2008 Fall A.Pmd
O NN EE NN EE SS SS Quarterly Newsletter of BRIGHT DAWN: Institute for American Buddhism Vol. 12 No. 3 Fall 2008 The Four Noble Truths By Rev. Liz Stout This dharma talk (given at Heartland the interest rates on our life savings has the riverside. When I bemoaned being Sangha Service on June 21, 2008) is dropped lower than the fat percent- bitten by a dozen hungry mosquitoes, she dedicated to the Buddha, whose first age of the milk we’re drinking. You said I could be living in Darfur. sermon after enlightenment was about have only to listen to local news to It is much more effective to catch The Four Noble Truths. It is also dedi- know there is trouble at our doorstep. yourself in the act of self-centeredness, cated to Rev. Koyo Kubose, he who Lest we forget, there is still a war in having unrealistic expectations, thinking never hesitated to incorporate bathroom Iraq, peace is not making huge head- that things should never change, hanging references into his talks. way in Israel-Palestine, and monks on to results instead of letting go, seek- Do I have the religion for you! One have been slain in Myanmar-Burma. ing satisfaction in what is intrinsically un- that has as a first principle “All life is Suffering. Always, always, there is satisfying, and having a sense of entitle- suffering.” Wow. I’ll bet you can’t wait birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, ment. to sign up. It’s almost as good as the pain, and loss. This is the human con- Catching yourself is easier if you learn bumper sticker that says “Shit Hap- dition that Buddha first observed when to pull back and notice what your mind pens.” For those of you with Asian he took a field trip away from his ivory is doing, how you are acting selfish, ob- backgrounds, there’s another version, tower in the palace.
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