Four Ignoble Searches
 

A short sutta stating that happiness is not found in things that are subject to change and decay (i.e., everything in the conditioned realm).

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....252.than.html

Made me think of Google for some reason...

Good sutta. Very thought provoking.
Being subject himself to death, realizing the drawbacks of what is subject to death, he seeks the undying, unsurpassed rest from the yoke: Unbinding.

Particularly relevant for those with spouses and partners.

Thanks Snowmelt!

I really like this kind of suttas. Clearly expoused and direct to the issue about being mindfull.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/hands.gif

Probably, the first time Bhikkhu Thanissaro's "Unbinding" resonated with me.

Unbinding! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/grin.gif

I kind of equate the "searches" in this sutta with refuge, insomuch as we go for refuge to the things of this world. It's a two-sided process; the external object/s and the pleasant (internal) effect they have upon us. We cleave to the four searches internally, as they provide relief from stress in a worldly way.

This contrasts with the other refuge - broadly known as refuge in the 'triple gem'. It is, in truth, a refuge in Unbinding when we strip the descriptive words away.

So we are left with these two "refuges" or searches and the difference we experience between them.

Seems to me anyway.


http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/hands.gif

Can see the relevance, yet tonight ( maybe as I approach another birthday - soon) can see the significance of this in our own life, what we learn and getting older, as in " the real sadness of fifty is not that you change so much but that you change so little " , attributed to Max Lerner