Skip to main content

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!

Comments

Mothlady said…
I have a copy of Robert Frost's Early Poems and I just had to go and find it after I had read your post. Thanks for reminding me what a great poet he was.
October 17, 2005 at 4:54 PM
Teyani said…
I enjoyed your post today - I studied buddhism for awhile myself, and still use many of the practices.

have you every tried taking a vitamins called Liga-tend by Biochem? It has lots of fab things for joints & tendons. My DH took it after rotator cuff injury - helped lots.
October 18, 2005 at 10:24 AM
JustApril said…
DUDE, that's deep *spoken like Keanu Reeves*

I like Robert Frost, too -

we got our socks started finally =)
October 20, 2005 at 2:31 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pattern: Ice Princess Panta

For a long time now I have been wanting for make something to match the fingerless mitts I made with Cayli's gorgeous home-grown, hand-dyed, handspun that she gifted me with the holiday season before last . I had some left over still but wasn't sure about the yardage. However, I had a vision of making a head band, as I find them cute and convenient for a gal that wears her hair up in the winter. And they hardly take any yarn. Originally I wanted to make a headband like the cabled panta I made before, but the gauge was all wrong. So I improvised something late the Saturday night. And here it is: I love the subtle blue striping and the feel is OMG soft. Cayli's yarn is truly amazing and was such a pleasure to knit up. Ice Princess Panta Yarn: Heavy worsted Handspun Needles: US 8 and a cable needle or DPN Gauge: not critical, but a row gauge of 5 rows/inch with make a nice fitting panta 18 inches in circumfrence. Special Stitches: FC (front cross) = Slip 2 stitches from ...
15 comments
Read more

Golden Gloves

So let me just start out by saying that I didn't win my match at the Syracuse Golden Gloves, but I did have a good time, a good fight and learned a great deal. We left Ithaca before noon on friday. There were 11 fighters plus coaches riding up together in a van from GIAC. It was crowded, but fun. The guys and gals from my gym are good natured and easy going so sitting hip to hip was not uncomfortable at all. When we arrived at the fairgrounds in Syracuse, we were able to weigh in right away. After the numbers were recorded the organizers looked to find matches in your weight and experience class (coaches kind of RSVP their fighters). It turned out that I didn't have one which really bummed me out, but with the weigh ins over there was something really important to catch up on: Eating. We all went out to lunch and then came back to the fairgrounds. If you were matched up, you had to see the doctor. It turned out that while I was gone someone my weight had registered. So I was se...
11 comments
Read more

Boxing, Knitting, Job Search Blues

The past two months haven't been a good ones here in kung fu knitting land. I think I have been depressed. Well, I know that I have been. I mean, about two months ago I stopped doing a lot of stuff that I normally do, like blog and knit and read. And I had a few days where I was barely able to keep it together. I mean I was on the verge of crumbling into a little heap. Yes, a little heap of sad-Miriness. I thank my sister and Ms. Missy for getting me through there. I'm no longer in danger of heapness, small nor large. In fact, I feel more balanced than I have for a long while. I'm not exactly sure what brought on this bout of melancholy. I was under a lot of stress to try to find another job that fits my schedule so that I can keep my School Age Program job. I have one now that fits the bill for the time being. So that's a little better, but I really think I was suffering from some sort of post-trauma depression. I mean it felt so good to get out of my old relationship....
11 comments
Read more