This is my first official entry on this blog.
I have a lot of things flowing through my mind recently; perhaps it has something to do with being a freshman and attending university 5000 miles away from home.
Anyways, I think it will be good for me to document my thoughts. Maybe people will read this and get something out of what I have to say, or maybe no one will read these posts, and I can just treat it as a virtual diary.
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For my first blog entry, I think I’ll talk about something I learned in my ancients/philosophy class: samsara.
Buddhists have this term Saṃsāra
It means that life is a seemingly unending cycle of suffering, life, death.
It’s this realization that everyone’s life is crap.
I think it is fascinating to think about because then you start to understand why some people do the things they do. It explains why some of us feel the need to self-indulge or give in to temptations because we want to forget about the crap that’s always floating around in the air. We all go through some sh*t. If you understand that, you will get less mad at people who mistreat you, and more reflective about mistreating others.
But at the end of Saṃsāra, after all the pain and suffering, you will eventually reach this ineffable sense of peace and tranquility—nirvana.
Life has to get worse sometimes, but it will eventually get good. Don’t let the downs of life stop you from feeling the ups because the ups and downs of life are what keeps us alive; when you look at a heart monitor, you want to see the heartbeat go up and down, and panic when it starts to flat line. Even if it starts to beat rapidly, at least it means we are still alive.
Yes, Saṃsāra refers to this cycle of aimless drifting that contains suffering, but within the cycle, do not forget that you will also find happiness and life.
“It doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or half empty–there’s water in the cup; drink that sh*t and move on.” -Rudy Francisco
Jeff Wang Blog 
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