The End Of Suffering

In this practice, we will explore The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. Through exploring these truths, we will release the suffering in our lives.

Transcript

Hello,

This is David G and welcome to today's meditation on the end of suffering.

Let's find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.

Let's ever so gently feather our nest.

And together let's take a few deep breaths in and look around as we allow our eyelids to gently float closed and continue to watch your breath as it moves in and out.

The word compassion comes from the Latin cum which means with and pacis which means having suffered.

So compassion literally means to suffer together with.

We get the word patient,

One who suffers from patiens and it's similar to the Greek verb paschin,

To suffer.

Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies,

Compassion is considered in almost all the major religious and spiritual traditions as among the greatest of virtues.

In the Buddhist tradition,

Suffering is spoken of as an aspect of the human condition that should be recognized and can then be overcome.

The core of compassion is illuminated in the Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths are the truth of dukkha.

Dukkha means suffering or anxiety or dissatisfaction.

So the first of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of this suffering.

The second noble truth is the truth of the origin of dukkha,

This suffering.

The third noble truth is the truth of the cessation of dukkha.

And the fourth noble truth is the truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha.

The first noble truth explains the nature of dukkha,

Which is translated as suffering,

Anxiety,

Unease,

Dissatisfaction,

And is said to have the following three aspects.

Dukkha dukkha,

Which is the dukkha of ordinary suffering.

This type of dukkha includes the obvious suffering or pain associated with birth,

Growing old,

Illness,

And the process of dying.

Then there's Viparanamma dukkha.

This is the dukkha produced by change.

This type of dukkha refers to the anxiety or stress of trying to hold on to things that are constantly changing.

And the third aspect is Samkhara dukkha.

This is the dukkha of conditioned states,

Essentially the subtle dissatisfaction pervading all forms of life,

Because all forms of life are impermanent and constantly changing.

The central importance of dukkha in Buddhist philosophy is not intended to present a pessimistic view of life,

But rather to present a realistic,

Practical assessment of the human condition,

That all beings must experience suffering and pain at some point in their lives,

Including the inevitable sufferings of illness,

Aging,

And death.

When the fourth noble truth identifies a path to the cessation of suffering,

That path is the Noble Eightfold Path,

Which is practicing right view,

Right intention,

Right speech,

Right action,

Right livelihood,

Right effort,

Right mindfulness,

And right concentration.

If we live our lives according to these eight principles,

We acquire right knowledge and ultimately right liberation.

Right knowledge is insight,

And right liberation is release,

Essentially moksha.

Right knowledge is seeing things as they really are by direct experience,

Not as they appear to be,

Nor as you want them to be,

But as they truly are.

And a result of right knowledge is that tenth factor,

Right liberation.

This is where self-awakening occurs and the pure release of suffering happens.

So right now,

Knowing that suffering is part of life and that we can bring an end to this suffering by seeing existence in a whole new light,

Let's get a little closer to right liberation.

By being a bit reflective and asking,

What is the source of my suffering?

Let's get clear on it right now.

Place your hand on your heart and ask yourself,

What is the source of my suffering?

What is the source of my suffering?

And whether that's clear to you or not,

Together let's take a deep breath in of permission and let's breathe out regret.

Let's breathe in wholeness and breathe out the fractured pieces of ourselves.

Let's breathe in joy and let go of sadness.

Let's breathe in light and release darkness.

Let's breathe in understanding and breathe out ignorance.

Let's breathe in clarity and breathe out confusion.

Let's breathe in peace and exhale turmoil.

Breathe in calm and release overwhelm.

Let's breathe in a smile and breathe out a grimace.

Breathe in love and let go of anger.

Breathe in love and let go of fear.

Breathe in love and release pain.

Breathe in moksha,

Pure liberation.

Breathe in let go of limits.

Breathe in abundance and let go of constriction.

Now breathe in love and breathe out love.

And now just breathe and let it flow.

And let's take it a bit deeper now.

We'll use the mantra Karuna Karmani Nama.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

Karuna is compassion.

Karmani is action.

And Nama is the self curving in back on itself to experience the oneness of existence.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

Whisper now.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

Karuna Karmani Nama.

And now begin to repeat it silently to yourself and keep repeating it.

As you repeat the mantra,

It may get louder or fainter or faster or slower.

It may even become jumbled or distorted.

However it changes,

Don't resist.

Simply keep repeating it and when you realize you're no longer repeating it,

Ever so gently drift back to Karuna Karmani Nama.

I'll watch the time and when you hear me ring the chime,

Just sit gently with your eyes closed.

So let's begin.

Karmani Nama.

Karmani Nama.

Karmani Karmani Nama.

Mahasattva Karmani Nama.

Karmani Karmani Nama.

Karmani Karmani Nama.

You you you you you you Sit gently with your eyes closed and let the stillness and silence settle in.

Now let's take a long slow deep breath in and gently let that go.

Let's do that one more time,

Long slow deep breath in and gently let it go.

And let's seal this,

Karuna,

Karmani,

Nama.

End of suffering meditation by chanting the hymn of the universe,

Aum.

One time.

Take a long slow deep breath in.

Aum.

And when it feels comfortable you can slowly open your eyes.

You can look around at those you shared this sweet compassion with.

The Buddha acknowledged that there is both happiness and sorrow in the world.

But he taught that even when we have some kind of happiness it is not permanent.

It is subject to change.

And due to this unstable,

Impermanent nature of all things,

Everything we experience is subject to change.

Your disappointments,

Your sadnesses,

Your frustrations,

Your heartbreaks,

All subject to change.

In this moment,

If you're feeling less than,

If you're feeling a weight on your chest,

If you're feeling any sadness,

This too shall pass.

And in this moment,

If you are celebrating the magnificence of existence,

Raise the roof.

So the key to transcending Dukkha is to gain insight into that truth and understand what really is able to give us happiness and what is unable to provide happiness.

And in that aha moment,

Your suffering ends.

It all comes back to gratitude.

Appreciating that as long as we're having a conversation about suffering,

We are blessed to be breathing,

Loving,

Sharing,

And living this sweet shared existence.

The depth of our compassion is the depth of our true understanding that we are all living in one merged life,

The union of every moving part of reality.

So as we move throughout today,

Let's keep in our awareness,

Bean by bean,

The bag gets filled and our lives fill with even greater compassion.

From the sweet spot of the universe,

This is David G.

And I'm wishing you a day filled with the end of suffering.

Namaste.

I'll see you in the gap.

Reviews

So informative! Also, I had an insight into my suffering. I want to be free 🦋 So powerful. Thank you, Davidji 💗🙏🏼💫

Compassion and empathy and love. Thank you Davidji. 🩵🦋

Incredible. I’m so grateful for this meditation today.

impactful as always. I found myself observing suffering as interpreted by my body throughout this meditation. it was helpful and emotional to receive this clear insight from my body in solitude. the breath is truly a language in and of itself 🙏🏾.

davidji’s guided meditations are a short lesson, framing, poetry, pranayama, mantra, and reflection all in one seamless package.

thank you for the care you imbue into each track. I’m very grateful for this practice.

A great meditation for when the events of the world have got you feeling sad.

Free released and healed 🕊️
Thank you 🙏🏼
Love your meditations 🤍

I appreciate the encouragement to focus on the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path. Liberation awaits!

Amazing 🤩 So much packed into the 20 mins - I always learn so much. See you in the gap! 🫶

Beautiful and leading to a place of healing. Teaching to accept and live our best self with continued practice.

This is one of my favorite guided meditations I’ve participated in on insight timer. 😊 I really appreciate the beginning with information about the 4 noble truths and 8 fold path. The guided meditation was lovely breathing in things we are trying to cultivate and breathing out areas in which we may be suffering. The mantra was a wonderful exercise. This meditation had much of what I needed this morning. Thank you David. 🙏💓

Lovely practice♾️☯️⚛️⚘️☄️
Thank you kindly✨️🖤🪔
Namaste🙏🏾✨️🙏🏼✨️🕯🌟

David you have healed my heart more than you know. Thank you a million times

Loved it but found the background music a bit too loud and distracting. 🙏

What a warm, thoughtful, powerful and empowering meditation on the nature and end of suffering. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻

And yet again so very grateful for your teachings. Love and blessings.🙏💜

Wonderful ❤️‍🩹🥹✨✨✨✨✨🌼🌸thank you for this beautiful meditation davidji and pup 🐶!

Thank you for this practical and most informative practice. Namaste

Love this! David G has a beautiful amazing voice and his words are clear, meaningful & provide healing for every session I’ve attended🙏 Namaste

Very educational. Thank you for your knowledge and sharing.

This was very helpful for me to calm and focus 🧘🏻‍♂️