First, I must say that the following text is by no means conclusive though my hope is that someday I may be able to provide that. These writings have come as a result of my search for answers to the question "Why must we suffer?" among other questions. This search has led me through the halls of churches, pages of the Bible, Native American pipe ceremonies, sweat lodges, and vision quests, kundalini yoga and reiki training, a Tibetan Monastery, volumes of Buddhist texts, teachings from erudite Tibetan monks, hatha yoga, and my own doses of the very thing, suffering.
While you may recognize some of the teachings and their sources, you may also find that my view differs slightly. In my efforts to put this in my own words, it is quite possible that you may find my writings in disagreement with their influential sources. Because of this, I ask that you not take my writings as fully realized truths. As one of my teachers Tom Brown, Jr. said, "Either prove me right, or prove me wrong, but don't take my word for it".
As we look around the world today it is very easy to find suffering around every corner. Despite our best efforts, can we truly say there is any less suffering today than there was 100 years ago? 1000 years ago? or even since before the great teachers Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, and many others. Countless numbers of people have tackled this issue since mankind first encountered suffering, yet suffering still remains.
The Buddhist concept of a bodhisattva(bo-dee-saht-vah), one who seeks to eliminate suffering for all sentient beings, might seem hopeless after considering suffering's persistence. But I like to think otherwise.
Although I believe in the elimination of suffering, do not mistakenly think that I am claiming that one day cuts, bruises, disease, and the like will no longer exist. They will always be a part of this world. But many of us have seen the kid with scraped knees that is ecstatic with laughter or the terminally ill patient that is at peace. This is something we can all have at any given moment if we choose and allow. Some people will not be satisfied until they can live like that 24/7 while others may settle for knowing this kind of happiness is there when needed.
We could start by looking at definitions in the dictionary.
Try these:
Definition of suffer and it's synonyms
Definition of pain (coming from the latin word poena and Greek word poin for penalty)
But I personally think the best definition of suffering is found when you ask the next question.
Craving - Craving does not cause suffering in and of itself. We suffer when we do not get something that we crave.
Aversion - Aversion also does not cause suffering in and of itself. Even though we may have an aversion for something, we do not experience suffering if the object of aversion is not present.
There are basically two types of cures.
Conventional cure - Getting the things we desire. Getting rid of or avoiding the things we wish to avoid.
When we fail to achieve this kind of cure, we find ourselves in desperation. Desperate people may pray for a miracle. Religious leaders would say that faith is needed in order for the miracle to occur. Those who do not have faith or do not believe in miracles use other methods. They try harder to achieve their desires and avoid their aversions. Some people work longer hours, build fences to protect, and possibly resort to violence in order to achieve the conventional cure of suffering.
One of my favorite examples of a conventional cure is shopping. What better way to induce happiness than to go out, find something we like, and buy it! Of course this is usually a distraction from another more important issue which the shopping spree does not address. It also requires money to be effective.
The conventional cure tends to require external effort and resources. As long as the energy and resources are there then things are generally fine. But if not, another type of cure is needed.
Divine/unconventional cure - This kind of cure happens when we let go of the need for having what we crave and the need for avoiding what we wish to avoid.
Many are either unaware of this kind of cure, discount it, or simply overlook it. It requires that we reprogram our way of thinking. For instance, most of us were raised being taught to have a favorite color, flavor of ice cream, sports team, or musical group. Generally, we grow unhappy when we can't find our favorite (fill in the blank). Well, what if we make whatever is actually available our favorite, or our object of desire? And likewise, what if we could take the things we dislike when they unavoidably present themselves and decide that those things are okay too?
This kind of cure has been sought and provided in many religions. Why do you think so many have preached the importance of Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is one element in the first half of the equation for the divine cure. Forgiveness is a crucial element in the later. The Eastern religions also teach a "Be here now" philosophy. As long as we desire that which is not present and wish to avoid what IS present, then we are no longer in the moment and in essence, suffering.
Compared to the conventional cure, this cure comes from within. Thanksgiving and forgiveness is something that requires only a change of heart.
If a person is successful at eliminating suffering using the unconventional cure, wouldn't he die because he no longer even desires to eat, stay warm, breath, and otherwise live? No. Notice that the unconventional cure was not the elimination of desire. It is simply changing the desire to only the things which are readily available. Unless this person was in a place devoid of food, he would still eat. This also does not mean that he would lay back and wait for food to be dropped in his mouth. He could still, even without money, do things like forage, dumpster dive, or go to a food shelter.
Yet another person might argue that someone who has achieved the unconventional cure on all levels does not need to live anymore anyway, that they are in fact ready for death and headed to Heaven or Nirvana.
On a more basic level, you might also interpret this to mean that we should accept all acts of violence or harm as okay. For example, if we crave world peace, we might interpret the unconventional cure to mean that we should give up on world peace and that war is okay. But take a look at what sometimes happens to people who crave world peace. I have found both with people I have known and myself that the higher the craving or yearning for world peace, the more agitated and angry we get. For some, this anger builds and festers to a point where we begin to take it out on those we hold responsible. Whether it be the world leaders making the decisions for war, or the people we see around us doing nothing, we begin to blame them and launch our own attack.
To further expand on this example, I will draw on my own experience living in San Francisco during the pre-Iraq war protests. I went to several of these with the hopes that our numbers might encourage a more peaceful resolution in Iraq. As the war drew closer and closer, I noticed the crowds grew angrier and angrier in mood. I saw the most passionate yet frustrated people doing things like chaining themselves together to block traffic during rush hour or blocking doorways to major banking institutions downtown. They began launching attacks of passive resistance all over town. I remember the once pleasant craigslist.org postings had turned into an online screaming bout between all the frustrated bay area citizens. Even though a single gun was never fired, noone was killed, or blood spilled, in fact the cravers of peace had begun their own war.
to be continued...
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