Found this explanation of suffering as a note in my phone. So clear and detailed. We talked about suffering and the four noble truths in class last night so it was really nice to read this first thing this morning. So clear, so complete, so awesome 🙏🏼😊🕉☯☸🙂What is the Buddhist idea of suffering? Suffering basically comes from going against the truth of life. Life contains three basic truths, which are called Three Eternal Dharma Truths.
The first Truth is: All the existing form of Dharma (the mysterious power of life) is constantly changing. No eternity.
The second Truth is: All the existing forms of Dharma come from combinations of the other forms. So all the individual forms just appear to have individual forms. Truly they have no individuality. No individual form.
The third Truth is: The essence of Dharma has no form. Therefore it always remains calm and unlimited. This is Nirvana–no beginning, no end.
How do people go against these three eternal truths and create suffering?
First, we suffer because we try to hold onto something that cannot be held. The first eternal Truth says that everything is constantly changing. Therefore, one can hold on to nothing. But when our consciousness is greedy we try to possess the things we are aware of. In addition to outside material things we have acquired in life, we try to hold onto our physical bodies. This, of course, is not possible. Because we insist on trying to achieve the impossible, we feel lost and insecure. To be aware we cannot hold onto even our physical being makes us afraid. This fear is one kind of suffering.
A second way that we suffer is through our belief in having an “Individual I.” In reality all individual forms come from a combination of constantly changing and moving speed and remain a combination of constantly changing and moving speed. But the feeling of our having an individual I contradicts the second Truth. Once we look at life from the perspective of an individual I, then we feel distance from everything and we try to protect this sense of individual I. When our individual I feels attacked we respond by becoming angry and hateful. These, too, are kinds of suffering.
A third way we suffer is through our ignorance of the Truth of Life. The essence of life has no form. This means that our awareness is unlimited. Because we are not aware of this truth, this limitation is called Ignorance or Blindness. All suffering comes from this ignorance. When we can truly be aware that our essence is unlimited, then we will no longer be locked into our limited awareness. Blindness awareness creates all kinds of limitations, which cause the deep insecurities and create all other kinds of suffering.
The suffering that we experience as human beings comes through four basic paths, through our physical sense, our desire, our emotion, and our intellectual sense.
