Samsara means sadness

[AiR]

Very recently, somebody asked me this question: why should God make me miserable? Why should God make me sad? But God doesn’t make us miserable or sad. We make our self miserable and we make our self sad through attachments to people, to things. Something becomes very dear to us, somebody becomes very dear to us and when we don’t have that or when we lose that, we become miserable. Why do we blame God? God did not create that attachment. God only created samsara and when God created samsara, he gave us the option to be in samsara or to be in Nirvana. Nirvana doesn’t have the sense pleasures. It has absolute bliss, aananda. Samsara has the sense pleasures, but it also has the misery and the sadness, along with the gladness. So, what is your choice? Do you want to be in samasar and be glad and sad? In samsara, there is going to be day and night, pleasure and pain, loss and gain, sun and rain; the choice is yours - to be in samsara and to face the sadness or to go to nirvana, escape from samsara and realize the ultimate bliss and joy.

Don’t blame God in any case, because God is not controlling the every day actions of this samsara. This samsara is a drama; it’s a movie, it’s going on and on and on. There are millions of people, just imagine - God trying to control 8 billion people - what each one of us is doing every day, morning and night; what happens to me today, what happens to you tomorrow and what will happen to somebody else the day after tomorrow. Imagine, how can God control everything? It’s impossible. Yes, there is a computer program, it’s all automated. Its automatic and this is controlled by the law of cause and effect or Karma, but a) don’t blame God for your misery and b) realize that samsara means sadness.

AiR

[Walker]

Very recently, somebody asked me this question: why should God make me miserable? Why should God make me sad? But God doesn’t make us miserable or sad. We make our self miserable and we make our self sad through attachments to people, to things. Something becomes very dear to us, somebody becomes very dear to us and when we don’t have that or when we lose that, we become miserable. Why do we blame God? God did not create that attachment. God only created samsara and when God created samsara, he gave us the option to be in samsara or to be in Nirvana. Nirvana doesn’t have the sense pleasures. It has absolute bliss, aananda. Samsara has the sense pleasures, but it also has the misery and the sadness, along with the gladness. So, what is your choice? Do you want to be in samasar and be glad and sad? In samsara, there is going to be day and night, pleasure and pain, loss and gain, sun and rain; the choice is yours - to be in samsara and to face the sadness or to go to nirvana, escape from samsara and realize the ultimate bliss and joy.

Don’t blame God in any case, because God is not controlling the every day actions of this samsara. This samsara is a drama; it’s a movie, it’s going on and on and on. There are millions of people, just imagine - God trying to control 8 billion people - what each one of us is doing every day, morning and night; what happens to me today, what happens to you tomorrow and what will happen to somebody else the day after tomorrow. Imagine, how can God control everything? It’s impossible. Yes, there is a computer program, it’s all automated. Its automatic and this is controlled by the law of cause and effect or Karma, but a) don’t blame God for your misery and b) realize that samsara means sadness.

AiR

I think that there’s more to it.

Self-cherishing is a kind of attachment and a significant cause of personal sadness.

Loving is also an attachment. To love a particular person is an attachment. Loving is not the cause of sadness. Quite the contrary.

To understand the significance of self-cherishing is to understand Buddhist Tonglin practice, in which one deliberately and imaginatively takes on the sadness of another, the one right in front of you, and gives to this other the peace and happiness that is cherished for oneself.

Doing so quickly brings to attention the arbitrary and transitory nature of one's personal sadness.

[Jaded Sage]

Samsara means "Wandering."

[Walker]

Samsara means "Wandering."

I didn't know that. I think of it as dukkha.

[Jaded Sage]

Yep, there is dukkha in samsara. But the word "samsara" means "wandering." I suppose that means suffering exists within wandering.