Welcome to Wisdom Notes: A short transcript summary capturing three insights from conversations on In Search of Wisdom. This edition comes from my interview with Kevin Griffin, the author of Living Kindness: Metta Practice for the Whole of Our Lives.
The Art of Wisdom
In this episode, my guest is Kevin Griffin, the author of Living Kindness: Metta Practice for the Whole of Our Lives. Kevin is a longtime Buddhist practitioner, author, teacher, and leader in the mindful recovery movement. He is also the author of One Breathe at a Time, Buddhism and the Twelve Steps Daily Reflections, and many others. You can learn more about Kevin’s work and background at KevinGriffin.net.
In the conversation, Kevin and I discuss:
The Four Noble Truths
How to think about suffering
The wisdom of listening
The art of contemplation
Integrating wisdom into daily life and much more
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The Four Noble Truths
Wisdom Note #1: For anyone not familiar, what is the Buddha’s first noble truth?
Griffin: I hesitate just to say what the first noble truth is, without giving the other three, at least briefly, but the first noble truth is the truth that there is suffering in the world, and then in our lives, and the Buddha, then lists all the ways that we suffer, birth is suffering, aging is suffering, death is suffering, very cheerful — but where he really hits it is when he says, not having what you want is suffering. And having what you don't want is suffering.
And I think most people can kind of relate to that idea. It's like, oh, things aren't the way I want them to be. This is unpleasant. And so much of the time, we are in that state of things aren’t quite right. What can I do to make myself feel better, whether it's, go have a snack, get up, take a nap, have a cup of coffee, go call a friend, we're always trying to fix ourselves in a way.
But briefly, just to say, so that people don't get the idea. That's the whole of the Buddhist teaching. The second, Noble Truth, is the cause of suffering, which is essentially what I'm describing: our striving to change things and always being dissatisfied. The third noble truth is the possibility of getting out of that cycle. And then, the fourth Noble Truth is the way to break that cycle of suffering. So there is a solution. […]
