Life Has Only Gaining and Losing

📖Master’s Reading

The joys and sorrows of life almost all revolve around "gaining" and "losing." We think having brings happiness and losing plunges us into pain. Yet all worldly things are in fact only two matters: arising and ceasing of conditions — one is gaining, one is losing, nothing else.

When the Buddha awoke and saw through the truth of all things, it all came down to the interchange of "life and death" and "having and not having." We go from not having to having, thinking we gained fame or love, but these possessions often become the soul's burden and sack. When conditions are used up, we go from having back to not having. Seeing through the nature, we understand this is all empty of nature, inherently non-existent.

All afflictions and the eight sufferings of life in fact arise between arising and ceasing. Because we grip fast when gaining and painfully resist when losing, we are endlessly tormented in saṃsāra. True practice is seeing through the gathering and parting of cause and effect; facing gain and loss, learn to view from arising and from ceasing. When you understand that ceasing is only returning to the original point of "not having," the eight sufferings naturally vanish. Grasp this wisdom of empty-nature: gaining, no need for wild joy; losing, no need for despair — and the heart regains true peace and ease.

🌱Reflection for Daily Life

• Gaining needs no wild joy; losing needs no despair.
• Understand that worldly things are only gaining and losing.
• The things possessed are often the soul's burden.
• Facing gain and loss, view from arising and from ceasing.
• Grasp the wisdom of empty-nature and regain peace and ease.