Buddha taught his students to see things as they really are. When we see things as they are, there are no stories attached. When there are stories attached to what we see, there will be pain and discomfort. But this is easier to understand than it is to experience!
As a human being we love to create stories! We see something happening and immediately our mind is making a story about it. The story is more charming than the actual event! The story is so charming that we forget what actually happened and only think about the story adding more to the story the more we think about it. What really happened is lost and only the story remains. Losing sight of reality is the first cause of pain.
Buddha’s teaching is so simple but also very difficult to master. It forces us to throw away our stories and the need to create them, and just see life as it really is. Life is just life. Good and evil only exist in our mind. An event happens in Nature and life goes on. But for a human being we tend to think about what happened over and over again and never let it go. We add our view of the world and our morality and cultural conditions to every thing we experience. We find it very difficult not to think about events without creating a meaning for it. The moment we give it a meaning, we have limited it. Pain arises as we begin to realize that what happened is not what we wanted and the difference between our story and what really happened breaks our trust in the universe.
The great Master Lao Tzu once said, “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
The events in our life come and go. See things as they are and make no stories about them. Move forward with an open heart and try not to think too much. Having a simple innocent view of life without any stories brings us closer to the flow of the universe. The universe knows where we are going. Our mind is too limited to know why this thing happened. Only in the future can we look back and say, “Now I understand why that happened. If that had not happened, I would never be where I am today!”
The great Indian Poet and Master Rabindranath Tagore once was asked what he thought about death. His reply was illuminating. He said, “I never think about death. I just enjoy my life each moment. If I am enjoying each moment today and death comes tomorrow, I am sure that I will enjoy death as well.”
Be in the moment. Enjoy each moment for what it brings to you. Even when life challenges you, you can enjoy the challenge and allow it to teach you something you never knew before. Life is innocent. Our human mind dwells in the past. When we make a story about today in our mind, we are bringing our memories from the past into the picture and lose sight of what is really happening. No more stories, just a simple life enjoying each step day by day, moment by moment.
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