Speaker (Eckhart Tolle) discusses the Buddhist concept of dukkha—translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness—and argues that attachment to the impermanent, surface-level self guarantees psychological suffering. He parallels Jesus and Buddha on impermanence, distinguishes bodily pain from psychological suffering, and emphasizes that acute losses (death, breakup, financial collapse) can serve as catalysts for awakening when the stream of thought subsides and present-moment awareness arises.
The Buddha pointed that out when he said, basically, he said, whatever you do, wherever you go, you will encounter. The word used in the ancient scriptures is dukkha. This, which translates. Usually people translate it as in. As suffering, but it is. Can also be translated as unsatisfactoriness, misery, unhappiness, discontent, suffering, dukkha. So Buddha said, wherever you go, whatever you do, you will sooner or later, and probably sooner rather than later, you will encounter dukkha, suffering, the unsatisfactoriness of. Of this surface existence. And that was a very deep insight. Jesus had a similar insight. It. He said, do not seek your treasure. I'm not good at quoting, but more or less say, don't seek your treasure in the world where thieves break in and steal and rust consumes. Do not seek. Do not seek for your treasure in where thieves steal and rust consumes. What he was he referring to? The surface level of existence, where things are subject to continuous impermanence, Another term the Buddha used. So if you. If that is the total focus of your life, the world where there's always this gain and then there's loss. And so he used this analogy. Jesus talked about thieves. They can take things away from you, but it's not necessarily a thief. It could be things. You lose something, life takes it away from you. And then rust. Oh, yes, and most, most. And rust consumes moss, they eat up garments, woolen garments, and rust, it consumes even the hardest metals, iron and steel, rust. So he's talking about. What is Jesus talking about? Exactly the same that the Buddha talked about. Impermanence, the impermanence that is, that governs this level of existence here. And so if you lose yourself in that, then you find suffering. But. And of course, most humans are lost on the surface level of existence. And however miraculously, the suffering that then arises potentially can bring about an awakening to the deeper level of your identity. The suffering potentially is the awakener. That's why Guillaume said, there's no coming to consciousness without pain. And the Buddha the same, because the Buddha talked about the fact of dukkha suffering in normal human existence. But then he also talked about the possibility of going beyond suffering, going beyond unhappiness, misery, unsatisfactoriness. Because the Buddha also. I'm quoting the Buddha now again, he said, first he said, wherever you go, whatever you do, you find dukkha. Then he said, described his own teaching, as I teach suffering and the end of suffering. What does that mean? It means I show you how suffering arises unconsciously in yourself, when you Are lost. I'm adding this. When you are lost in externals of life, I show you how suffering arises and I can show you how it can end. Ah, so people talk about. When you look at Buddhist as an external observer, you think it's a pessimistic religion, but it's not. Shows you the possibility of living without suffering or unhappiness. It doesn't mean the. You, you can still have some pain. The body can have pain. We're talking about psychological suffering, which is a burden that humans carry that is inseparable from the self that humans carry. So Buddha taught to come to the end of the ultimately illusory sense of self that is the human. The human level. Illusory because it's fleeting. It's. It's like a dream. It. Dreams come and go. They come, seem real and then they dissolve again. And your life also. Things arise, things pass away. Things arise, pass away. Human beings. When you reach a certain age, as I have, you experience more and more humans passing away around you. That you knew humans, that you knew. Suddenly they dissolve. The physical dissolves. They go like soap bubbles. Soap bubbles, they pop. If you could just. If you could see a speeded up version of this room for the next day. We compress 80 years into two minutes in this room. And let's imagine everybody sitting here as a soap bubble. You would observe within the two minutes going pop. And 80 years later, there's maybe five or six left who haven't popped yet. So fleetingness and the impermanence. Because when, when you are burned to live with the burden of this self, then the anti. This unsatisfactoriness is guaranteed. As I said, you have moments of great. It's great. You have moments when everything is fine and actually going quite well. Relationships perfect. Great family, perfect. Great children. They're all doing well. Their health is doing really well. Wonderful place to live. Oh, it's great. I live in Florida and lovely house, great work situation all fantastic. Just every, every year better, higher income. I'm now looking at a bigger house, waiting big house, health situation absolutely perfect. I only eat the best food and I exercise. It's not. I'm totally, absolutely, totally healthy. Everything is fine, everything is fantastic. Just wait. And then we don't know where it will first start. Something will crumble and sometimes several things crumble at the same time. And that's a great opportunity. Even one thing crumbling. Losing all your money or something like that. Great opportunity for awakening or relationship. Terrible breakup of a relationship or somebody close to you dies. Or is very sick, very things happen. These things happen, and they are inevitable. And that there's an opportunity for when this realm becomes really unsatisfactory. Not just in the minor forms of, like a discontent that people sometimes carry around continuously at the back of their mind. It's a certain level of discontent or annoyance or kind of residual unhappiness. I'm not happy with my life. That's all there. And then there are deeper, more acute forms of suffering and unhappiness. And those more acute forms are very helpful. When you no longer experience. When you experience this surface level as really unsatisfactory, then you suffer. That's the first thing. But then there's a possibility of going beyond suffering. Why? Because your sense of self becomes very unpleasant. Because it's being deprived of all the things that it had identified or many of the things it had identified with. So you lose chunks of yourself because you've identified with those things and they're taken away. And then there's a possibility of going deeper. And suddenly, perhaps suddenly, while things have collapsed around you, suddenly you become aware of yourself in the present moment. Suddenly there's an awareness that arises. And the stream of thinking that created. That was the unhappiness subsides for a moment.
