If life is 'suffering,' what's the point?

If 'life is suffering,' what’s the point of living? The Buddha's life-changing answer

What is vipassana?

(Buddha's Wisdom) April 30, 2025: 🔍 THE BUDDHA'S SHOCKING ANSWER TO LIFE'S BIGGEST QUESTION: Why do anything at all if life is filled with pain, loss, separation, and disappointment (dukkha)?

The Buddha said, “Life is suffering [disappointing, unsatisfactory],” — but he didn’t stop there. That was just laying out the problem we face. Living (existing) includes unbearable pain and horrifying misery.

Why was the Buddha always smiling?

["Life is what happens when you're making plans."]

• Ikigai (生き甲斐, literally "a reason for being") is a Japanese concept that refers to what an individual defines to be the meaning of his or her life. More

Beneath that harsh (and potentially enlightening) truth lies one of the most liberating insights in all of human history.

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 LIFE'S MOST DISTURBING QUESTION
• 01:25 THE HAPPINESS TRAP
• 04:03 THE IMPOSSIBLE GAME
• 06:43 THE BUDDHA'S SECRET WEAPON
• 09:34 THE MEANING MISTAKE
• 12:32 LIVING WITHOUT A POINT
• 15:02 THE ULTIMATE PLOT TWIST

This video unpacks a forgotten teaching that turns suffering into meaning as it reveals the radical Buddhist answer to life’s most haunting question.

DISCOVER:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)

• The happiness trap that keeps most people stuck in a cycle of dissatisfaction
• How the Buddha's First Noble (Ennobling = Enlightening) Truth is profoundly misunderstood in Western culture
• The revolutionary approach to meaning that flips conventional wisdom upside down
• Why the very search for purpose might be preventing us from finding it
• Three practical Buddhist practices we can start today to transform our experience

SOURCES

• Dhammapada, Translations of Sayings of the Buddha Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh [Tick Not Hawn] and the Dalai Lama, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki.
• Additional reflections are based on Vipassana ("Insight Meditation") retreats and Buddhist psychology (Abhidhamma)
• [There are FOUR enlightening truths, not one: There's suffering; there's a reason for it; there and END to suffering; and there's a reason why it ends! Ah, so there's hope and happiness!]

If this perspective resonates, hit subscribe to continue exploring the Buddha's wisdom with Buddha's Wisdom. New videos every week diving deeply into ancient insights that can transform modern life. Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom #buddhism, #meditation, #meaningoflife, #buddhawisdom, #suffering, #purpose, #dukkha, #firstnobletruth, #mindfulness, #enlightenment, #spirituality, #impermanence

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• Matt, Buddha's Wisdom, April 30, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Summer of Love's Fantasy Fair: 1st fest

1967 Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival (home movie)

The Summer of Love of 1967 (wiki)

(Digitalbondo) The Summer of Love was 50 years ago, way back in 1967. The KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival ran from June 10th to the 11th, 1967. Here are home movies (from a kind of recording time machine) of The Seeds, Country Joe and the Fish, The Jefferson Airplane, and The Byrds by John Cuniberti. Music by The Byrds.

Why is summer for love? - It's the outfits.

June 10, 1967, was an important day for the Summer of Love and for music history.

Exactly one week later than its originally scheduled date (inclement weather the previous weekend having postponed it for a week), the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival kicked off on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, next to San Francisco.

Over two days (June 10-11, 1967), tens of thousands of music fans (many of the shiny hippies) would participate in the first rock festival in American history.

While the Monterey Pop Festival is often credited with being the first rock music festival in history, in fact it was the “Fantasy Fair” that deserves the honor.

Led by KFRC, an AM radio station, the festival featured the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds, Sons of Champlin, and many other bands that were gaining notice throughout California and beyond.

The event was designed as a benefit...in San Francisco. More: America's First Rock Festival: The KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival - Summer of Love

• Digitalbondo, June 11, 2017; Seth Auberon, Crystal Q., CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Voices of Insight Meditation (anthology)

Begin again, begin again, and if necessary...

The Buddha made a general distinction between two types of cultivation or "meditation," one emphasizing calm and the other wisdom, shamatha and vipassana. This tradition of calm-and-insight is inseparable, one interdepending on the other, acting as the foundation for the other. The Theravada tradition used to encourage (foolishly in our opinion) dry insight, that is, this kind of meditation without the help of the other. Begin with calm and use it as a support for insight practices, which mainly derive from the two Satipatthana Suttas or the "Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness Discourses."

• READ A SAMPLE

Sharon Salzberg edited an anthology called Voices of Insight about vipassana meditation in 1/9/99 with Mirabai Bush. It has 4.7 out of 5 stars 21 ratings.

Voices of Insight

In this anthology, leading Western teachers of Buddhism share their personal experiences on the path of insight meditation called vipassana; their understanding of the basic teachings of the Buddha; the lessons they've learned in their training with their own teachers; and some good advice on following the Buddha-Dharma in everyday situations of work, family, and service. These contributors include:

• Jack Kornfield
• Sharon Salzberg
• Larry Rosenberg
• Sylvia Boorstein
• Christopher Titmuss
• Joseph Goldstein
• Steve Armstrong
• Narayan Liebenson Grady
• Bhante G (Ven. Gunaratana)
• Gavin Harrison
• Kamala Masters
• Michele McDonald-Smith
• Rodney Smith
• Steven Smith
• Ajahn Sumedho
• Carol Wilson
• Christina Feldman
• BOOK: Voices of Insight
• Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kornfield: Who are the 12 Living Masters?

Sharon, Joe, Jack, Sylvia(?) The Best of Sharon Salzberg: Life, Teachings, Quotes (Awaken)

Living Dharma: Teachings and Meditation Instructions from Twelve Theravada Masters

• The full classic text FREE: Living Buddhist Masters by Jack Kornfield (Internet Archive)

Once upon a young American from the Bay Area in California decided to go on a spiritual quest.

(Yes, that's true of writers at Wisdom Quarterly, but this time we're talking about Jack Kornfield, who preceded us).

Kornfield decided to seek the wisdom of the East along with his hippie friends from the East Coast.

Jack Kornfield: Life is funny because karma is.

While working in the Peace Corps and learning languages in Asia, he trained to be a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India (just like we did, although we added Sri Lanka, where many of the sutra texts are stored along with their chief translator, Bhikkhu Bodhi, our teacher and inspiration.

Buddhism for Beginners (Jack Kornfield)

Wishing to visit Thailand, a friend who became Tan Jess, and I heard about Kornfield's guide to young seekers, which talks about a dozen living masters one might possibly study under in the original wandering ascetic forest tradition). Kornfield was good enough to write about his experiences under ten teachers, ten living Buddhist masters, for a Western audience back home. Not everyone is called to let it all go and go East. (But we were). Thankfully, Kornfield was.

The Wise Heart (Jack Kornfield)

Miraculously, he found what he was looking for, and not only he but at least four others. All seem to have attained the path of stream entry (the first stage of enlightenment) there under Dipa Ma and others.

There is Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein (IMS, IMS Forest Refuge), Sylvia Boorstein, and we could swear there was someone else who is not Trudy Goodman (founder of InsightLA.org) because she came into Kornfield's life much later and is now his wife, but maybe it was his previous wife, Liana.

Kornfield awakened (probably in Dipa Ma's living room in India), was sent back to the US, and is now the co-founder of the Bay Area's Spirit Rock Meditation Center near San Francisco and one of the co-founders of Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.

What does Kornfield teach?

Where does he teach? Spirit Rock and InsightLA

Kornfield has worked to make Buddhism accessible for Westerners [10], combining loving-kindness and self-compassion with the practice of mindfulness. He incorporates the wisdom of Eastern and Western psychology. In his book After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, he writes about the honest development of the wise heart within the cycles of day-to-day life.

Original 1977 cover of the book

For instance, "amid all the Western masters and teachers I know, some idealistic perfection is not apparent.

"Times of great wisdom, deep compassion, and a real knowing of freedom alternate with periods of fear, confusion, neurosis, and struggle. "Most teachers will readily admit this" (pg. xix).

Kornfield's early lectures were featured by Joe Frank on his radio series "The Other Side." More

• Jack Kornfield, Living Buddhist Masters (Internet Archive, archive.org); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ajahn Mahindo (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

'After the Ecstasy, the Laundry' (Kornfield)

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path

Sorry, I was dreaming all along, and now I see.

“Enlightenment DOES exist,” internationally renowned American author and meditation master Jack Kornfield assures us.

“Unbounded freedom and joy, oneness with the divine...these experiences are more common than you know, and not far away.”

• This book has 4.6 (out of 5) stars with 605 ratings

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry

But even after achieving such realization — after the ecstasy — we are faced with the day-to-day task of translating that freedom into our imperfect lives. We are faced with the laundry.

Drawing on the experiences and insights of leaders and practitioners within the Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Sufi traditions, this book offers a uniquely intimate and honest understanding of how the modern spiritual journey unfolds — and how we can prepare our hearts for awakening. More

Once you see, you're free, but you're still human

AUTHOR: Dr. Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., is a psychologist and founder of two of the largest Buddhist centers in America (Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center). His books are classics, selling well over a million copies, and have been translated into 21 languages. In addition, he teaches meditation and Buddhism to large crowds all over the world.

Buddhist psychology with Jack Kornfield

The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology

American Buddhist Jack Kornfield wrote a guide. (It has 4.8 out of 5 stars after 1,408 ratings). It is a guide to the transformative power of Buddhist psychology — for meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.

We have within us unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom — and here is how to awaken them.

In The Wise Heart, celebrated author and Bay Area psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West.

Here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility — and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.

Further reading:

• Why Buddhism is True
• Why I am not a Buddhist
• Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
• Corey Campbell, Dec. 2, 2022; Jack Kornfield, May 19, 2009; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Zoom: Insight w/ Melissa McKay (InsightLA)

Benedict Canyon Retreat House, Beverly Hills

This event is the in-person version of a hybrid retreat which will take place both in-person and online. To register for the online version of this event, click here.

To see clearly is to see things as they truly are, absent of our distortions, judgments, and stories. When we see clearly, we shed negativity and stress and live more freely.

Join Senior InsightLA Teacher Melissa McKay for a non-residential weekend insight meditation (vipassana) retreat.

Cultivate tranquility and clear inner seeing by spending time in silence, alternating between periods of sitting and walking meditation.

About Vipassana

Can I be mindful of chocolate for insight?

Vipassana is an ancient, transformative Buddhist meditation technique. Through self-observation, deep insight arises. In Vipassana, we focus attention on the body and mind, observing sensations and the movement of energy as it arises only to dissipate again.

Among the many benefits of Vipassana is the cultivation of inner peace and clarity. To see clearly is to see things, most importantly ourselves, as they truly are.

Who is this retreat for?

This weekend retreat is for anyone who is ready to deepen their meditation practice and live with greater lucidity and therefore with greater ease.

Suitable for all levels, this non-residential weekend experience is a good opportunity for those who would like to learn more about intensive retreat practice.

Where is it?

This event takes place in-person at the Benedict Canyon Retreat House, Beverly Hill and online via Zoom. Find directions, information on what to bring, and more at this link. As a non-residential retreat, participants will return home Friday and Saturday evening.

About Melissa McKay

The Buddha became enlightened by adding vipassana (insight) to his samadhi (stillness).

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Melissa McKay has been practicing meditation since the mid 1990’s. She has trained in Vipassana (insight, mindfulness) meditation and metta (loving-kindness) meditation in Burma and the United States.

Her first retreat was with Sayadaw U Pandita. The profound changes she saw in herself gave her a strong confidence (saddha, faith) and dedication to the practice. She continues to attend intensive meditation retreats yearly and has trained for over 10,000 hours. Learn more about Melissa McKay here.

“Melissa is one of the most experienced practitioners of the new generation of teachers.”

-Jack Kornfield

“Melissa is so obviously immersed in the teachings and shares them with such grace and eloquence. She makes herself so accessible and genuinely cares about her students. I felt so held in the light of her awareness.” -Anonymous Student “Melissa is a thoughtful teacher known for her deep care of students and skillfulness in making esoteric teachings accessible and relatable to modern day living.”

-Lodro Rinzler (author and teacher)

Schedule

Friday:

• 6:30 pm-7:30 pm Introduction and Talk
• 7:30-7:45 Stretch
• 7:45-8:30 Meditation

Saturday and Sunday:

• 6:00 am-6:45 am Meditation at home (optional)
• 6:45-8:00vBreakfast at home
• 8:30-9:30 Guided meditation
• 9:30-10:15 Walking meditation
• 10:15-11:00 Sitting meditation
• 11:00-11:30 Walking meditation
• 11:30 am-1:00 pm Lunch and rest
• 1:00-2:00 pm Sitting meditation
• 2:00-2:45 pm Walking meditation
• 2:45-3:30 pm Sitting meditation
• 3:30-4:00 Tea and optional talking
• 4:00-5:00 Questions and Discussion
• 5:00-9:00 Continue practice at home (optional Saturday only)
• (Hybrid: In-Person) Clear Seeing: A Weekend Vipassana Retreat - InsightLA Meditation
• Melissa McKay, insightla.org; Dhr. Seven, Jen Bradford, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Insight LA opens in Santa Monica (4/10)

[Online] Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction - InsightLA Meditation

Deepening Mindful Self-Compassion (Prerequisite: MSC) - InsightLA Meditation

BuddhaFest is past but lives on at InsightLA.org

Easter (Ishtar) Sunday was an amazing rebirth for Los Angeles-based InsightLA.org. No longer is it limited to Beverly Hills (Benedict Canyon or online). Now it is coming to Santa Monica. It actually already arrived with a series of soft openings.

On sacred Sunday, luminaries Trudy Goodman (founder) and her newish husband Jack Kornfield (who founded Spirit Rock in the Bay Area and co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society on the East Coast) spoke to a packed house of 75+ at the new reopening of the Santa Monica center (1430 Olympic) near the Santa Monica Co-op.

Trudy Goodman is semi-retiring and turning over day-to-day operations to Melissa McKay, who is going all donation-based for group activities in Santa Monica. (Meet and sit with Melissa on April 14).

Join InsightLA for its grand reopening on Wednesday April 10th for meditation Dharma and Community with some of InsightLA’s most senior teachers: LC Tran, Celeste Young, and Christine Wolf.

• This class is a donation-based class.
• No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
• Wed., April 10, 2024, 6:30-8:00 pm
• SMC, 1430 Olympic, Santa Monica

The evening will include a guided meditation, Dharma talk, Q&A, and ending in tea and social time to meet fellow community members and teachers.

Who is this practice group for?

InsightLA drop-in sitting groups are an opportunity for Angelenos to learn more about meditation practice in a welcoming environment.

All practice groups at InsightLA are drop-in and now donation-based. Let’s sit together! Register HERE to join in weekly Wednesday nights meditation practice group.

Where is this event located?

This event takes place in person at the Santa Monica Meditation Center and via Zoom online to the rest of the world.

For those attending in-person, find directions and accessibility information HERE. Please consider carpooling and click Sign Up for ride-share options. Suggested donation: $35

• SIGN UP: Santa Monica Community Dharma Nights (Grand Reopening) - InsightLA Meditation
• Sunday Morning Practice Group with Trudy Goodman (InsightLA Meditation)

RSVP for Sundays Youngish Adults Meditation

There are practice groups for everyone.

(InsightLA Meditation) Need a Sunday sangha ("spiritual community")? Interested in mindfulness meditation with a supportive hybrid in-person/online community of peer practitioners? Join in online via Zoom or in-person in the new Santa Monica Meditation Center. Share the collective wisdom related to sitting meditation practice. SIGN UP: Youngish Adults (20s, 30s, 40s) Practice Group

• Disclosure: Insight LA: Young-ish Adults Sitting Group (20s, 30s, 40s), Sunday, April 7, 2024, 7:00 PM | Meetup
• Valley Nature Center: InsightLA: Youngish Adults
• Pasadena Dharma: InsightLA: Youngish Adults
• Santa Monica Meditation Center, 1430 Olympic Bl.
• InsightLA, P.O. Box 7278, Santa Monica, CA 90406
• InsightLA.org; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This could be The Year of Inner Wisdom

Tami Simon (soundstrue.com); Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What year is my Year of Inner Wisdom? Sounds True One

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Diana Winston (MARC UCLA)

What does Sounds True One think I can learn for Inner Wisdom? And who would teach me but me?

Life is unpredictable, but our path to fulfillment doesn’t have to be. Sounds True has worked with some of the leading wisdom teachers of our time to craft a journey of transformational programming to stay centered, listen to our inner voice, and awaken our full potential. Activate this inner wisdom with Sounds True this year.

Meet the Teachers

Join Sounds True One for the Year of You and save 30% today

• Pema Chödrön, author, American Buddhist nun, teacher
• Dr. Gabor Maté, MD, author, speaker, addiction medicine specialist, physician
• Tara Brach American Buddhist meditation teacher, bestselling author
• Jack Kornfield American Buddhist teacher, Bay Area therapist, author, activist
• Rev. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith author and spiritual teacher from The Secret
• Michael A. Singer bestselling author and spiritual teacher
• Dr. Peter Levine, Ph.D. bestselling author, developer of Somatic Experiencing®
• Caroline Myss bestselling author, speaker
• Lama Rod Owens Black Buddhist Southern Queen
• Dr. Richard Davidson, Ph.D., neuroscientist, bestselling author
• Donna Eden energy medicine practitioner, author, teacher [WQ's favorite healer!]
• Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth Episcopal priest, artist, author, public speaker
• Dr. Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D. author, founder of Internal Family Systems
• Wim Hof author, Western pranayama (breath control) extreme athlete, global health leader
• Robert Peng Qigong Master, author, teacher
• Deb Dana author, Polyvagal Theory expert



Sounds True Founder Tami Simon

• Tami Simon founder and voice of Sounds True
• Justin Michael Williams artist, author, activist
• john a. powell author, professor of law and ethnic studies
• Shiva Rea author, yoga teacher
• Yung Pueblo bestselling author
• Eckhart Tolle spiritual teacher, bestselling author of The Power of Now More

What if American Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young had something important to say?

Insight LA morning meditation (weekdays)

InsightLA.org Senior Meditation Teacher Beth Sternlieb; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Jen Bradford (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Begin the day by meditating with others and setting good intentions in the welcoming, dependable embrace of the Insight LA community.

Join Senior Teacher Beth Sternlieb weekdays online at 7:30 am for Buddhist meditation, Q&A, and discussion.

MORNING COMMUNITY SIT

In this weekday morning guided meditation, participants are invited to give attention to relaxing the body, soothing the heart, and calming the mind.

Traditional teachings from the Buddha are shared as helpful instructions for transforming our everyday lives.

SCHEDULE

• 7:30–8:00 AM Guided Meditation
• 8:00–8:10 AM Optional Silent Meditation
• 8:10–8:30 AM Questions, Reflections, and Discussion

Get to know fellow practitioners in Friday small group meetings.

WHO IS THIS PRACTICE GROUP FOR

The morning community sit is for anyone who would like to begin the day with more clarity, ease, and calm. Join Insight LA for this simple way to stay connected to a Buddhist practice and community.

WHERE IS THE EVENT LOCATED

This is an ONLINE event only. Join LIVE on Zoom from the comfort of home.

BY DONATION

Registration is required. This is a donation-based class. Suggested donation: $15, but no one is turned away for lack of funds.

• REGISTER: Morning Community Sit, weekdays (M-F)
• FREE TO RSVP:
• Disclosure Project, City (Dharma Buddhist Meditation)
• Nature Center, Valley (Dharma Buddhist Meditation)
• PasaDharma, Foothills (Dharma Buddhist Meditation)

InsightLA.org Events
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What's an InsightLA mindfulness sit like?