Happy With Dukkha

revised on 2024-07-10

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Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw; 13th October 1961

Without knowing of good or bad, living beings are happy with wherever they are. Getting the khandha is getting the fuel. This is the body burning with the fire of birth, ageing, and death. It’s a khandha conditioned by others and a khandha oppressed by others. It wasn’t created by anyone but is the outcome of ignorance and volitional action. They themselves are not good for receiving the bad ones, but we take it as receiving a good one.

In the whole of saṁsāra, believing in others leads to a lot of sufferings (i.e., worldly thoughts and views, etc.). Because of past ignorance, we have this khandha, and again in this life, due to ignorance, we are happy with delusion (ignorance connects with ignorance). If you are aging, you are happy with ageing. If you are in pain, you are happy with pain. When hungry, you enjoy food and drink and then experience the suffering of urination and excretion, etc. People are thinking and looking for happiness (there are many to mention in today's world, some are quite stupid and foolish ). Taking enjoyment in relieving pain by shifting the khandha from one side to the other. It is always oppressed, like the enjoyment of a patient. There is no enjoyment in getting the khandha. It always grows out with sores, and you’re happy by curing it (by conditioning). You must know it by practice.

There are two ways of knowing: from what others say and from oneself. You must practise to know yourself. I’ll present the story. The monk Sīvalī asks the Buddha about the qualities of Dhamma. Separating the five khandhas with satipaṭṭhāna will lead to the four establishments of mindfulness. You should practise with one of them. Whichever one you’re practising exists only as arising and vanishing. You have to contemplate to discern anicca, whether it’s the mind or the feeling, etc. And then you’ll know the body you have is the worst thing, an anicca dukkha khandha. The whole khandha is vanishing together, even though there are five groups. You will not find the five khandhas; instead, you find the arising and vanishing of phenomena. For example, we’re talking about the death of a Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist, but death is the same. By discerning anicca, you become weary and it must end.

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revised on 2024-07-10

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• Content of Part 16 on "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

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• Content of "Dhamma Talks by Mogok Sayadaw"

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• Content of Publications of Ven. Uttamo

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