SUFFERING

 

SUFFERING

           Suffering is distress,  discomfort, pain, agony, torture, hardship, misery, etc. According to Buddhism it is inevitable. The world is a place of suffering. However, if one understands the causes of suffering and knows how to overcome them , liberation from suffering is possible.

There are four universal  sufferings ---birth, aging, sickness and death. Desires related to sensual pleasures, material goods, immortality , etc., cause suffering because they are unable to be satisfied.

To stop suffering, it is necessary to stop the cycle of birth, death and re-birth.This is called emancipation.

              To conclude, here is what Subhadra Bhikshu (1709-61) said about suffering . “To be born is to suffer;: to grow old is to suffer; to die is to suffer; to lose what is loved is to suffer; to be tied to what is not loved is to suffer; to endure what is distasteful is to suffer. In short, all the results of individuality, of separate self-hood, necessarily involve pain or suffering.”                                                                  *****

G. R.Kanwal

7^th December 2023