Pretty when you CRY? (sutra)

Ashley Wells and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (original trans.) Assu Sutra: Crying Tears (SN 15.3); The School of Life (video); Lana Del Rey, "Pretty When You Cry"

(The School of Life) This brief video is off on some details but right on in its central message.*

  

See Jane say: Samsara is so sad!

[Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Buddha was residing in Savatthi in Ancient India.]

There he said: "From an inconceivable beginning comes rebirth. No beginning point is discerned when living beings -- hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving -- set off to wander [lost in ignorance, driven by craving, seeking fresh delight now here, now there].

"What do you think, meditators, Which is greater, the tears shed while wandering on through rebirth for such a long time -- crying due to being joined with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- or the water in the four great oceans?"
 

Believe me, I'm crying on the inside.

"As we understand the Dharma made known to us by the Blessed One, greater are the tears shed while wandering on through this inconceivably long samsara -- crying due to being joined with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- rather than the water in the four great oceans."
 
"Excellent, meditators, excellent! It is wonderful that you understand this [liberating] Teaching.
 
"The tears shed while continuing to wander on through this long round of rebirth are greater -- crying due to being joined with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- rather than the water in the four great oceans.


 
"Long have we (again and again) experienced the death of a mother.

No, she can't be gone! I just talked to her!

"The tears we have shed over the death of a mother while wandering through this inconceivably long round of rebirth -- crying due to getting what we do not want and losing what we want -- are greater than the water in the four great oceans.

"Long have we (again and again) experienced the death of a father... the death of a brother... the death of a sister... the death of a son... the death of a daughter... the loss of relatives... the loss of wealth... loss due to disease.

Does this wheel come to an end? (Yes, get off).

"The tears we have shed over loss due to disease while wandering on through this long cycle of rebirth -- crying due to being joined with what is displeasing and being separated from what is pleasing -- are greater than the water in the four great oceans.
 
"And why is that? From an inconceivable beginning comes rebirth. A beginning point is not evident of beings -- hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving -- setting off to wander.

"Long have you we experienced disappointment (dissatisfaction), experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling cemeteries -- enough to become disillusioned and disenchanted with all composite things, enough to become dispassionate, enough to let go (and be released by wisdom)."

• See also the "Thirty Sutra" (SN 15.13)
• The Buddha's philosophy, the Dharma, teaches us that our cravings (greed, lust, clinging) are at the root of our restlessness. Calm can be achieved through letting go (composure, samadhi) and insight (wisdom, vipassana).
• *“The story of the Buddha’s life, like all of Buddhism, is a story about confronting suffering. He was born between the sixth and fourth century B.C.E., the son of a wealthy king in the Himalayan foothills of [Kapilavastu, Scythia/Afghanistan]. It was prophesied that the young Shakyan prince -- then called Siddhartha Gautama -- would either become a world monarch or a very holy man. Since Siddhartha’s father desperately wanted him to be the former, he kept the child isolated in a palace with every imaginable luxury: jewels, servants, lotus ponds, even beautiful dancing women…”
• Trying to get meaning from old Sanskrit quotes