Nearly 20 years into my life I lost all desire to live it. Dramatic, I know, but true. I had gained everything that one my age could have dreamed to: 4 A Levels; a place at what is arguably the world’s best university; more importantly a loving family and a close group of friends. I was ‘comfortable’ by the measures of our society. But it wasn’t enough for happiness. So I, lonely and confused, wound up searching, constantly, for something to make life worth meaning. In the midst of this search I turned to Buddhism, and its four noble truths:

1. Life Means Suffering. A cheerful piece of news to hear, isn’t it? We’ve all felt it, that feeling of dissatisfaction. It’s a suffering caused by the grating of life against our wills and our desires. This is down to our humanity, apparently, and our lack of understanding about the workings of the world in its imperfections.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment. By attaching ourselves to things, to material objects, we increase our misery, because these things are transient. This also includes relationships. We ‘crave’ and we ‘cling’, and it is inevitable that that to which we crave and to which we cling will pass.

3.The cessation of suffering is attainable. Well, at least we’ve heard one positive thing so far! To achieve this is to achieve Nirvana, the state of blissful freedom from all worry or concern, a state completely incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it.

4.There is a path to Nirvana. Another piece of good news! This can only be reached through the 8-fold path, and a life lived exactly halfway between self-indulgence and self-mortification.

So, is Nirvana achievable at Cambridge? The balance of hedonism and asceticism seems a tricky one here, but if one were to moderate the famous ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ motto of the establishment, this balance could be feasibly reached. However, this is built on a craving for success, very often, which goes completely against the second noble truth. I think that I, for one, had perhaps always craved some form of recognition for my hard work, a recognition that led my to Cambridge itself. When I got here and realised that I was unhappy and that this craving was in conflict with my new ideas, my confusion increased, and the battle continued. And so, I have contemplated the application of the eightfold path here.

1.    Right View. Achieved by recognising and accepting the four noble truths.

2.    Right Intention. The commitment to mastering the mind and applying the resistance to anger, desire and violence. Sometimes difficult when work is so frustrating!

3.    Right Speech. No lies, no bitching, no harmful words. A good principle, but can be tricky in ‘the bubble’.

4.    Right Action. Abstain from taking life (no more spider squashing!), abstain from sexual misconduct and abstain from taking what is not given.

5.    Right Livelihood. Do not work in the trade of human beings, drugs or arms. Also do not work in meat production and butchery. In terms of Cambridge, this probably means don’t take a job in McDonald’s!

6.    Right Effort. To try to prevent the occurrence of unwholesome states, and to abandon those that have already arisen. Also to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and to maintain wholesome states that have previously arisen.

7.    Right Mindfulness. The contemplation of the body, feelings, state of mind and phenomena, and the ability to see them all as they are with a clear conscience.

8.    Right Concentration. The concentration solely on wholesome thoughts and actions.

It’s a fantastic, and yet surprisingly obvious, code for life. The struggle for me will not be in accepting this, but in maintaining the application.