I was watching a bird yesterday struggling to fly in the wind. I realized it puts so much effort into just getting where it wants to go. A place it only stays a little while before needing to struggle to get somewhere new.

To achieve just temporary enjoyment, the bird has to struggle. Which is to say, enjoyment is born of struggling. No struggle no enjoyment. On some level, we all know this: If you want a delicious meal, you need to cook it. Or you need to work hard, to make money, to pay someone else to cook it for you. Enjoyment is the fruit of a poison tree.

One way to look at this of course is to confirm my old beliefs –there is struggle and there is enjoyment. Dukkha and sukkah, they go together. Struggle enough and you get to enjoy plenty.

But here is another way to consider it: My desire for enjoyment, for that tasty meal, is the cause of the suffering and struggle I endure to bring that meal about.  And where did the desire for a tasty meal come from? From the memory of the last delicious meal I had, from my wanting to repeat the experience again. The tasty meal, my desire to repeat it, plants the seed for my struggle, it causes me to struggle, just to enjoy the next tasty meal.

And isn’t the stuff that causes you to suffer –even if it is momentarily delicious – actually suffering in and of itself? If I drink something that tastes awesome, but then a few hours later I am writhing in pain from drinking it, I would say I had been poisoned. The drink is poisonous. And poison is definitely dukkha.