Gratification, danger, escape: talk

Dave Smith Dharma

The triad of gratification, danger, and escape is one of the Buddha’s most concise and simple teachings for investigating everyday lived experience. This formula can be applied to every single aspect of our experience. Many Buddhist scholars point out that this teaching contains the earliest roots of what we have come to know as the four noble truths, the basic framework for all Buddhist traditions.
What is interesting about this simple teaching is that the Buddha came to this realization before his awakening. He discusses this triad on four separate occasions, relating them to the aggregates, feelings (vedana), the four elements and the six sense doors.
The sheer simplicity of this teaching provides a framework for understanding human experience, particularly for those of us living in the digital complexity of the modern world.

This is not a realization given from high diction, or a pedestal of great wisdom and knowledge. Nor does it seek to bewilder us with metaphysics such as teachings on non-self, emptiness, rebirth and karma. Instead, it is easily understood and readily available to any of us, at any point in our process.