To Live is to Suffer. According to Molloy (Molloy 133), "birth is attended with pain, decay is painful, disease and death are painful." I take this to mean that, since mankind has a physical body, we will experience suffering at many times during our Earthly lives. In this paper, I will present a basic discussion of the Hindu and Buddhist perspectives on living and suffering, interspersed with some of my own life experiences.
Hinduism and Suffering
Why is a soul born here on earth, and why does it suffer? In the Hindu belief system, every person is accountable for his or her actions (Sarma). Some people say that we create our own suffering. According to Jayaram, suffering arises out of our actions, inactions, reactions, thinking, conditioning, desires, attachment to earthly things, beliefs, attitudes and associations. Jayaram also says that suffering exists only in our minds. I tend to disagree with this last part of Jayaram’s argument. For instance, several years ago, I had a medical emergency that required immediate surgery to save my life. To the best of my knowledge, I did not do anything to bring this condition on. However, I suffered as a result of this condition, both in the hospital and during my recovery at home.
We suffer because of the way we think and act, the way we look at earthly things, and how we respond to life’s experiences. This I do agree with. As an example, I offer a family situation I am presently undergoing. I have not spoken with a large portion of my family since my mother’s death in 1995. Immediately following her death, I had a large and loud argument with certain members of the family about some of my personal dealings. Those family members have not spoken to me since, not even to notify me about the subsequent deaths of other family members. I have been suffering from this to this very day. I suffer from various physical and mental/emotional issues due to this family situation. According to Jayaram, my thinking and attitude towards suffering has trended into a rather familiar pattern and I have accepted and integrated it into the basic makeup of my personality.
However, according to Hindus, suffering can be a rather valuable educational tool. According to Jayaram, the aim of suffering is to make us whole and perfected and to guide us on the path to salvation.
suffering hurts man spirit is does more good then constant happiness and power. We have to beat
of suffering is most beneficial. However, answering this question about suffering becomes increasingly more difficult with the
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
In Cause of Suffering, everyone craves a lust for satisfaction, whether it is hunger, power, or entertainment. We never forget the thirst for attentiveness as it becomes repetitive until the thirst subsides for a while. For this reason,
Siddhartha learns that existence is suffering many times in the first and second chapters. On page 11 Siddhartha says, ¨… and all were not worth a passing glance, everything lied, stank of lies; they were all illusions of sense, happiness and beauty. All were doomed to decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was pain¨(11). While Siddhartha lives with the Samanas he realizes that by simply existing, life is pain. When you live and deceive yourself, rather than denying yourself you cannot be at peace and you will suffer. Another example to note is on page 3 where it says, “Siddhartha had begun to feel the seeds of discontent within him. He had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend govinda, would not
In this essay I am going to briefly tell you what Judaism says about the concept of suffering and then I?m going to attempt explaining the two main explanations!
Suffering arises early in the story and is a theme is a them that will preside over the entire text, valuable to the reader because of The Buddha’s first Noble Truth: human life is consists almost entirely of suffering. When the Buddha is just a baby, the relief from suffering he will provide is predicted. “Be steadfast, therefore, give up anxiety, be cheerful, for your clan will flourish without a doubt; The one born here as your son is the leader of those overcome by the suffering in the world” (B 1.33). The
The Buddhist religion teaches that people suffer because we continually strive after things that do not give lasting happiness. The Dhammapada: The Buddha’s Path of Wisdom is a book used in the Buddhist religion to give explanation and provide guidance. The Dhammapada is a collection of Buddhist scriptures that is believed to have been spoken by the Buddha in response to certain situations involving life. The Dhammapada contains four hundred- twenty three verses with each verse containing words of advice. The purpose of these verses is to encourage you to achieve the conquest of self; to escape from the evils of passion, hatred and ignorance; and to strive hard to attain freedom from craving and freedom from the round of
Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom).
First of all, before using human suffering as an excuse to deny the existence of God it is necessary to establis...
The question of suffering comes up much when talking about, or practicing any religion. Many ask why people suffer, and what causes suffering? The various religions try to answer these questions in their own way. Pico Iyer’s editorial, “The Value of Suffering” addresses the questions of suffering and how it is handled. This article could be compared to the Bhagavad-Gita which also addresses and explains suffering through different stories of the interactions of humans and different Gods. One can specifically look at “The Second Teaching” in the Bhagavad-Gita, which explains the interaction between a man named Arjuna and the god Krishna. In it Arjuna is suffering because he does not want to fight in a war and with people whom he should be worshiping. Krishna says to fight because the souls of the people will forever live on, and because he needs to fulfill his Dharma. With what is known about the Bhagavad-Gita and how Iyer thinks about the subject, Iyer would agree with how the Bhagavad-Gita address suffering.
Suffering is an individual's basic affective experience of pain or distress, often as a result of one’s physical, emotional or spiritual circumstance (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2006). Suffering can be classified as physical; for example pain caused by a dislocated knee, emotional; for example one’s grief over the death of a loved one, or spiritual; which is described as the state of being separated from the blissful nature of your divine self (soul). To suffer physically or emotionally is often unavoidable; however it can be argued that spiritual liberation...
Furthermore, even the happiest and carefree of people will eventually experience some kind of suffering. The Buddha taught people to recognize that suffering is part of life and that it cannot be avoided. However, this suffering does not only come from the body—it also comes from within. Those who experience loneliness, depression, anxiety, or cannot satisfy their needs and wants are suffering. Despite the negative aspects of suffering, Siddhartha also spoke of happiness through friendships, family life, or health. Though, the downfall to this is that happiness is impermanent—or annica—and will not end all suffering. Buddhists believe that the way to end suffering is to first accept the fact that suffering is a fact of life. The next aspect to recognize is what causes such suffering?
According to Brooks (2014), people seek happiness but indirectly obtain several tests that affects their emotions in many ways. Indeed, when people are is questioned about their past, memories coming back to her mind are often the most important positively as negatively. A positive event can be the birth of a child, success. In contrast, a negative event is often links to death, failure, a dismissal, and so on. Suffering or pain also gives us an outside perspective. Without a doubt, suffering makes us human we like it or not. For example, when a friend tells that she has failed an exam and we realize that we could get it easily, it is hard to understand exactly her emotion because we have never been in the situation. But when the same situation arises and you become the concerned, you understand the effect that this failure may have on you emotionally. In this sense, we understand that suffering makes people human because it helps them to be connected to a situation already happened before or which could happen in the future.
The Buddha stated that to live means to inescapably experience sorrow and dissatisfaction. Each new obstacle needs to be analyzed and understood so a solution can be found. Suffering cannot be avoided but the four noble truths indicate how each person can respond to it (Ellwood, McGraw, 121).