546 Seeking all the time is source of suffering Sat 26th 25

Japanese Zen Master Dogen  (13th century ) used to teach that seeking something, someone, somewhere, all the time, is feeding suffering.

We are always seeking whatever in the same way we are always thinking, always breathing.

  1 Seeking to get what we don’t have:

        Material stuff, a fruitful emotional/affective environment, peace of mind, control, 

        vacation, a stable life, and eventually …why not…serenity. etc..

  2 Seeking not to get what we don’t want: 

      Physical/mental illness, death, loneliness, joblessness, poverty, mistakes, conflicts, etc

  3 Seeking to keep what we like and our attachments.

  4 Seeking to get rid of what we dislike and aversions.

  5  Seeking to help others. 

If you look at your “seeking list, “ you will realize immediately 

that your list is endless, and will never be fulfilled, especially the material stuff.

• When you are getting what you want, the search for something else you don’t have will emerge almost immediately.

• When you can avoid X, a new “ I don’t want that” will pop up.
• When you can keep something for a given time, this “something” may disappear.  

Seeking is, in fact, a desire at various degrees from a weak expectation to a strong craving, and desire, if you remember from previous talks, is one primary cause of suffering as well as aversion and illusions.

Don’t get me wrong: we cannot live with a minimum of desire because this is how we have been genetically programmed, and how the society of consumption is brainwashing us.

Any living being has desires, and that’s okay as long as they don't make us unhappy.

However, we should be able to differentiate normal seeking behavior from irrational one. 

But being able to differentiate them is not so obvious for most of us.

One of the most fundamental traits of Awakening is to maintain serenity even during adversity.

Such serenity cannot be achieved without being contented.

And contentment cannot be reached when the ongoing seeking craze about this and that is making our emotional mind restless, even when we do not realize it. 

Permanent searching is feeding discontentment, which is feeding suffering. 

However, one type of seeking is an exception because it will bring your mind to peace: 

Meditate on seeking to be content: “ I am okay as it is “ on accepting things as they are, and you will appreciate its therapeutic benefits. Seeking contentment makes sense.  Thanks