Giving Up Concern For This Life

Why are we taught to give up concern for this life in Buddhism? Because in giving up concern for this life, our mind naturally easies, becomes balanced, and just as it should be.

Now all we do is for the sake of this life, we are constantly reaching out for happiness and pleasure, and trying to push away suffering and hardship, and therefore there is always this lack of balance. But if we give that up, we find there is nothing to be attached to and averse to, and so attachment and aversion naturally decrease, and when there is no attachment and aversion there is no suffering.

Giving up concern for this life doesn't mean to eat poor food, wear bad clothing and live in shabby accommodation as some people may think. It really means we no longer work to feel good here and now, or worry; ‘How can I get rid of this pain, right now?’ Our way of stressing about these things eases, and we start to feel, ‘Whatever will be will be, …. If I suffer that’s fine, if I am happy that’s fine.’ In this way, we become okay with any situation, the mind just naturally relaxes, and there are no more problems. This is how it is taught.

15 October 2016, Calm Abiding Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery, UK.