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Some people may think: 'My life is really happy. How can there be suffering?' Yet some may find life hard and bitter. Hence, the feelings of happiness and suffering are created by people’s minds."
Life is filled with troubles and afflictions
During the Buddha’s time, there were always more than a thousand monks in his monastic community at any given time. With such a great number of followers, there were of course differences in their learning capacities.
Among the monks, some were wiser and were able to become enlightened just by listening to the teachings of the Buddha. Their hearts and minds were neither swayed by negative conditions nor happy circumstances, and thus they were able to single-mindedly focus on their spiritual path. However, there were others who were of duller capacities, and thus, regardless of the Buddha’s tireless guidance and advice, they would still be troubled by afflictions that seemed to arise ceaselessly.
One day, when the Buddha was walking past a group of monks, he overheard them discussing the topic of suffering. All of them had left home for the monastic life after having experienced various types of suffering in their lives.
One of the monks said, “When I was still a lay person, I had difficulty controlling my lust for women. So I find that sexual desire is the hardest to overcome and causes the most suffering. The reason I left home to become a monk is to cultivate purity in my heart. But despite having received the precepts, it is still difficult to keep my mind under control.”
Another monk said, “Before I became a monk, I never had enough to eat even though I toiled hard. During a drought, I would worry about not being able to harvest any crops. Yet during the rainy season, I would worry that my fields would be destroyed by floods. Therefore, I think that the greatest torment is hunger. By becoming a monk, I no longer have to worry about filling my stomach.”
The third monk said, “I am bad-tempered, and it is very difficult for me to overcome this bad habit. Whenever someone’s attitude or voice annoys me, I will flare up and start scolding him, and even resort to physically hitting him. The Buddha’s teachings are very beneficial, and the reason why I decided to become a monk is to change my temper through receiving his teachings in the monastic community. However, bad habits die hard. Although I have tried my utmost to refrain from such behaviour, I still can’t contain my anger and the urge to scold people whenever I catch sight of things that do not please me. Hence, having to endure that brings me great suffering.”
One more monk said, “I am most troubled by life’s stages of birth, ageing, illness and death. Ageing steals away beauty, sickness brings great pain and suffering, and I constantly worry about when my life will end. The Buddha said, ‘The world is impermanent; the land is fragile’. I am very worried about when the world will collapse, and I live in fear every day. The Buddha possesses great virtue, so I feel safe and at ease in his monastic community. This is why I decided to become a monk. But I am still plagued by constant fears of when I will grow old or die of an illness.”
The source of suffering comes from the mind
At this point the Buddha walked over to the group of monks and said, "It is good that every one of you knows what suffering is. But you only know how suffering feels without understanding the source of it. If you really want to end suffering, you must first seek to understand its origin.”
After hearing what the Buddha had said, the monks respectfully requested him to enlighten them on the root cause of suffering. The Buddha replied, “Great suffering in life stems from the body and mind as they easily react to external conditions. For example, when a man sees a pretty woman, he may give rise to lust and create negative karma. People feel hungry because of bodily needs. One gives rise to anger because unchecked arrogance renders one incapable of tolerating others. Therefore, suffering originates from our very own body and mind. The feeling of happiness too, arises in a similar fashion.”
The Buddha further explained, “Why is there fear? It arises because we love our body and are too attached to it. Birth, ageing, sickness and death are naturally occurring states, just like how there are four seasons in nature. Only the ignorant will be infatuated with the physical body, and that is why they feel great anxiety and fear (about losing it). If one is able to view one’s body as a means for spiritual practice and make good use of time to cultivate spiritually, one will be able to eliminate the root of suffering and gain the fruits of Dharma joy.”
The suffering in our lives stems from the feelings and sensations our minds and bodies experience, and they are all fleeting and ever-changing. If we are able to purify our minds and have less desire, our minds will not be disturbed by external conditions and outer appearances, and we will not suffer as a result.
When we are happy living a simple life without fussing over the positive and negative factors in the surroundings and do not lose our temper because of the attitudes of others, we will not experience suffering. Therefore, I often remind everyone that we must be mindful of the thoughts that arise in our minds and the words that we speak.
Source: Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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