"I don't need it anymore. Suffering is a wonderful teacher. Suffering is most people's only spiritual teacher. And suffering deepens you. It gradually erodes the mind-made sense of self, the ego. And for some people the point arrives when they realize, 'I have suffered enough.' And that, for example, is the case with almost all the people who come to a retreat." - Eckhart TolleWhy go in search of a solution?
Wisdom Quarterly
What brings us to the Dharma? It's nice to think we pursue the Quest out of some noble motivation, some unquenchable thirst for ultimate truth, or the altruistic desire to save all living beings. But it is often suffering that spurs the search. Siddhartha would not have left his three luxurious palaces if it were not for suffering and the realization that all existence for everyone is beset by this wide ranging problem ancient India called dukkha. So one needn't let the initial motive deter one. Make as much progress as possible while the motivation is present, learning and meditating, being kind to others and spreading the message that there really exists a "complete end of suffering" (nirvana). Wisdom Quarterly could always use help. For soon someone or something (workaholism, busyness, illness) will come along and distract us all over again. Or we'll resort to drinking and drug use. (What do you think that prescription is?) Or we'll sink into a misery unutterable and make everyone around us miserable. The downward spiral is tricky. It has been this way for countless lives.