Chapter Three

The Origin of Suffering

In the first of these talks, we gave a general explanation of the Four Noble Truths. In the second talk, we examined in depth the first noble truth--the truth of suffering. Today, I want to talk about the second noble truth, the truth of the origin of suffering.

Very often we find ourselves in difficult situations and blame others for our problems. Sometimes we even blame God or other deities for our difficulties. There is a Chinese saying, "The heavens are without an eye," meaning that the deities are not looking out for us. Some Buddhists may even blame the Buddha in whom they have taken refuge. So, unless we pay very close attention to what is happening in our own lives, it can be very easy to blame others for our tribulations. In particular we should pay close attention to suffering in our own lives, and how that suffering originates. We need to understand the true origin of our suffering.