1. The document describes a story of a person jumping off an 11th floor building and observing the lives of people on each floor below, seeing examples of suffering through relationship problems, mental health issues, joblessness, and loneliness. 2. Upon reaching the bottom, the person realizes that everyone experiences problems in life and that while they once thought they were unlucky, they were not suffering as much as others. 3. The story and observations are meant to convey Buddhist teachings about the universal nature of suffering in life and the need to cultivate compassion and wisdom to lessen suffering.

1. 1
A Story For Reflection

2. 2
As I jumped off from the 11th Floor of the building …
I saw the known loving couple in the 10th Floor hitting each other.
“In life, there will be times of happiness and
pleasure and times of sorrow and pain.”

3. 3
In the 9th Floor, I saw
the usually tough
and strong Peter
crying…
“No unenlightened
being is free from
the suffering that
comes with existence
…realizing this
Truth is one step to
spiritual wisdom.”

4. 4
In the 8th Floor, Ah Mei
just found out her
fiancee is sleeping with
her best friend…
“In life, sometimes
things that you do
not expect or want,
happen and things
that you wish for or
want, do not happen
…a realization of this
helps one to cope and
be more at peace
with oneself.”

5. 5
In the 7th Floor, Dan is
taking her daily anti-
depression medicine… “The greater our
ignorance and
delusion, the more
we will suffer
mentally or
psychologically.”

6. 6
In the 6th Floor, jobless
Heng still buys 7
newspapers to search
for a job every day.
“Do we realize that
there are more
unfortunate ones in
the world
compared to us?
When will we see
things more clearly
and count our
Blessings?”

7. 7
In the 5th Floor, much
respected Mr. Wong
is trying his wife’s
undergarment. “We may not know,
but so many are
tormented by
psychological
problems and
aberrations.”

8. 8
In the 4th Floor, Rose is
again fighting with the
boyfriend.
“When
Compassion and
Wisdom grow in
us, we will suffer
less from
arguments,
conflicts,
quarrels and
fights”.

9. 9
In the 3rd Floor, every
day the old man is
hoping someone would
come by and pay him a
visit.
“So many in the
world are suffering
from the ‘Mental
Dis-Ease’ of
restlessness,
boredom, remorse,
guilt, worry,
and loneliness.”

10. 10
In the 2nd Floor, Lily is
still staring at the
picture of her lost
husband since half a
year ago.
“There is Suffering in
old age, sickness and
death … when there
is realization of the
inevitability of this,
one can cope with life
better and one can
attain greater mental
peace.”

11. 11
Before I jumped off
from the building, I
thought I was the
most unlucky person. “In life, Right View
and Attitude, Right
Thought, Right
Effort and the
cultivation of
Compassion and
Wisdom will lessen
our Suffering.”

12. 12
Now I just realized
that everyone has
their own problems
and worries.
“Every human being is
subjected to the dualistic
conditions of
* Pleasure and Pain
* Gain and Loss
* Praise and Blame
* Honor and Dishonor”

13. 13
After I had seen all
these, I found out, in
fact, I wasn’t that
bad at all. “The Right Attitude
and being able to see
the way things really
are in life, will lead us
to more and more
mental peace and
freedom.”

14. 14
The people that I saw just now
are looking at me now.
“When there is Right
Understanding of the Nature of
Life and the mind is calm,
mindful and clear, insight and
wisdom arise and we would not
resort to foolish actions.”

15. 15
I think after they see me now, they might feel
they are not that bad after all.
DUKKHA ( Suffering, Conflict, Problems,
Unsatisfactoriness ) is inherent in Existence. There
is a Spiritual Path out of this. Seek and Realize it.

16. 16
“What a Dream! Luckily it was not real. I learnt many Dhamma
Lessons. All in Samsara have Dukkha. So many have more
suffering than me. Life is precious. One should not take one’s life.
We can walk the Dhamma Way to end all Dukkha.

17. 17
May we walk the Noble 8-Fold Way diligently
to attain Happiness, Peace and end all misery.
With Metta,
Bro. Oh Teik Bin
Life’s problems and suffering
The End