Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism

Introductions of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

We are going to discuss buddha quotes along with Two Arrows of Buddhism, so let's discuss buddha quotes and two arrows if Buddhism.

Buddha ever gave, which is a simile of the two arrows. Hence, what I want to do is to dive into that simile and talk a little bit about the sort of depth of it, in other words, he doesn't just give this simile, but he then describes various ways in which we can use it and the lessons that it presents us to live our lives better.

The two arrows the Buddha describes the difference between the way most of us respond to bad things in our lives pains discomforts unpleasantness and the way that an awakened person would do so so the idea here is that there are two potential arrows that we can get shot with the first one the first arrow is the arrow of normal physical pain physical discomfort.

The problems in life that many of us have that all of us have to deal with, such as not only the physical pains, let's say of illness. Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism is for all.

If we happen to get sick old age that the the the pains that surround death I mean these are the sorts of things that all of us have to deal with at some point but also we might say the the the ordinary discomforts of having to deal with confinement the everyday aches and things that turning us off about life that we can't get away from all things change for example that's a sort of a feature of life that we all have to deal with and this.

Table of Content

• Introductions of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 
• First Arrows of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 
• Second Arrows of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism
• Example of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 
• Buddha Quotes and How Two Arrows of Buddhism Work
• The activity of Arrows and Buddha Quotes with Two Arrows of Buddhism
• Summary of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

First Arrows of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

So this first arrow this arrow of we might say physical pains and discomforts is the sort of thing that all of us have to deal with including let's assume the Buddha himself the second arrow, however, is special in a certain way it's the error that we might call suffering or unsatisfactoriness it's mental pain anguish suffering that accompanies.

All of what we've just described it accompanies all of the pains discomforts of that first arrow so, for example, the Buddha says when an uneducated, ordinary person experiences painful physical feelings they sorrow and pine and lament beating their breasts and falling into confusion in other words when we have to undergo at difficult times when we have to experience physical pain or just the annoyance.

Let's say of confinement or let's say waiting on a long line somewhere we are our minds tend to play tricks on us they get into cycles of obsessive thinking of complaints of a feeling of the personal annoyance of a sense perhaps mental chatter of anger.

So on and that's a different kind of suffering a different kind of a pain in other words we have we all have the first pain of the actual physical discomfort let's say we all have the annoyance of having to stay at home when we would prefer to be out doing something else.

Second Arrows of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

The second arrow is adding suffering on top of the pain, and that's the issue with it indeed in this suta where he discusses these two arrows the Buddha then goes on to address the problem in more depth I think because the real grave issue here is that we all have certain underlying tendencies we have these underlying tendencies - greed - ill-will or anger and - confusion or ignorant and what happens in these situations.

Therefore is that when we're when we are confronted with physical suffering or physical pain or merely unpleasant the unpleasantness is of life, our underlying tendency towards aversion or ill-will is it's these different names the same or very similar kinds of underlying trends ill-will aversion tends to arise within us. 

It's this underlying tendency that's responsible for our mental chatter for this kind of obsessive spiritual thinking as the Buddha says when a painful feeling touches them, they resisted the underlying tendency for repulsion towards unpleasant taste underlies that that is our underlying tendency towards distaste.

As I said before aversion this underlying tendency within us ordinary folk, who aren't awakened yet what its effect its conditioning is to cause in us these kinds of mental operations these obsessive psychological operations when whatever the pain it doesn't go away so we may be stuck with an illness over many days or weeks we may be held with let's say confinement of some kind in our house for many weeks.

We've seen now with the today's problem and when these sorts of pain these kinds of inconveniences don't evaporate quickly as they often don't but what happens is that these underlying tendencies caused in us mental obsessions and the mental obsessions then are a different kind of suffering that we have to undergo along with the suffering that we are stuck with however these underlying tendencies of ours, in particular.

The underlying trend of greed let's say also has a different outlet that we can also perhaps see nowadays in our lives.

Example of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

We're stuck at home or perhaps stuck in bed with an illness as the Buddha goes on to say when touched by painful feeling they look forward to enjoying sensual pleasures why is that because an uneducated, ordinary person doesn't understand any escape from unpleasant, painful feeling apart from sensual pleasures since they look forward to enjoying sensual pleasures the underlying tendency to greed for pleasant atmosphere underlies.

That is we have a ten greed that is greed for sense pleasures things that are pleasurable to us and when we're stuck in a lack of sense pleasures or as in this particular circumstance when we're stuck with a situation that's painful to some degree we the only thing that we can that comes to mind to get ourselves out of that is to get more sense pleasures so this tendency to greed sort of grasps at something that isn't present for us grasps at something in the future perhaps or perhaps something in the past a pining after the past some situation which isn't with us.

Now but which we found pleasant before or fantasizing about some future which may or may not come right. We can get lost in thought that way that maybe you know, to be honest, it may be pleasant for a while to getting ourselves forgot in theory. It's a distraction, and that's the point of it for the mind is to distract us but often.

If we're let's say stuck in a particular circumstance for some time, these distractions can become obsessive can become problematic can become painful on their own, and let's face it often they don't lead to anything. 

This whole process is a process of attachment to one degree or another. That is our emotional attachment towards gaining sense pleasures gaining things that are pleasurable for us and avoiding things that are painful or unpleasant.

Buddha Quotes and How Two Arrows of Buddhism Work

We can see how this works if we're sick we're in for a period in perhaps severe pain or at least some pain and discomfort our mind may spin and spin and spin trying to think of ways to get us out of that or fantasize about a future or a past we may complain and lament as the Buddha says get angry at people become unpleasant because we are trying to push this away without success and similarly.

If we're stuck in something less painful like quarantine or like confinement but something unpleasant the same thing can happen and this is where we're stuck right now most all of us I think is trying to deal with this kind of situation these are all situations there are their forms of suffering what the Buddha would term dukkha in the Pali term which means a sense of unsatisfactoriness with the way things are and this unsatisfactoriness arises through this second arrow that's the simile here.

The second arrow is the Mont the mental obsession that surrounds a circumstance in the world which we can't get away from, and we may wonder what to do now we aren't ourselves awakens so we're not in a position to jump right into the deep end of the pool.

Let's say, but we can at least take inspiration from these similes or this simile of the Buddha's because the analogy makes clear to us what the other option is the Buddha says that somebody who is awakened is going to avoid this second arrow well none of us avoids the first one we all have to deal with the ordinary pains of life. 

Still, the awakened person is somebody who was not then shot with this the second arrow of the suffering of the mental anguish of mental obsession about these sorts of things that is to say there they have gotten away from attachment to pain.

I should say attach them to pleasures and avoidance of pains now I say that they've gotten away from attachment. We would say that they're not connected. I would distinguish that from being detached because the word separated in English tends to have a connotation that they are sort of they don't care that they're careless and that's not the case, in particular.

The activity of Arrows and Buddha Quotes with Two Arrows of Buddhism 

let's say that the Buddha certainly didn't like loud noises he liked silence, so he didn't want his monastics to be making lots of noise when they were in his presence he had preferences it wasn't that he didn't have choices. So so we want to be it's a very subtle distinction one here but very very important.

I think is that an awakened person is not somebody literally without preferences because the Buddha certainly preferred skillful actions to unskillful actions and silence to noise and the Buddha would almost certainly prefer you know a pleasant state of mind to a state of pain however the point is that they have they've given up their attachments here which means that they're no longer beset by obsessive mental operations they're no longer plagued by complaints internal complaints that they then feel the need to vocalize.

Let's say that is as the Buddha describes it for the awakened person these underlying tendencies of the greed of hatred or ill-will or resistance have dried up and ignorant as well confusion if these three have dried up they're no longer beset by them now for the rest of us these this description of the awakened state is going to be a long way away perhaps. Still, maybe this can at least give us some inspiration towards the path the the the goal that we're trying to aim towards.

Summary of Buddha Quotes and Two Arrows of Buddhism 

So even if we aren't going to get there perhaps any time soon, we can at least say you know here's where we're trying to go and if we can make small baby steps along that path to where work less attached to our pleasures in life where we become more content with the way things are and where we're less aversive to the pains in our lives. 

We're less attached to losing those pains; then, we will get ourselves farther along than that second arrow while we may still be having to deal with that second arrow. It won't be quite.

Let's say as painful as it would have been so if we want to inhabit the mind of an awakened to a person to some degree we want to get ourselves into a position of sort of a mental frame where we see the ordinary pains of life the everyday discomforts and problems as merely a part of the way things are and that they should be accepted and that we should learn slowly as best we can to be content with the way things are however they may be and however they may confront us. I think it may also be of some comfort to know.

The Buddha's may also have to deal with their pains I did an earlier video on that very topic of whether the Buddha has to feel pain whether the Buddha did feel hurt and because I think it's interesting to look at the Buddha's own life as an example of somebody who did feel pain even after he was awakened and admitted to it he talked about it and found a way to deal with it.

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