The Rolling Stones and the Four Noble Truths

Buddhism is grounded in the Four Noble Truths. First, life entails suffering and unhappiness. Second, suffering comes from unfulfilled desire—every moment of suffering or unhappiness emanates from a desire for the current state of affairs to be different than it is. Third, suffering can cease—primarily through taming our desires, through accepting the current state of affairs or current moment as it is and not seeking, striving or desiring for it to be anything other than it is. Fourth, the path to enlightenment and the end of suffering and unhappiness is the Eightfold Path (Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration).

But, really, what does this have to do with The Rolling Stones? What first comes to mind is the song Satisfaction: “I can’t get no satisfaction . . . I try, and I try, and I try, and I try . . . but I can’t get not satisfaction.” A rock and roll restatement of the second noble truth: we suffer because we are constantly striving to satisfy unsatisfiable desires. I can’t get no satisfaction and therefore I suffer and am unhappy.

But in their rock wisdom, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards don’t leave us in the despair of endless suffering. Rather, they show us the way to the end of suffering in the song You Can’t Always Get What You Want: “You can’t always get what you want/But if you try sometime/You just might find/You get what you need.” Actually, if we try, we realize we always have what we need.

Last week there was a post on Tricycle’s Daily Dharma that expounds on this concept:

July 4, 2009, Tricycle's Daily Dharma

You Have What You Need

“One definition of an enlightened person is one who always has everything they need. At every moment what they need is there; they're not seeking anything. If you really are seriously practicing to be free and to simultaneously realize enlightenment, you never seek out of the immediate situation, no matter how bad it is. You transform the immediate situation into what you need.”

Richard Baker Roshi. From The Roundtable: Help or Hindrance (Tricycle Fall 1996)

Buddhism is about living in the moment, good or bad, and not getting caught up in the desire to try to make it something other than it is.

What does Christianity (actually Judeo-Christianity) say about this? A lot, actually. The first act of rebellion in the Bible is Eve’s unhappiness over being denied the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. What happens when she tries to satisfy that desire by grasping for and eating the desired but forbidden fruit? Banishment from Paradise and eternal suffering and unhappiness for all humanity.

The tenth commandment reminds us that we should tame our cravings and desires in order to find happiness: You shall not covet your neighbor’s possessions.

And Jesus says “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19). In other words, seeking material possessions only leads to unhappiness when those possessions are lost, destroyed, stolen—or when we simply lose interest and turn our attention to the next thing we crave. A little further on in that same chapter Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all will be yours.” (Matthew 6:33). This comes right after Jesus tells us we should not worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. Stated in a Buddhist way, the end to suffering is ending our cravings and desires about what we will eat or drink or wear or possess. If we are going to seek or desire anything, it should only be the kingdom of heaven (enlightenment), and then we will possess everything by possessing nothing (nirvana).

I could go on. Jesus and Buddha are really saying the same thing.

I’m reminded of this pithy little saying: Happiness is wanting what we have, not having what we want.