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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 21

The First Truth

By Venerable Ajahn Sumedho

have every wish fulfilled, every dream come true, there
would still be some element missing. All the shoulds
and shouldn’ts, all the ideas about how things should
be—that is a function of our minds. And if we attach
to those ideas, then of course we are going to suffer.
Life is never going to be as it should be on a permanent
basis. It can only be the way it is. The sensory world
is ephemeral, evanescent, impermanent. There is no
substance or essence to sensory experience. It is merely
Luang Por Ajahn Sumedho (born Robert Jackman, change, impermanence. And when we want it to be
July 27, 1934, Seattle, USA) is the most senior something it cannot be, then of course that’s what
representative of the Thai Forest Tradition of we call suffering—we suffer from the delusion that it
should be something that it can never be.
Theravāda Buddhism the West. He has been
an ordained bhikkhu for more than 40 years
We can see how idealistic we sometimes are. When
and a seminal figure in the transmission of the
we are young, we may long to meet the right person,
Buddha’s teachings to the West. He was abbot of
have the perfect relationship, the perfect marriage,
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK, from its where things are as they should be. We can spend
consecration in 1984 until his retirement in 2010. a good part of our lives looking, hoping, expecting,
Ajahn Sumedho has also written numerous books on demanding, contriving, in every possible way, to meet
Buddhism. He currently lives in Thailand. the right person, or to make someone we know into

what we think he or she should be. No one has ever
been successful at this. Reflecting on the way things are
The significance of the Buddhist teaching lies in the is what the Buddhist teaching is all about. It’s a way of
fact that it isn’t doctrinal. It’s not an attempt to tell us beginning to look at that which we generally ignore,
how things should be, it’s more a way of bringing our such as suffering. We can react to suffering by either
attention to the way things are. indulging in it or suppressing it. But to really look at
suffering takes a different attitude.
Most of us are educated to think in terms of how
things should be, and we often don’t understand why life The natural way, being sensitive, is to just react. If
is the way it is. So it surprises us, shocks us, upsets us. something is beautiful, we grasp it. If it’s ugly, we reject
We become overwhelmed, even with good fortune, not it. This is the pleasure/pain principle of just reacting
to mention bad. The Buddhist teachings are guides that to sensory stimulation. What we are involved in during
help us to look at the experience of being alive. a lifetime as a human being is sensitivity, or sensory
consciousness. And all this means is that from the
I think modern materialism is the attempt of humanity time the body is born to the time it dies, we are going
to create a world as it should be—a world that’s secure, to be subjected to all kinds of impingements that we
happy, beautiful and comfortable. But even when have little ability to control. We don’t have that much
we have a certain amount of success—as we have in control over how pleasant it’s going to be. When we
countries like Australia, for example—still somehow have sight, we are going to see both the beautiful and
it’s not really what it should be, is it? Even if we could the ugly. Our ears are going to hear both melodious