Sorrows End...

 But when you move amongst the world of sense, free from attachment and aversion alike,there comes the peace in which all sorrows end, and you live in the wisdom of the Self.

Gita 2:64-65

Hmm! I came across the quote today upon reading what others have read from this  blog over the last 24 hours.  It applies , for sure, to the learning I am presently doing by reading Joseph Goldstein's Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening.

All suffering, according to the Buddha comes from " conditioned phenomena (Goldstein, page 288) . More accurately,

Thus, "suffering" unlike "unsatisfactoriness" is not inherent in the phenomena of the world, only in the way which the unawakened mind experiences them. ..the suffering caused by attachment and craving can be overcome by awakening. (Analayo, Goldstein, page 289)

If we really want to end suffering we end attachment and its counterpart aversion.  We do that when we wake up to the truth that nothing in this world can keep us satisfied or create misery.  Only our clinging and pushing away of what is causes suffering. 

I have had a very busy and eventful week lol.  I never stopped and I am pooped.  Throughout it all: the worry, the fun...the pain and the joy...the learning and the unlearning...I remembered the message of these words.  It is not what is happening that brings me toward peace or takes me away from it...it is how I react to that thing that determines if sorrows come, continue or end.  

Am I clinging...looking to hang on to something pleasant?  Or am I pushing away and resisting that which I determine to be "unsatisfactory"?  If I want peace I free myself from attachment and aversion...and allow Life to be.

Hmmm!

All is well. 

Joseph Goldstein (2016) Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening.Boulder: Sounds True