Imagine walking up to the Buddha, pouring your heart out about your broken relationship, your financial stress, and your chronic knee pain, only for him to look you in the eye and say: “I can’t help you.” It sounds incredibly harsh, but this famous parable exposes a brilliant truth about human nature. The real source of our misery isn’t the chaotic pile of day-to-day troubles we deal with—it’s our exhausting, unrealistic expectation that a happy life should have none at all.
“Long ago, there was a farmer who had problems. He was advised to go and see the Buddha, who was wise and would help him sort his life out. The Buddha asked him why he had come.
“I’m a farmer,” he said. “I love farming, but the problem is that sometimes there’s no rain, and we really struggle those years. Of course, sometimes we have the other problem, and there’s too much rain and the floods destroy everything.” But the man didn’t stop there.
“I also have a wife, Buddha. I love her, truly, but sometimes we don’t get on. To be honest, occasionally, she gets on my nerves. And my kids! They’re lovely kids. They’re great. Sometimes, though, they misbehave like you wouldn’t believe…”
The farmer went on and on like this. His in-laws were bothering him, he had money worries, he’d often tossed and turned in bed at night wondering about the meaning of life, and his left knee hurt. The Buddha listened patiently, smiled, and simply said, “I can’t help you.”
The farmer was astonished.
The Buddha continued, “Every person has 83 problems, every one of us. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Maybe you can do this or that to fix them, but once one problem is gone, another one springs up in its place. More problems are coming – for example, you will lose your family and loved ones one day, and you yourself will die. That’s a problem you certainly can’t do anything about.”
The farmer, probably beginning to regret his visit, couldn’t help but ask angrily, “Well, I thought you could help! What’s the point of everything you teach if you can’t solve my problems?”
“Well, I can maybe help you with your eighty-fourth problem,” he said.
“Eighty-fourth problem? Well, what’s that?”
“It’s that you want to not have any problems.”
Source: Peter Hollins – How to Suffer Well
Visit https://philipchircop.wordpress.com/ for more such stories.
Note: The parable of the 83 problems is one of the most grounding and liberating teachings from Buddhist wisdom.
Image: A postage stamp issued by Thailand in 1978 depicts the Buddha descending from the Tavatimsa heaven. The Buddha’s descent from the Tavatimsa heaven is a significant event in Buddhism where, after teaching his mother and other celestial beings, he returned to the human realm at Sankissa (near Sravasti), India, using a magnificent triple staircase arranged by the god Saka. This legendary event is depicted in various Buddhist art forms worldwide.
