‘The Buddha called it out as the first noble truth, dukkha. The boundless nature of suffering, the Buddha called “noble”; he did not say, “Oh, this is the first truth, which we will quickly dispense with.” Right up front, the noble truth of dukkha, the fountainhead of dharma—you can’t get around it. You can’t get over it. You can’t get past it. You can’t get through it. It is the actuality of our lives. That doesn’t mean it stands in the way of ease and joy, but our attempts to dominate it may make it seem so. We can’t get around, over, past, or through, not because the world is a horrible place filled only with disease but because, like all things, suffering is empty. It is ungraspable. It has no edge. If you examine it in yourself, there’s no place to take a firm hold. We can push against it, try to hold it, but it will not succumb to our containment.’ (from Lion’s Roar)
Nevertheless, we continue our practice.
Shundo David Haye 