Читать книгу Treasury of Dharma - Géshé Rabten - Страница 10

All living beings in this world are constantly engaged in physical, vocal and mental activities. All these activities are directed towards the attainment of happiness and the avoidance of unhappiness, for we always seek what is pleasing and want to avoid what is displeasing. Happiness is what pleases us and suffering is what causes us displeasure. All beings wish to avoid pain. It is quite obvious that human beings wish to avoid suffering and, when we see a cold, wet dog who wants to come in out of the rain and crouch by a warm fire, we realize that animals too have this desire. Whatever our ethnic origins or social status, we all wish to avoid unhappiness and make great efforts to do so.

The converse is true of happiness. Animals both small and large seek what is pleasurable, whether it is something to eat, drink or a comfortable place to live. This is easy to understand and clear to all of us. The same is true of human beings. We seek as much happiness as possible. Yet when we achieve it we still want more. And having obtained more, we continue to crave additional satisfying experiences in an endless round. Whatever we achieve we want more and are never satisfied. Hence we can see that all our activity and worldly involvement is motivated by one or both of these two factors – the desire for happiness and the wish to avoid suffering. Although this may be obvious to all of you it is still very important to reflect on this repeatedly in order to deepen your understanding.