Five Aggregates

Five Aggregates

The Buddha ended his statement of the First Noble Truth with the sentence, “In brief, the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering (dukkha).”[1]  Simply put, the five aggregates are the five physical and mental factors that, in combination, are experienced as...
Dukkha is Suffering-plus-plus

Dukkha is Suffering-plus-plus

“Master, this car is dukkha.” Listen to this article here (7 minutes 41 seconds).You can buy the audiobook here. The lesson from the story of Emperor Qianlong and countless others with lucky human births is clear, that no matter how lucky our birth is, we...
Suffering An Extremely Lucky Birth

Suffering An Extremely Lucky Birth

Emperor Qianlong on horseback in imperial armor. (Image from the Palace Museum website.) Imagine being born into an extremely lucky circumstance. Would you still have any suffering? Hongli had one of the luckiest births in the history of the world.  He was born...