4 Noble Truths

I need to study for the written portion of my upcoming Kung Fu test. One aspect about Buddhism that we need to know about are the 4 Noble Truths:

1. There is suffering
2. There is a cause to all suffering
3. There is an end to all suffering
4. There is a path to end the suffering

What is suffering? According to Buddhism there are three main types. Suffering can simply be part of the normal phases one passes through in life: aging, death in the family, youthful angst. There is suffering in our lives because they change and change can bring loss of good things in our lives. Suffering can also be from ourselves, our innate vulnerablity for suffering.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The last bit on suffering reminds me of a poem by Robert Frost. This poem seemed to capture the aloness I felt as a teen, the bleekness and sadness that one can feel inside. I think this must relate to the third type of suffering.

Desert Places

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

I have been using my shoulder in Kung Fu lately and it has been feeling good. It even stood up to some full contact sparring with my teacher yesterday. It's my other shoulder that is bothering my now. I hurt it somehow when I was fixing my hair on Saturday. How lame is that? Oy!!!

I finally learned the end of my crane form. Now I jsut have to put it altogether nicely! Woohoo!