History doesn’t record whether Prince Siddhartha was a football fan when he became the Buddha and attained enlightenment.
Surely though he had to be a Blues supporter. How else could his First Noble Truth be, “life is suffering.” I can see him now under the Bodhi tree, blue fright wig on his head contemplating the misfortunes that life makes us all endure – sickness, death, misery, sorrow and Queensland.
According to Buddha, the basic cause of suffering is the desire to have things and the desire to avoid things.
So his Second Noble Truth is that “the origin of suffering is attachment.” Our lust or aversion for these desires and our desperation to have them fulfilled causes our disturbance and anger when things go wrong.
We just want to win, oh how we want to win. We want the selectors to pick the best team, but they never do. We want the chosen team to have an attacking plan, but it doesn’t. We want them to out think the opposition and of course they can’t. We don’t want stupid errors. Still many are made.
Finally we want an even break from the referees but due to the concept of karma that is not possible. Karma is a Sanskrit word that is pronounced “ha, ha, ha Blues.”
Fortunately Buddha in his Third Noble Truth lets us know that, “The cessation of suffering is attainable.” He tells us that in order to put an end to suffering, we need to practice non-attachment.
This sounds difficult but can be achieved through the following steps. Praise to the heavens the chosen Blues side even if several superior players are left out so we can “stick” with lesser players. Always assume, like the Channel Nine commentary team, that NSW are getting on top, even if they trail by 20 points but also assume that they will lose anyway, even if they lead by 20 points.
Each error, refereeing decision and coaching blunder contributes to the game’s eventual cosmically meaningless conclusion. This liberation from both attachment to winning, and sorrow over the events of the game frees the mind of all troubles and worries. This state of liberation is called ‘Nirvana’ in Sanskrit and ‘Queenslander’ in Queensland.
Buddha tells us in the Fourth Noble Truth, “There is path to the cessation of suffering.” Buddha says that salvation can be attained by leading a balanced life. And to lead a balanced life, one needs to follow the Eightfold path. And the Blues could do worse than follow coach Buddha’s guidance.
His game plan? Why they don’t even need all of the eightfold path. Right Intention, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration should be enough to do the job.
And why not try Buddhism as it often seems that when Origin comes around we simply don’t have a prayer?
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