None of us wants suffering; we all want happiness. But in fact happiness
is just a refined form (bentuk halus) of suffering. You can compare happiness and
unhappiness to a snake. The head of a snake is unhappiness, the tail is
happiness. The head of the snake is really dangerous, it has the
poisonous fangs. if you touch it, the snake will bite straight away. But
never mind the head; even if you grab hold of the tail, it'll turn
around and bite you just the same, because both the head and the tail belong to the snake.
In the same way, both happiness and unhappiness, or pleasure and
sadness, arise from the same source - wanting. So when youre happy, your
mind isnt peaceful. It really isnt! For instance (contoh), when we get the
things we like, such as wealth, prestige, praise, or happiness, we are
pleased. But the mind still harbors (mengandung/menyembunyikan) some uneasiness (kegelisahan/ketidaknyamanan) because we're afraid
of losing it. That very fear isnt peaceful state. Later on we may
actually lose that thing and then we really suffer.
Thus, even
when youre happy, suffering is imminent (dekat/sebentar lagi) if youre arent aware. It's just
the same as grabbing the snake's tail - if you dont let go it will bite.
So whether it's the snake's tail or its head, that is, wholesome or
unwholesome conditions, theyre all just characteristics of the Wheel of
Existence, of endless change.