Suffering is the central idea of Buddhism which must be accepted in order to feel content with life. According to Buddha, “the ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see the land.” (Hanh 3) The Four Noble Truths are the main concepts that explain how to deal with suffering and seek happiness. These truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of suffers origin, meaning the recognition of what is causing the suffering, the truth of cessation of suffering, meaning to put an end to the actions that cause suffering, and finally the truth of the path to cease suffering, meaning the path that prevents us from doing the things that cause us to suffer. These truths can be used and practiced in order to prevent suffering. Because of these ideas that Buddhism is based around, it can be therefore said that suffering is a main component of Buddhist ethics.
 |
| Oxygen tank like what my grandfather needs to use in order to breathe. |
Suffering can be caused by numerous things that create a change within a person’s life. Typically this change is to a less self-satisfaction within their life. An example of this is happening within my family now. A few years ago, my grandfather was diagnosed with a rare lung disease to which there is currently no cure. Although there are things that can be done and medications that can be used to help with the side effects, we all know in the back of our minds that he’s not going to get better. Seeing him suffer on a daily basis is extremely hard. He’s still trying to adapt to the fact of never being able to breathe the way he used to, and although one would think it gets easier, in reality it doesn’t. Suffering in itself is a difficult thing to accept, but knowing that the suffering won’t end makes it harder. By looking at the ideas of Buddah, “even while you have pain in your heart, you can enjoy the many wonders of life.” (Hanh 4) Knowing this allows me to be more at ease about my grandfather’s condition. I hate watching him suffer because to me, seeing that, causes me to suffer in the fact that I know he’s unhappy. More often than not it is harder to watch the people you care about suffer rather than go through your own suffering. Looking back on that quote, it makes me realize that I’m still lucky to have him here, and he’s still lucky that he is here. He may not be in the best condition, and he may want his pain to be over, but he still has something to live for.
Another example of suffering that isn’t as extreme is about 4 years ago when I had knee surgery. Going into the surgery, I knew I was going to be on crutches and have a brace for a few weeks, but after the surgery I realized it was going to be worse. When my parents and I planned my surgery, we planned it in January so I would be healed and ready to go by the time softball season came around. Prior to surgery, all that was known was that I had a small tear in my meniscus. While I was in surgery, the Doctor realized that there was more damage in my knee than expected. I also had cartilage damage. This turned my surgery from a Microscale surgery to something more involved. Because of this, the recovery time ended up being a lot longer than anticipated. Having the recovery last longer, cut into some of my softball season which didn’t make me happy. This leads to a few different situations where I felt that I was suffering. I felt that I was suffering in the fact that I was in pain from the surgery. The surgery was done on my knee, but there were points where all I needed to do was simply move my toe and I was in so much pain I could cry. I was also suffering from the fact that I needed to use crutches to walk around the school for about a month. This was surprisingly an extremely difficult task, not to mention the pain I was in from crutching around everywhere I was going. Finally, I felt some suffering when my recovery time cut into my softball season. Softball was the only high school sport I played and I lived for the game. Having to sit back and watch was absolute torture because all I wanted to do was play. Eventually I eased back into the game, but even so, I was in pain while playing. As Hanh states, “without suffering, you cannot grow. Without suffering, you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve.” (Hanh 5) All the suffering I experienced actually made me realize how much I have to live for. I knew I was eventually going to be able to play softball again and I knew the pain was eventually going to go away. As one of my teammates used to say, “Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever.”
No comments:
Post a Comment