Pain and Suffering in Buddhism

By Edward G Horner

In Pain and Suffering, we explore the relationship between these two afflictions as we look deeply into how our ego drives us ever towards disappointment and regret.  However, we don't leave the reader with just an understanding of how we suffer and why we have pain.  We take a serious look at how, with diligence and patience, we can a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mind of Peace Publications
• Release date: Apr 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9780995316102

Edward G Horner

Horner has been hiking, skiing and paddling throughout Ontario and Alberta for over 50 years. He's an avid photographer, cyclist and keen outdoor enthusiast. He's the author of The Complete Family Camping Guide and founder of Friends of Dieppe Park. He is a past member of the Harbourfront Parks and Open Space Project, in Toronto.


Book preview

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© 2020 by Canadian Outdoor Press

First printed in 2020 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission by the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages.

The Publisher

Mind of Peace Publications

An imprint of Canadian Outdoor Press

Riverdale, Toronto, Canada

Title

Pain and Suffering in Buddhism

ISBN 978-0-9953161-9-5

ISBN 978-0-9953161-0-2 (e-book)

Cover image by Pammal, via Pixabay

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Why Do Pain and Suffering Exist?

What is Pain?

Pain and Meditation

What is Meditation?

How Do We Meditate?

Pain in Meditation

Easing Pain Through Meditation

What is Suffering?

The Three Types of Suffering

Can We Reduce Suffering?

The Five Skandhas

The Ego

Our Enslavement to Expectations

Possibilities

Cessation of Ignorance

The Eightfold Path

The Four Noble Truths

Wisdom

Ethics

Taming the Ego

Meditation Tames Ego

Where Ego Lives

The Effects of Meditation on Ego

Final Thoughts

12 Pillars of Buddhist Wisdom

Glossary

About the Author

Other Books by Edward Horner

Introduction

Why Do Pain and Suffering Exist?

The short answer is simply that we are alive. All sentient creatures that have ever been alive have suffered some degree of pain. It is one of the common experiences that tie all beings together. It is a universal experience that cannot be avoided. It is part of our physiology and it’s there to warn us, inform us and protect us.

From birth to death, we are destined to experience pain. Through sickness, disease, old age, accident, war or natural disasters we will know pain.

We will know physical pain when we stub our bare toe on a table leg. We will know the pain of loss when someone close to us dies. We will experience mental anguish when we can’t avoid the things we don’t want or the pain of not getting things we do want. Pain is really all around us and there is no avoiding it.

It has always been so. It’s not because some god has failed us, or that we are not worthy in the eyes of some deity. Praying for the end of pain or suffering isn’t going to bring relief, although it may bring comfort for some people.

In the following chapters we’ll explore pain and its relationship to human suffering. We’ll learn about the experience of pain, how it arises, the causes and ways to control it through the application of mental discipline in the form of meditation.

As you read through this book, some words or phrases appear in italic, SMALL CAPS. These terms can be found in the glossary.

What is Pain?

Buddhist doctrine has a tendency to minimize the effects of physical pain regarding our bodies. We are told, pain is unavoidable (true) and a natural part of life (also true), and that the real villain is suffering - the mental constructs around the pain itself. We will get into suffering, and how it differs from pain, in a following section.

Pain can be debilitating and have wide-ranging effects on our lives, impacting our relationships, careers and general health. The Johns Hopkins Blaustein Pain Treatment Centre notes;

"Pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong. It can be steady, throbbing, stabbing, aching, pinching, or described in many other ways. Sometimes, it’s just a nuisance, like a mild headache. Other times it can be debilitating.

Pain can bring about other physical symptoms, like nausea, dizziness, weakness or drowsiness. It can cause emotional effects like anger, depression, mood swings or irritability. Perhaps most significantly, it can change your lifestyle and impact your job, relationships and independence.

Pain, is a physical phenomenon, or experienced sensation, that is picked up by the nerves and various receptors in our body and then transferred to the brain where it is interpreted as physical discomfort; hot/cold, tightness, pulling, pinching, etc. The brain then tells us where the pain is located; the arm, the knee, the lower back, etc. It also tells us about the level of pain or it’s severity, so we can do something about it - so we can avoid permanent injury.

The chart above is the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale. It is a self-assessment tool use by medical practitioners to determine what level of pain their patients are suffering. Used with permission, Wong-Baker FACES Foundation.

When something hits us or bumps against us or burns us or pricks us, we feel pain. If it were not so, then we run the risk of doing serious injury to ourselves every day. We may not know when food is too hot to eat or the weather outside too cold to survive without proper clothing.

It is said, the historical Buddha himself experienced pain, almost on a daily basis. It’s recorded that he experienced stomach and back pain. We read in the Apadāna texts that in a previous life, the Buddha-to-be entered into a wrestling match and gravely injured the back of his opponent. Even though he helped to bring his opponent back to health, his karma followed him through successive lives and eventually along to his