What is the Buddhist response to suffering?

Answer 1

In a nut-shell, if we understand the causes of sufferings (envy, hate, covetousness, etc,) we can rectify it.. Unconditional Love. They understand the person has made choices that are causing them pain and they really want to be restored to love & happiness. By loving them & focusing on their happy inner spirit one can be a catalyst to help that person release their suffering and become well & happy again. "What is the Buddhist Response to suffering?" Personally, I find Buddhism to be a beautiful religion full of peace and tranqulity especially after visiting Asia and witnessing the people living within the realms of applied belief and not just lip professing. In researching for specific answers to your question I quote from the research by Creation Apologetics. As Follows: The Buddha taught that speculation about spiritual beings hinders one from achieving spiritual enlightenment, however, many Buddhist groups are very concerned with appeasing evil spirits and are very much enslaved by spiritual bondage. Some of the major concepts and teachings of Buddhism are: The Eight-fold Path -1) right understanding, 2) right speech, 3) right intentions, 4) right conduct, 5) right livelihood, 6) right effort, 7) right mindfulness, and 8) right meditation. These are believed to lead to singleness of mind, wisdom, and nirvana (a state of enlightenment). The Four Noble Truths -1) Life is suffering. 2) Suffering is due to attachment. 3) Attachment can be overcome by certain spiritual techniques and knowledge. 4) The eight-fold path can accomplish this and achieve nirvana. Karma -Man accumulates certain types of energy forces, which form his future existences on the path to nirvana. And of course nirvana means: The ineffable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion. An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy. Suffering is caused by one's own actions. He would say that it is either bad karma from previous actions or directly self-imposed by klesha (bad/incorrect thinking.) Klesha is usually caused by desire for worldly things. This causes suffering because you cannot have everything you want AND because those things are all illusion anyway, so they can never make you truly happy. Either way, you use this as motivation to work harder at reaching nirvana and to help you grow greater empathy for others who are also suffering. The etiology of suffering (duhkha), according to the Buddha, is conditioned by thirst for the Five Aggregates which are constitutive of the psycho-physical being we wrongly mistake to be who we really are (Samyutta-Nikaya, v.425).

If we are to liberate ourselves from such suffering we do so by taking a path which leads to nirvana. In this regard--to put it simply--in nirvana we see that which is free of suffering; which is undying. With that knowing and seeing (a kind of gnosis), we subsequently give up thirsting for the Five Aggregates and progressively decouple our mind from the psycho-physical being. The mind, at this point, is said to be invisible, infinite, and luminous. The Buddha said: "I teach one thing and one only: suffering and the end of suffering." The correct Buddhist response to suffering is to free oneself from it by following the Noble Eightfold Path. Once this has been achieved one should help others to be free from suffering too. A person follows the Noble Eightfold Path in order to develop wisdom. It is wisdom that will enable us to be free from suffering. Before we look at how wisdom brings freedom from suffering we'll examine what suffering is and how it is caused. Because it is only when we understand suffering and its cause that freedom from suffering can be realised. Suffering: The Buddha taught that existence involves suffering. The word he used was 'dukkha'. This means: 'suffering', 'unsatisfactoriness'. He taught that nothing in this world - material (such as delicious food, music, beautiful bodies, etc.), and mental (such as emotions, feelings, etc.) - is able to fully satisfy us: none can bring us real peace. Things are unable to fully satisfy us because they are impermanent: they are constantly changing. Anything that is constantly changing cannot be said to be able to bring lasting happiness. The cause of suffering is craving: But we don't suffer because things are impermanent: we suffer because we want things to be other than they are; we suffer because of our craving and desire. Think of British weather (if you know what it's like): it is always changing. When we want it to remain sunny we suffer. When we want the clouds to go we suffer. When we want it to stop raining we suffer. The reason why we suffer isn't because of the weather being so changeable; it's because of our desire for it to be other than it is. And so it is craving that causes suffering. Craving, by its very nature, cannot be satisfied. Think of when you have a really bad itch: you want to scratch it so you do and it feels great. Then a few minutes later it itches even more, and so you want to scratch it even more, and so you do, and it feels great. But then it itches even more than that, and so you really, really want to scratch it, and so you do, and it feels great. This process goes on and on and on: our craving is never satisfied. Often we only stop scratching when we are about to start bleeding. So the Buddha taught that if we want to be truly happy then we must free our minds from craving: when we no longer crave for things we will always be happy. Wisdom: How do we remove craving from our minds then? By following the Noble Eightfold Path in order to develop wisdom. When we have real wisdom we see the truth of life: we see that all things of this world, physical and mental, are like British weather: impermanent, unreliable, and unable to fully satisfy us. When we deeply understand that all things are impermanent then our craving disappears, for we know that nothing is really worth wanting, for nothing can really satisfy us. When craving goes so too does suffering and consequently we are left with complete peace and happiness. Summary So, the Buddhist response to suffering is to free oneself from it by following the Noble Eightfold Path. Once this has been achieved one should help others to be free from suffering too. Note: only when a Buddhist has helped himself can he help others. It is impossible for someone who is stuck in the mud to pull out someone else who is stuck. A Buddhist must free himself first, then he will be more able to successfully help others to be free.
There isn't one universal Buddhist response to suffering, each Buddhist may have their own individual way of dealing with this issue according to their understanding of the teachings they have received.

All Buddhists share a common appreciation of the four noble truths and as such are likely to see suffering as a natural part of the law of cause and effect. This doesn't mean that Buddhists find suffering inevitable or irrelevant, quite the opposite. Many Buddhists are committed to work for conditions whereby the suffering experienced by all beings may diminish.