You Can't Have Ice Cream

It’s a hot day, an unbearably hot day. You decide that the only thing that can cure the heat is something cool. You want something cold. You want ice cream. You spy an ice cream stand, and reach towards your pocket for your wallet. The corners of your mouth tug upwards at the feel of the cool metal against your hand—only for the smile to drop suddenly off your face as you gaze up then contents of your wallet. There is no money; there is only a slight amount of lint and a gift card for a massage. You don’t want a massage. You want ice cream. You are now suffering because you cannot afford to by ice cream. You suffer because you want to be cold, but you cannot afford an object that would make you cold. The second noble truth of Buddhism is that all suffering is caused by desire. This truth—as well as the knowledge that the only cure for suffering is the cessation of desire—is demonstrated in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring when the young boy returns as a man to the old monk.

The Boy’s first response when the Monk asks him what causes him to suffer is that his own sin was to lo...