the world out there is the life in here, princeville, kauai

The construction of a "world out there" simultaneously creates a "self in here," and this discord is called duhkha.  

    ~ Michael Stone in Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind

central to yogic and buddhist thought is duhkha. duhkha is a sanskrit word that is often translated as suffering, but i have also seen it translated as something akin to an overall feeling of dissatisfaction with the state of things, or quite simply, unhappiness. the buddha is famous for saying that life is suffering, but he also said, just as plainly, that there is an end to suffering. so no worries, right? 

what causes suffering? well basically it's ignorance (avidya) or an inability to see things as they really are. this is the duhkha that michael stone and other yogis talk about and it's essentially separation. separation from the self and the Self, the self and the world, and the self and other. but to put it simply it's separation between ourselves and everything. when really, we are everything.

 feed me seymor!, poipu, kauai

to look back at the quote from michael stone, he says that there is really no difference from the world outside and the Self within. but because we see things as different-- as outside/inside; me/you; physical/spiritual; temporal/emotional; past/future-- we create a dichotomy of existence that leads to suffering, duhkha so where do these dualities cease? the answer lies in the breath of the present moment, and this is also where we can begin to see things as they truly are-- not in the fantasies of our imagination nor in the past of our longings and clingings.

so the life out there is the world inside. there is no difference. zen teaches that the body and mind are one and not two and that the mind is the energy of the universe. there is no separation and there is no limit. there is no place where i end and you begin. there is no marker. there is only life and breath. 

flowering universe, poipu, kauai

aloha,

lee