About Suffering & How To Be Free From Suffering

Many people know what is suffering by personally experiencing the suffering that is happening in our body and in the mind. But not many people know why are they suffering nor know how to be free from suffering, that’s why we are experiencing suffering. Or else, there won’t be any suffering.

And to know why do we have suffering and how to be free from suffering is the path of wisdom, the path of self-realization.

Usually it is when we are not satisfied with certain things that are happening in our body and the mind, as well as not satisfied with the happenings in the world, we will be experiencing unhappiness or suffering. We will try to avoid unhappiness and are constantly looking for happiness. When we couldn’t avoid unhappiness and couldn’t attain happiness, we will be in suffering. We suffer when we have fears and worries. We suffer when we have anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance and ungratified desires. We suffer when we don’t understand the truth, when we couldn’t let go our attachment towards all the things (names and forms), when we couldn’t accept the truth as it is and when we are lost in ignorance (not knowing who we really are, what is real and unreal, what is the meanings of life and what is true happiness).

But the basic suffering that everybody has is the suffering of having this impermanent body and mind that is solely depending on the elements, food and energy to be exist in this world of names and forms. This physical body and the mind (the functions of thoughts, feelings and sensations, discrimination of good and bad, positive and negative, comfortable and not comfortable, likes and dislikes, craving and aversion) is constantly experiencing impermanence (birth, growth, changes, decay, illness and death). The physical body also has to go through hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain and discomforts.

We suffer because we are not free being bound by the cause and effect of the past good and bad karma that derived from our thoughts, actions and speech. We suffer when we couldn’t satisfy our cravings and desires. We suffer when our mind is restless and its desires are never ending. We suffer when we are being controlled or over-powered by our own selfish ego, our limited intellect, our desires, our likes and dislikes, our craving and aversion, and our distracted random thoughts. We suffer because we are not free being bound by the phenomena of birth and death, form and deforming, togetherness and separation, disturbance and loneliness, restlessness and boredom, happiness and unhappiness, have and don’t have, want and don’t want, meaninglessness and emptiness, frustration and disappointment, and all the impurities in the mind that are disturbing our hearts unceasingly. Due to all these phenomena, we couldn’t be at peace and at rest even for a few moments. We repeatedly swaying back and forth from feeling good, positive and energetic to feeling bad, negative and exhausted. We are lost in confusion, doubt and indecision.

We thought that it is the things and happenings out there that are causing us unhappiness and suffering. But the truth is, it is our own perception of the mind that is causing all the unhappiness and suffering in us. All the things and happenings out there have no intentions or qualities to make us happy or unhappy, to be good or not good, to make us suffering or not suffering.

Until we know what is going on in our own mind, then we will know what causes all these restlessness, unpeacefulness, unhappiness – suffering. If we know the cause of suffering, we will know how to free ourselves from the bondage of suffering.

When we know what is suffering, the cause of suffering and the path of free from suffering, we need to practice sincerely in our heart the knowledge or wisdom that can free us from suffering. Then we can be free from suffering. Just having the knowledge but without exercising it practically will not free us from suffering.

Start from now, at this present moment.

Let go of the past and the future.

Accept the truth as it is.

See the impermanence in everything inside and outside of us.

Practice acceptance, letting go and non-attachment, from moment to moment.

Detach from what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we feel, and what we think. Letting go all the thoughts, feelings and sensations. Stop labelling them as good and bad, comfortable and discomfortable. Stop generating reactions of like and dislike, craving and aversion towards all these impermanent names and forms, colours, shapes, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and thinking.

Detach from all the dualities of names and forms.

Go beyond all the positive and negative, good and bad, comforts and discomforts, likes and dislikes, craving and aversion.

Stop identify ourselves with the body and the mind. We are not this body and this mind. This body and this mind are not ours and they are not us. But identify ourselves as the awareness that is witnessing all the phenomena that is happening within and without our body and the mind. It doesn’t matter if these phenomena are something “good” or something “not good”, learn not to attach to them and not being disturbed, influenced or affected by them.

Very soon, our minds will calm down and be at peace. When our minds are calmed and at peace, we will see our true Self and reconnect with the ancient eternal wisdom that is already in us all the time.

This is the practice of meditation every moment in our lives whether we are in action or inaction. Constantly detaching from the past, the thoughts, the feelings and the sensations. Be at the present moment, from moment to moment.

There is no meanings if we did a lot of practice of “meditation”, or “cleansing exercises”, or “chanting”, or “charity”, or “vegetarianism”, or “non-harming”, or “studying the scriptures” or “renounce from everything”, but when come to our everyday lives, we are lost and confused, being disturbed and affected by our own ego and all the phenomena that is happening within and without our body, and having lots of anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, arrogance, ignorance, frustration and unhappiness.

Stop looking out for happiness. Look within ourselves. It is always there.

It is not happiness nor unhappiness. It is free from happiness and unhappiness.

May we all be free from suffering.