The Root of Suffering

The Yoga Sutras tell us that there are 5 kleshas, or afflictions, that keep us from knowing the truth of our inner Self, which is joyful, pure and eternal.  These kleshas are: avidya, or ignorance, asmita, or ego, raga, or attachment, dvesha, or aversion and abhinivesha, or fear of death.  Pema Chodron explains what this means in our daily lives.

What keeps us unhappy and stuck in a limited view of reality is our tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain, to seek security and avoid groundlessness, to seek comfort and avoid discomfort.  This is how we keep ourselves enclosed in a cocoon.  Moment after moment, we’re deciding that we would rather stay in that cocoon than step out into that big space.  Life in our cocoon is always cozy and secure.  We’ve gotten it all together.  It’s safe, it’s predictable, it’s convenient and it’s trustworthy.  If we feel ill at ease, we just fill in those gaps. 

Our mind is always seeking zones of safety.  We’re in this zone of safety and that is what we consider life, getting it all together, security.  Death is losing that.  We fear losing our illusion of security – that’s what makes us anxious.  We fear being confused and not knowing which way to turn.  We want to know what’s happening.  The mind is always seeking zones of safety, and these zones of safety are continually falling apart.  Then we scramble to get another zone of safety back together again.  We spend all our energy and waste our lives trying to recreate these zones of safety., which are always falling apart.  That’s the essence of samsara – the cycle of suffering that comes from continuing to seek happiness in all the wrong places. – from Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron