There Is No Absolute Suffering

One interesting passage from Hanh’s work talks about the objectivity of suffering. He said that the “cold air can be painful if you are not wearing warm enough clothes, but with proper clothing, cold air can be a source of joy” (123). He is talking about how suffering is only relative and that it has no absolute meaning, unlike joy which does have an absolute meaning. Suffering is only dependent on how we view the world. For instance, when I feel depressed sometimes, I often cannot get out of a negative pattern of thinking. 

Everyone has this loop sometimes...

It doesn’t really matter what kind of events or input I am getting, if I am in one of those depressive loops anything will make me feel depressed. However, on another day when I feel much better I can find joy in most things and often I would probably be happy about the same thing I felt depressed about a few days ago. In this way, suffering and happiness are subjective because they depend completely on how I feel at a given moment.

            Hanh’s notion of joy being absolute while suffering has no absolute presence is very powerful because it means that at the heart of existence there is joy. When the Buddha was talking about “the complete silencing is joy” (123), he probably meant that once we stop thinking of ourselves as separate from anything else, above or below something, and instead think of ourselves as interconnected with our world we feel joy. There is no conception of superior or inadequate when you consider yourself as an extension of everything and everything as a part of you. You will truly treat your world as you would treat yourself, like Western religions encourage, if you see the world as yourself.

Two very cool dudes, chillin' under the tree.

            And as far as depression is concerned, it is very hard to feel hateful towards yourself if it means hating the whole world and truly believing that there is no good in the world. The Buddha claims that this is impossible to do. A good way for me to break my depressive loops is to consider this paradox, and when things seem hopeless it has really helped me turn my day around.

 Work Cited.

Hanh, T.N. 1999. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching.