The End of Suffering
The Buddha was a great pragmatist. As a spiritual teacher, he was interested in
teaching what could be achieved through a persevering and patient practice; he
was not interested in teaching metaphysics. A story tells of how the Buddha was
walking through the forest one day with his students when he stopped to pick up a
handful of leaves. Holding his hand out with the leaves in it, he asked, “Are
there more leaves on all the trees in the forest or in my hand?†Naturally, they
answered, “There are more leaves in the forest.†“What I know is as great as the
leaves on all of these trees,†the Buddha replied, gesturing around the forest.
“But what I teach is equal to this handful of leaves.†What did the handful of
leaves that the Buddha was holding represent? On numerous occasions he made it
perfectly clear by declaring, “I teach only suffering and the end of suffering.â€
â€"Phillip Moffitt, from Dancing With Life (Rodale)
