Buddhist Dhammapadha no satisfaction in life

Chapter XXI - PAKINNAKA VAGGA - Miscellaneous

HARD IS RENUNCIATION

HARD IS RENUNCIATION

Duppabbajjam durabhiramam duravasa ghara dukha
Dukkho' samana samvaso dukkhanupatitaddhagu
Tasma na c'addhagu siya na ca dukkhanupatito siya. [302]

It is hard to become a bhikkhu; it is hard to be happy in the practice of a bhikkhu. The hard life of a householder is painful; to live with those of a different temperament is painful. A traveller in samsara is continually subject to dukkha; therefore, do not be a traveller in samsara; do not be the one to be subjected to dukkha again and again. [302]

XXI: 06 No satisfaction in life

On the night of the full moon day of Kattika, (between October and November) the people of Vesali celebrated the festival of the constellations on a grand scale. The whole city was lit up and the residents enjoyed themselves by singing, dancing, etc. As he looked towards the city, standing alone in the monastery, a bhikkhu felt lonely and dissatisfied with his lot. Softly, he murmured to himself, 'There can be no one whose lot is worse than mine.' At that instant, the guardian spirit of the woods appeared to him and said, 'Those beings in hell envy the lot of the beings of the deva world; so, city people also envy the lot of those who live in the woods.' The bhikkhu realised the truth of those words and regretted that he had thought so little of the lot of a bhikkhu.

Early in the morning, the bhikkhu went to the Buddha and he was admonished to reflect on the fleeting nature of the worldly life. The Buddha also pointed out the unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) in the lives of all beings.