Why Do We Talk About Suffering?

Prince Siddhartha Gautama wasn’t suffering, but he came out of his father’s luxurious palace one day, and saw old age, sickness and death everywhere, and that was the beginning of his path to Buddhahood.

We, too, must acknowledge the suffering in the world, because that is the first noble truth; then we look to the cause of that suffering, and find a method to eliminate it – both the suffering and the method. 🙂

If we just do things to feel good and superior,
we’ve missed the whole point of Dharma,
and fall into Mara’s camp.

The suffering today is the same as in the Buddha’s time, but now we have constant wars, mass surveillance under a false idea of keeping us safe, agents provocateurs, media manipulation and mass disinformation, all of which cause confusion and suffering.

Dissent is created, and then criticism of information is a crime. Humanity is being bullied to harm, intimidate, or coerce those perceived as vulnerable. We become vulnerable when our health is corrupted by poor food and our mind is corrupted by bad ideas, and we lose the ability to see with clarity.

If we ignore this, we are not worthy to receive teachings on the precious Dharma, and it’s just one-upmanship. Even though we may say that all phenomena is an illusion, people still suffer, and in ignoring others’ suffering, evil thrives.

Doing something about this situation isn’t matter of protesting; we have to be more subtle. It’s not about I.Q, it’s about E.Q. (emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient or EQ) which is the ability to understand, use and manage our own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

The coarse way: corruption breeds corruption.
The subtle way: realisation breeds realisation.