What Comes First

What Comes First

Suffering is not the enemy. It’s the beginning of wisdom.

That’s what the Buddha pointed to when he said:
“There is suffering, and there is a path out.” (Four Noble Truths)

But if we think the goal of practice is just to stop thinking, or to stop feeling angry at the world, we may miss the heart of the path.

Right View begins when we acknowledge that suffering is part of life—not a personal failure, not something to push away, but something to understand.

And to understand suffering, we must look deeply at its nature:
It’s not permanent. It’s not personal. And it doesn’t define us.

This is where the Eightfold Path begins—not with control, but with insight.
Not with striving, but with seeing clearly.

If we practice just to get rid of unpleasantness, we are reinforcing the very clinging that causes it.
But if we practice to understand, to know directly the truth of impermanence, not-self, and the unsatisfactory nature of clinging, then something shifts.
Freedom becomes possible.

So the path begins here:
Not with perfection. Not with peace.
But with a willingness to see suffering as a teacher.