Christianity is not the only religion that has “life is struggle” as one of its core tenets. Buddhism began with Siddhattha Gotama who lived in North India in the 6th century B.C. His father, Suddhodana was the ruler of thekingdom of Sãkyas (modern-day Nepal). Siddhattha married a beautiful princess named Yasodharã at the age of sixteen, lived in a luxurious palace and had an incredibly opulent life ahead of him. However, at the age of twenty nine after the birth of his only child Rãhula, he decided to find a solution for mankind’s suffering by leaving his life of luxury behind and searching for the universal solution to this universal problem. Throughout his journey of epiphany, he met religious teachers and followed their systems and teachings, however he did not find the answer that he sought. He decided that in order to find the one true solution, he must tread his own path. It was at the age of thirty five, whilst seated under ‘The Tree of Wisdom’ that Siddhattha became Enlightened, after which he became known as The Buddha (The Enlightened One).
For forty five years after this day, he delivered classes and passed on his enlightened wisdom to those who sought it, no matter their position in society. What strikes me most about this story of how The Buddha came to be was that he did not claim super-natural powers, he did not claim to be anything special or a god, he simply obtained wisdom and shared it to whoever would listen, so that they too could become Enlightened. He allowed his students freedom of thought as for a person to liberate themselves, they must not be restricted by any god or doctrine. He believed that we are our own masters and therefore no other being or god has control over what you do or become. He advised his students to “be a refuge to themselves” and not to seek refuge in others. He believed that we and only we are capable of bettering ourselves through effort and intelligence, rather than what The Buddha believed was the root of all evil: ignorance and false views.

What is required is an understanding of suffering and the arising of it so as to be liberated from its shackles

The Buddha’s teachings generally revolved around The Four Noble Truths which are:

1. Dukkha- Suffering

2. Samudaya – The Arising of Suffering

3. Nirodha – The Cessation of Suffering

4. Magga- The Path to the Cessation of Suffering

The first Noble Truth is Dukkha and is translated loosely as The Noble Truth of Suffering. Buddhism takes on a realistic and objective mindset regarding life, so as to not coddle its followers nor to pessimistically depress them. It should be noted that Buddhists do not believe, as is popularly described of them, that life is nothing but suffering and pain. Rather, Buddhists believe that everything is impermanent and that that is what constitutes Dukkha. For example, to arrribute this to modern life, imagine that you have just been interviewed for a new job, you believe that the interview went very well and that you most likely will get the job. However, a week later you are informed that you did not get the job. The feeling that the interview went well is positive thinking, the terrible feeling of the consequences of not getting the job is negative thinking but there is a third option. An option that summarises The First Noble Truth: you could be completely detached from your feelings, both negative and positive and simply view it objectively and therefore be liberated from unreliable feelings. Therefore, Buddhism teaches the awareness of positive, negative and objective thinking so as to become liberated.

The concept of Dukkha should be understood via three aspects of the term:

1. Ordinary Suffering

2. Change

3. Conditioned States

All suffering that occurs through life such as birth, growing old, illness, grief, death, negative people or environments, stress, anxiety, depression and injury are all forms of suffering included in Ordinary Suffering. Theimpermanence of happiness and the ever-changing events that unfold throughout life producing pain, suffering or happiness can be thought of as Dukkha with regards to change. The third form of Conditioned States concerns the analysis of being, the self and what we call “I.” It seems apt to quote The Buddha here directly to summarise Dukkha: “The world is in continuous flux and is impermanent.” Although life is ever-changing and there most certainly is suffering within it, The Buddha believed that our reactions to suffering are what matters, not the suffering itself. If you react to a negative situation with more negativity, you’re making it worse. Instead, what is required is an understanding of suffering and the arising of it so as to be liberated from its shackles.

Keep on Struggling

Gregor

Book I Loved - Rich Dad Poor Dad by Richard Kiyosaki

This book has opened my eyes regarding money, finance and my relationship to them. It dispels many myths that we are conditioned to believe such as your house being an asset (which I’ve already debated with my dad). It has started a journey in which I am going to educate myself further and hopefully begin making money work for me rather than working for money.
It is the number 1 personal finance book of all time, it “explodes themyth that you need to earn a high income to become rich, teaches why acquiring and building assets can be more important to your future than a big pay check and reminds us why we can’t count on the school system to teach our kids about money.”

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Another Book I Enjoyed - Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday

It was on Tim Ferriss and Ryan Holiday’s recommendation to study Stoic philosophy, so I’m slowly making my way through Holiday’s books and his latest one is another great. It’s subject of courage goes hand in hand with embracing struggleso it’s definitely worth a read if you’re looking for some inspiration or motivation.
Here’s a short description: “Courage: the powerful force that enables us to overcome obstacles, fight for what’s right, do service for others, drive change - and, ultimately, become who we were truly meant to be.”

Buy the book below.

BUY HERE

YouTube Videos I Find Useful

I stumbled across these videos by accident by I’m glad I did. They are forms of ASMR (Autonomic Sensory Meridian Response), which aren’t distracting but create and pleasant ambience when I’m writing. There’s a lot to choose from so simply typing “ASMR” and then your chosen location or sound would probably produce some results. My favourites include Paris Cafés, Rainy New York (linked below) and Harry Potter themed videos.

Listen to Rainy New York below.

LISTEN HERE

Quote to Ponder

Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece - Ralph Charles

References

What The Buddha Taught By Theravadin Walpole Rahula