments of “tasting.” Here too we can easily get caught by wanting or
craving some experiences of taste over others. A moment of suffering is
born when we dislike the taste of something we are eating, or when we
like something so much that we want to eat it again and again.
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See if you can
get free for just a moment from the reflex to pursue pleasure and avoid
displeasure. Try taking a few bites of something you traditionally don’t
like and see if you can regard tasting it as simply a different
experience. Try taking one bite and not another of something you really
like and investigate that too as an experience. In this exercise you
practice equanimity: tasting something without getting entangled in it.
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Tomorrow: Cultivating Compassion
One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
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