The First Sublime Truth (jocular!)

Dukkha
:laughing:

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Thatā€™s more accurate than we would like to think. :smile:

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Praise the Lord! Lettuce pray.

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I donā€™t know, when I read it, much as it is hilarious I thought Ven. Dhammarakkhita should have left out the ā€œ(jocular!)ā€ from his post title; sounds exactly right to me.

Much thanks Venerable, really brightened up my day. :slight_smile:

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Same for me! I spent the rest of my day imagining how could it be without the anxiety, just being cucumber!! It got me recollecting:

Dukkhameva uppajjamānaį¹ƒ uppajjati
Dukkaį¹ƒ nirujjhamānaį¹ƒ nirujjhati
(SN 12.15)

A good day!

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Did the phrase ā€œas cool as a cucumberā€ travel beyond this humble, little island or is it only known in Blighty? Iā€™ve always liked cucumbers, but now Iā€™m wondering exactly what kind of cool is being refereed to here, and more importantly if I need to start bowing to fruit! :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

And to you. :anjal:

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@Aminah @anon61506839
And I think of one of my favorite suttas, MN62

Being even as the water*

Āposamaį¹ Rāhula bhāvanaį¹ bhāvehi,
Develop the meditation, Rāhula, that is to be even as water,

āposamaį¹ hi te Rāhula bhāvanaį¹ bhāvayato
for, Rāhula, from developing the meditation that is to be even as water,

uppannā manāpāmanāpā phassā cittaį¹ na pariyādāya į¹­hassanti.
appealing and unappealing contacts that have arisen in the mind will not take a hold there.

Seyyathā pi Rāhula paį¹­haviyā sucim-pi dovanti,
Just as, Rāhula, they wash away what is clean in the water,

asucim-pi dovanti, gūthagatam-pi dovanti,
and they wash away what is unclean, and they wash away what has become dung,

muttagatam-pi dovanti, khelagatam-pi dovanti,
and they wash away what has become urine, and they wash away what has become spit,

pubbagatam-pi dovanti, lohitagatam-pi dovanti,
and they wash away what has become pus, and they wash away what has become blood,

na ca tena āpo aį¹­į¹­Ä«yati vā harāyati vā jigucchati vā,
but the water is not distressed, or ashamed, or disgusted by it,

evam-eva kho tvaį¹ Rāhula āposamaį¹ bhāvanaį¹ bhāvehi,
just so do you, Rāhula, develop the meditation that is to be even as water,

āposamaį¹ hi te Rāhula bhāvanaį¹ bhāvayato
for, Rāhula, from developing the meditation that is to be even as water

uppannā manāpāmanāpā phassā cittaį¹ na pariyādāya į¹­hassanti.
appealing and unappealing contacts that have arisen in the mind will not take a hold there.

(trans. Ānanadajoti Bhikkhu)
*or "how to be cool as a cucumberā€™ :grin::cucumber:

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How wonderful, Linda, thank you so much. I really had no clue that reflection on cucumbers could lead to such marvellous things things. :slight_smile:

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