The mind precedes all things; it creates everything and controls everything. This is a core teaching of the Buddha.
Of course, if you take this phrase on its own, people can easily apply it to various situations to suit their own needs, much like a “daily quote.” For instance, it can be used as a purely mental approach, like “you can overcome anything with enough willpower,” or as a form of self-help, like “if you wish for it strongly enough, it will definitely come true.”
However, that is not its true essence. When we trace back the cause of human suffering, we find a mind that misinterprets reality. Suffering occurs because the mind does not see the world as it truly is. That is how the system works.
Living with suffering is, of course, painful. Very few people can carry that pain alone while still treating those around them with love. Therefore, people might lack compassion for others, become self-centered, or, in extreme cases, attack someone else. In other words, they take their inner pain and project it outward. But to achieve peace, we must extinguish suffering from within ourselves. We must not simply move it from inside us to the people around us; we must erase it so that it ceases to exist anywhere.
To do this, it is crucial to understand the root cause of suffering. That cause is the mind’s distorted perception. One of these major misperceptions is the illusion that “I exist here as a solid, unchanging self.” While a sense of self is formed in this present moment, it is constantly changing. When we believe in a “solid self,” a gap opens up between that belief and our true, ever-changing nature. That gap is where suffering is born. If we can understand that we are always changing, we can accept that this exact moment is simply who we are right now, and our suffering will naturally disappear.