苦と満足
Suffering and Contentment
2026-09-04
People (sentient beings) dwell in suffering, and yet they do not clearly recognize that they are in such a state.
For this reason, no matter what they do or what results they achieve, they cannot be completely satisfied, and everything ultimately comes back to suffering.
The Dharma that points this out succinctly is what is called “all is suffering.”
Concerning this, we can find the following Dharma in the early Buddhist scriptures of Shakyamuni Buddha.
1032 Ajita asked, “By what is the world covered? By what does the world not shine? What defiles the world? What is the great fear of the world? Please explain this.”
1033 The Teacher (the Buddha) replied, “Ajita, the world is covered by ignorance. The world does not shine because of greed and laziness. Desire is the defilement of the world. Suffering is the great fear of the world. This is what I teach.” (The Words of the Buddha: Sutta Nipāta, Chapter 5: The Chapter on the Way to the Far Shore, 2: Ajita’s Questions, translated by Hajime Nakamura, Iwanami-Bunko.)
Also,
14 There is no satisfaction through desire; therefore, it is more superior to be content with clear wisdom. Craving cannot dominate a person who is content with clear wisdom. (The Sayings of Inspiration: Udānavarga, Chapter 2: Desire, translated by Hajime Nakamura, Iwanami-Bunko.)
17 Even if a rain of money were to fall, desires would not be satisfied. The wise person, knowing that “the taste of pleasure in desire is short-lived,”
18 does not let the heart rejoice even in heavenly pleasures. The disciple of the One Who Is Rightly Awakened (= the Buddha) always rejoices in the cessation of obsessive attachment.
19 Even if there were a mountain of gold equal in size to the Himalayas, its wealth would not be enough to satisfy a single person. Knowing this, one should act with an even mind. (The Words of Inspiration: Udānavarga, Chapter 2: Desire, translated by Hajime Nakamura, Iwanami-Bunko.)
However, there is a way to resolve this, and Buddhism is the one teaches this way.
290 If, by abandoning trivial pleasures, one can see the great joy, then a thoughtful person should desire the great joy and abandon trivial pleasures. (The Words of Truth: Dhammapada, Chapter 21: Miscellaneous Matters, translated by Hajime Nakamura, Iwanami-Bunko.)
Of course, even when people hear these teachings, few will abandon the satisfaction before their eyes and devote themselves to Buddhist practice.
As a result, people continue to seek pleasure and suffer in the midst of desiring pleasure, and gradually, their lives come to an end, and they meet death amid suffering.
773 People who are attached to the pleasures of existence based on desire are difficult to liberate. For it is not others who can liberate them. While taking into consideration both the future and the past, they crave these desires (before them) and desires of the past.
774 They crave desires, become absorbed in them, and are immersed in them; they are stingy and accustomed to injustice. But when they are overcome by suffering (at the time of death), they grieve, thinking, “What will become of us after we die here?”
775 Therefore, one should learn here. Whatever is known in the world to be “unjust,” one should not commit injustice for its sake. For the wise teach that “human life is short.”
776 I see the people of this world seized by and trembling with obsessive attachment to various forms of existence. Ignoble people do not abandon their obsessive attachment to various forms of existence, and they weep when faced with death.
777 Look at those who are attached to (something) as being “mine” and are agitated. They are like fish in a place where the water in a dried-up stream is scarce. Seeing this, one should act free from the thought of “mine”—without becoming attached to the various forms of existence.
778 The wise person restrains desires for both extremes, fully understands contact (between the senses and their objects), does not crave, does not engage in evil actions that would cause self-reproach, and is not defiled by what is seen and heard.
779 Having fully understood thoughts, cross the flood (obsessive attachment). The sage, without being defiled by attachment to possessing things, pulls out the arrows (of the defilements), applies themselves diligently to practice, and desires neither this world nor the other world. (The Words of the Buddha: Sutta Nipāta, Chapter 4: The Chapter of the Eights, 2: The Eights on the Cave, translated by Hajime Nakamura, Iwanami-Bunko.)
Many people, even when they hear such wonderful Dharma, will not devote themselves to Buddhist practice.
Only those who are exceptionally wise come to know the foolishness of sentient beings, the fearfulness of suffering, and the way to resolve it; they accumulate merit and, finally, reach Nirvana, where they attain complete contentment.
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