Thrice Woe

Some men suffer their misfortunes three times, in prospect, in fact, and in retrospect. Others suffer their misfortunes five fold:

1. worrying before they happen
2. suffering when they do,
3. adding to their distress by the fear they will last for ever,
4. dwelling on them once they are past,
5. fashioning, from their awareness of their role in amplifying their misery, a painful self-reproach.

Orthodox Buddhists hope for an end to suffering. I meditate and practise with a more modest aim: to suffer my misfortunes but once.